Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White did not take questions during her media session ahead of her team’s 106-92 win over the New York Liberty on Tuesday. Instead, White delivered an impassioned statement in which she defended her relationship with her players, revised her opinion on DiJonai Carrington’s “egregious” flagrant foul on Sophie Cunningham and said that “the hate, the fear-mongering, the divisiveness, the stuff that’s trying to hijack our league will not win.”

Carrington’s Flagrant 2 foul on Cunningham during Indiana’s win over the Chicago Sky on Saturday was the latest high-profile incident in what has been a tumultuous summer for the Fever and the entire WNBA. White was caught in the fallout when she received significant criticism online for her postgame comments about the incident. 

After Saturday’s game, White said that Carrington is going to “play her butt off” and “nobody is gonna go walking in for a layup.” She added that she did not oppose the hard foul, and that she didn’t think Carrington “intentionally went for” Cunningham’s neck. 

On Tuesday, White said that after watching replays of Carrington’s foul, she thought it was “egregious.” 

Here are White’s full pregame comments:

“This isn’t necessarily for people that are in this room. This is more for an online community that is trying to create narratives that simply don’t exist. Trying to create a fabrication or distortion of who I am and what I’m about. Our player’s success, our player’s health and wellness, our player’s safety, is always a top priority for me. One of the things I pride myself on is my relationships with players. 

For those who have anything to say about the play in the last game. I didn’t see the play in real time. I went straight to a press conference. I thought the play got called right. Thankfully Sophie’s OK. Was it egregious? Absolutely. When you have a chance to watch that over and over on replay, you can see that. I didn’t have that in real time. I take personally any suggestions that I don’t 100% always have my players back. I ride with them 10 toes down all the time. All the time. They know that. 

“It’s a shame that we can’t have an opportunity to talk about what great basketball they’re playing. Beacuse they are f—ing playing. The reality is with me, I will always lead with love. I will always lead with grace. I will always lead with humilty. And I will always lead with integrity. It doesn’t mean I will always get it right. I’m also human. 

“The hate, the fear-mongering, the divisiveness, the stuff that’s trying to hijack our league will not win. It won’t win. We are united. We are connected. We will not be divided. Every day these women put their ass on the line. Every day. When they go low, we go high. Love will win. Grace will win. Humilty will win. And kindness will win. I stand by them. I will always stand by them. Everybody else can go to hell.”

Advertisement

White, who was booed by Fever fans before tipoff, said after the win that she “sat with” the outside noise over the past few days and felt compelled to speak. Specifically, she wanted to respond to attacks on her character. 

“People presume to know who I am and have no idea,” White said. “These women are playing incredible basketball, and they deserve to be celebrated for that… It’s everybody else that wants to divide us, our team and our league. As somebody who’s been around for a long, long time in this league, I’m tired of it.”

Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham voice support for White

White received a technical foul for arguing with the officials during Saturday’s game after a controversial technical foul was given to Caitlin Clark for making contact with an official. It was the eighth technical foul of the season for Clark, but it was quickly rescinded upon league review. Had the foul stood, Clark would have served a one-game suspension and missed Tuesday night’s game. Instead, Clark suited up and finished with 22 points and 10 assists for her 19th career 20-point, 10-assist game (more than any other franchise), while Kelsey Mitchell poured in 28 points to extend her record 20-point streak to 17 games. 

Clark said she spoke with White before the game and told her the team would win for her. She also criticized the fans for booing White. 

“I can assure you there was no way we were losing this game tonight, and I told her that before the game. There was no way we were losing this game for her,” Clark said. “It’s tough. That’s my head coach. I hated that our fans booed her before the game. That made me a little sick, to be honest… At the end of the day, that’s our head coach, and we’re gonna ride for her and we’re always gonna have her back, and that’s never gonna tear our locker room apart. I just love her and I feel for her.”

Cunningham, who has been embroiled in her own controversy in recent weeks due to her comments about transgender athletes, did not speak pre-game on Tuesday, but did talk after chipping in 12 points off the bench in the victory. 

“We have each other’s backs. Coach loves us,” Cunningham said. “She didn’t see the clip [of the Carrington flagrant foul]. At the end of the day, she didn’t see the clip. DiJonai, she’s a hell of a player, she’s a great defender. [White] coached her for however many years up in Connecticut, so give her her flowers and she didn’t see it, and that’s OK. Me and Steph are great, Steph is great with all of us. It’s really the outside noise that’s trying to distract us, but we’re good.” 

Fever president Kelly Krauskopf said in a statement that White has the “full support” of team leadership.

“Coach White has done a tremendous job leading the Fever and for the second consecutive season, has us in great position for a playoff push,” Krauskopf said before Tuesday’s game. “She has kept our team focused and united, all while under the brightest spotlight our team and our league have ever experienced. She has the full support of leadership.”

