AUTO RACING

Red Bull terminated the contract of Formula One test and reserve driver Juri Vips on Tuesday for using a racial slur during an online gaming stream.

The 21-year-old Estonian was suspended by Red Bull last week pending an investigation into the language he used. Vips had apologized for his actions.

“Following its investigation into an online incident involving Juri Vips, Oracle Red Bull Racing has terminated Juri’s contract as its test and reserve driver,” Red Bull tweeted. “The team does not condone any form of racism.”

Vips stepped in for Red Bull’s F1 driver Sergio Perez in the first practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix last month and finished last.

Vips has three podium finishes this season for the Hitech Grand Prix team in the F2 championship.

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• Formula One great Lewis Hamilton said “archaic mindsets” have to change after retired champion Nelson Piquet reportedly used a racial slur against him.

Hamilton’s comments came after F1 and FIA condemned racist language.

“It’s more than language. These archaic mindsets need to change and have no place in our sport. I’ve been surrounded by these attitudes and targeted my whole life,” Hamilton tweeted. “There has been plenty of time to learn. Time has come for action.”

The only Black driver in F1, Hamilton is a seven-time world champion.

Piquet was discussing a crash between Hamilton and Max Verstappen during last year’s British Grand Prix when Piquet used the word “neguinho” – which means “little Black guy” – in November on a YouTube podcast named Enerto.

The word is not necessarily a racist slur in Brazil, but it is an expression that has been increasingly seen as distasteful, and its phrasing can also emphasize that.

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Piquet’s comment didn’t go viral at the time, but suddenly did on Monday, although it is unclear why it was so long after the interview.

SOCCER

MLS: Carlos Vela re-signed with Los Angeles FC, extending his tenure with the Major League Soccer leaders through the 2023 season.

Vela and LAFC finally announced the long-rumored new deal for the 2019 MLS MVP during preparations for their match against FC Dallas on Wednesday night.

BASKETBALL

WNBA: Courtney Vandersloot, Kahleah Copper and Emma Meesseman will get a chance to play before their home fans as they were selected as reserves for the WNBA All-Star Game on July 10.

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The Sky stars will join Candace Parker, who was voted in as a starter to the game last week.

Other reserve guards picked included Washington’s Ariel Atkins, Phoenix’s Skylar Diggins-Smith, Seattle’s Jewell Loyd and Dallas’ Arike Ogunbowale. Atlanta rookie Rhyne Howard was also picked by the league’s 12 coaches, who voted for three guards, five frontcourt players and four players at either position regardless of conference.

Las Vegas’ Dearica Hamby, New York’s Natasha Howard and Connecticut’s Brionna Jones and Alyssa Thomas also were chosen in the frontcourt. Jones is the only player to make the All-Star Game this season while coming off the bench.

Chicago’s James Wade will coach one team and Las Vegas’ Becky Hammon will lead the other. The league announced last week Breanna Stewart and Sylvia Fowles will co-captain one squad and Sue Bird and A’ja Wilson will draft for the other. All four were chosen starters. Fowles and Bird announced earlier this year that they would retire after the season ended.

• The Seattle Storm signed five-time first-team all-WNBA center Tina Charles for the rest of the season, three days after she was let go by Phoenix.

Charles, 33, was averaging 17.3 points and 7.3 rebounds in 16 games this season with the Mercury before the sides settled on a contract divorce last weekend.

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She’s expected to make her debut with Seattle on Wednesday night against Las Vegas.

•  Natasha Cloud scored 18 points, Ariel Atkins added 15 and the host Washington Mystics made 15 3-pointers in a 92-74 victory over the Atlanta Dream .

Washington was 8 of 12 from 3-point range in the first half to help build a 52-32 lead. Atkins and Cloud each made three 3-pointers in the first half, and Atlanta was just 3 of 11.

Cloud, who did not play in the fourth quarter, finished 4 of 5 from distance. Atkins was 4 of 6 as Washington shot 60% (15 of 25).

Elena Delle Donne and Myisha Hines-Allen each had 11 points for Washington (13-9). Shatori Walker-Kimbrough added nine points on three 3-pointers.

AD Durr scored 13 points and rookie Naz Hillmon added a season-high 11 for Atlanta (8-11). Rookie Rhyne Howard, who was selected as a reserve for the WNBA All-Star Game, was held to five points on 2-of-14 shooting.

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Moriah Jefferson had the first triple-double in franchise history with 13 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists, leading the host Minnesota Lynx to a 92-64 victory over the Dallas Wings.

Aerial Powers scored 13 of her 20 points in the first quarter for the Lynx, whose 26-point halftime lead was their largest in the last three seasons.

Jefferson, who was waived by Dallas in May, grabbed her 10th rebound with five seconds left and was surrounded by teammates after the buzzer, having become the 10th player in WNBA history with a triple-double. It was the 15th triple-double overall in the league, with four coming this season.

COLLEGES: Rutgers hired former Tennessee star Nikki McCray-Penson as an assistant coach for the women’s team.

Scarlet Knights Coach Coquese Washington announced the hiring, a day after adding former Rutgers star Tasha Pointer as an assistant coach.

McCray-Penson has 15 years of college coaching experience, most recently as head coach at Mississippi State and Old Dominion. She played nine seasons in the WNBA and won gold medals with Team USA at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics.

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GOLF

PGA: The PGA Tour is awarding cards to the leading 10 players from the European Tour and bringing back a direct path to the PGA Tour through Q-school.

The changes were outlined as part of an extended partnership between the PGA Tour and European Tour through 2035. As part of the joint venture, the PGA Tour has increased its share in European Tour Productions from 15% to 40%.

DOPING

SWITZERLAND: Swiss sprinter Alex Wilson was banned for four years after an anti-doping tribunal judged he intentionally used an anabolic steroid.

The case flared at the Tokyo Olympics last July when Court of Arbitration for Sport judges reinstated Wilson’s provisional suspension days before he was due to compete in the men’s 100 and 200 meters.

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Wilson, the 200 bronze medalist at the 2018 European Championships, tested positive for the steroid trenbolone in an out-of-competition sample taken in March 2021.

He was allowed to continue competing ahead of the Tokyo Games after blaming contaminated meat he ate in Las Vegas, the Swiss Olympic committee said in announcing the latest ruling of its tribunal.

Wilson’s provisional ban during a disciplinary investigation was reinstated in Tokyo after the World Anti-Doping Agency and World Athletics intervened with CAS.

The Swiss Olympic tribunal now ruled the 31-year-old Wilson intended to use doping and imposed a ban that runs into April 2025. He can appeal against the verdict at CAS.


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