Carrington, for her part, spoke at length about the incident on Monday prior to the Sky’s loss to the Seattle Storm. She said that the foul was “never intentional,” but declined to explain her since-deleted social media post in which she wrote “WHITE PRIVILEGE” while tagging the Fever’s team account from the locker room following the ejection. 

Fever moving up WNBA standings

Amid all of the drama, the Fever have been playing their best basketball of the season. They’ve won nine of their last 12 games to take sole possession of fourth place at 21-12. They would host a first-round playoff series if the season ended today, are on track to record the best offensive rating in league history (115) and are four wins from a single-season franchise record. 

WNBA Power Rankings: Rebuilding Mystics soar into top three and look like contenders, Wings hit turbulence

Jack Maloney

Advertisement

With her team playing at such a high level, White wants the focus to shift to basketball. 

“We need to focus on this group and how they’re playing basketball right now, because they’ve been playing incredible basketball,” White said. “I’d like to stop talking about the other shit.”

Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez have officially married, bringing nearly a decade of their relationship to a new chapter. The Portuguese football superstar and Rodríguez tied the knot in a private civil ceremony in Cascais, Portugal, on August 11, 2026.

The couple confirmed the wedding through a joint Instagram post, sharing a photograph of themselves dressed in white and proudly displaying their wedding rings. The ceremony was reportedly attended by their five children, keeping the occasion firmly centred on family rather than a large celebrity celebration.

Wedding comes exactly a year after engagement

The timing of the wedding was particularly significant. Rodríguez announced the couple’s engagement on August 11, 2025, exactly one year before they exchanged vows.

Ronaldo, 41, and Rodríguez, 32, had kept details of their wedding plans private, although the footballer had previously referred to Rodríguez as his “wife”, prompting speculation that they may have already married.

Five children at the centre of celebrations

Family played a central role in the intimate ceremony, with all five of the couple’s children reportedly present.

Ronaldo’s eldest son, Cristiano Jr., and twins Eva and Mateo joined Alana Martina and Bella Esmeralda at the wedding. Ronaldo and Rodríguez welcomed Alana in 2017, while their twins were born in 2022. Their son Ángel sadly died shortly after birth, while his twin sister Bella survived.

Rodríguez has also played an important role in the lives of Ronaldo’s older children, with their family life frequently featuring on social media and in her Netflix series, I Am Georgina.

From Madrid meeting to married life

Ronaldo and Rodríguez first met in Madrid when she was working as a sales assistant at Gucci. Their relationship became public in 2017, and they subsequently built a family life together as Ronaldo’s career took him from Spain to Italy and eventually Saudi Arabia.

Rodríguez has meanwhile established herself as a model, entrepreneur and television personality. After years together, the couple have now officially formalised their relationship with a private family wedding in Portugal.

India’s Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill (PTI Photo)

Former Sri Lanka all-rounder Farveez Maharoof believes India could opt for three spinners in the opening Test against Sri Lanka, with young left-arm spinner Manav Suthar potentially getting the nod ahead of uncapped off-spinner Saransh Jain.India will be without the retired Ravichandran Ashwin and injured Washington Sundar for the first Test, leaving Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav as the likely first-choice spinners. The bigger selection question is who joins them in the XI.Maharoof feels Suthar could have an advantage because of his ability to extract bounce from the surface. Sri Lankan pitches can offer assistance to spinners through bounce rather than simply producing substantial turn, making that quality particularly useful.Suthar made an impressive start to his international career, claiming seven wickets on his debut against Afghanistan. Jain, meanwhile, is yet to make his India debut but has also put himself in contention after touring Sri Lanka with India A.The 31-year-old off-spinner picked up seven wickets on that tour and also contributed an unbeaten 70 while batting at No. 7.However, Maharoof believes Suthar’s ability to generate bounce could outweigh the benefit of having an off-spinner for variation, even if that would leave India with three left-arm spinners.“If you ask me, I would be tempted to go with the two left-arm spinners as well as Kuldeep Yadav. Kuldeep is a frontrunner to start in Galle, especially considering his record and the number of wickets he took in the last Test against Afghanistan.“I see three spinners for India. Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and either Suthar or Jain. Ideally, you would like an off-spinner for variation, but I would not be surprised if Manav Suthar plays because his ability to get bounce off the surface could be very handy in Galle.”Maharoof expects India to go into the Test with a balanced attack comprising three spinners and two seamers.“Overall, looking at India’s bowling line-up, it is quite competitive, with two seamers and three spinners.”

Maharoof warns Sri Lanka about Rishabh Pant threat

Maharoof also singled out Rishabh Pant as a major threat for Sri Lanka, despite the wicketkeeper-batter’s modest returns in India’s three-day warm-up game in Colombo.Pant scored just two and 28 in the match, which India won by six wickets. However, Maharoof believes those scores should not give Sri Lanka any confidence ahead of the Test, given Pant’s ability to transform a match within a short period.“If I were in the Sri Lankan dressing room, I would be very worried about Rishabh Pant. He is a player who, within half an hour or 45 minutes, can completely change the game.“We have seen him do it in the past. He has that X-factor and has been given the licence to play his natural game. He is going to face a lot of left-arm spin and off-spin.Maharoof expects Sri Lanka to rely heavily on spin against Pant, predicting that the hosts will field two frontline spinners along with two part-time options. But he believes Pant’s unconventional approach could still make him difficult to contain.“Sri Lanka will surely go with two frontline spinners as well as two part-timers, but the way Pant scores runs, with his unorthodox style, he is going to be dangerous.”

Tony Romo is still sidelined by CBS weeks after the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback was arrested on suspicion of operating while intoxicated after being stopped while driving.

CBS Sports president David Berson confirmed Tuesday at “NFL on CBS” Media Day that the 46-year-old analyst remains on indefinite leave from the network following his July 23 arrest in Milwaukee.

“It’s an evolving situation and we are still assessing. There is no timetable or final decision at this time,” Berson said, the New York Post reports. “I hope you can respect and appreciate this is a personal matter and a legal one for Tony.”

Romo was arrested after allegedly performing poorly on field sobriety tests and was later cited for refusing an intoxication test. In body camera footage, he told deputies he had been at a golf course and was on his way “to visit grandma and grandpa.” Deputies also found an “open bottle of an alcoholic beverage” in the passenger side of Romo’s Jeep before it was towed.

CBS put Romo on leave “until further notice” on July 31 as more details about his arrest surfaced. J.J. Watt has since stepped in as CBS’ lead analyst alongside play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz.

Berson also used Tuesday’s event to explain why the network decided to bench Romo before his legal case is resolved.

“We have to consider the impact on our image and our brand,” Berson said. “That’s very important to us. The focus should be and needs to be on our presentation and this great product and not on any others.

“Fortunately, we have a deep bench and everybody is stepping up,” he added.

A deputy told Romo he appeared impaired during the July traffic stop, citing his “red, glassy eyes” and the “odor of an intoxicating alcoholic beverage” as reasons for the suspicion. Romo was taken into custody, booked and later released by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

Romo attended high school in Burlington, Wisconsin, about 35 miles from Milwaukee, where he was arrested. He was back in the area to compete in the Wisconsin State Amateur golf tournament at West Bend Country Club, an event he has participated in since 2018.

The former quarterback spent his entire 13-year NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys from 2004 to 2016, earning four Pro Bowl selections. After retiring, he joined CBS Sports as the network’s lead NFL game analyst in April 2017, partnered with Nantz.

Romo remains Dallas’ all-time leader in touchdown passes with 248, while Dak Prescott surpassed him last season for the franchise record in career passing yards.

Romo has not publicly addressed his arrest or his future with CBS. He is due in court on September 21.

Trainer Gavin Bedggood is contemplating a couple of race options for Just Folk at Caulfield as the horse is being prepared for an early spring goal.

Just Folk is among the entries for the Group 2 PB Lawrence Stakes (1400m), which will be contested at weight-for-age this Saturday. He is also nominated for a benchmark 100 handicap (1600m), where he has been allocated 62kg.

These races are seen as potential lead-ups to a likely start in the Listed Heatherlie Stakes (1700m) at Caulfield on August 29. This event marks the official opening of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival.

The weather forecast for Saturday appears to be favourable for Just Folk, a galloper who thrives on wet tracks. When nominations closed on Monday, the track was rated a Heavy 9.

Of Just Folk’s ten career wins from 53 starts, five have been recorded on soft surfaces. He also has an additional nine placings from 21 attempts, with three of his wins coming on heavy ground and three top-three finishes from nine starts.

“The forecast looks promising for him to get his preferred ground,” Bedggood said.

“He ran super in the Winter Championship, and he went up and ran second in Sydney, in a Stakes race.”

“We just got beaten fair and square by a better horse on the day.”

Just Folk finished third in the Winter Championship Final (1600m) at Flemington on July 4, and subsequently ran second in the Winter Challenge (1500m) on July 18.

With Just Folk recently turning ten, Bedggood expressed his liking for the idea of competing for $200,000 in prize money in the Heatherlie Stakes, as Just Folk would likely possess a fitness edge over his rivals.

“I remember Dean Lester telling me, eight or nine years ago that the Heatherlie is a race that’s always won by the horse that’s come through winter, fit, and puts itself up on speed,” Bedggood stated.

“I would think that that’s his sort of race to be winning.It’s the Caulfield Cup kick-off for a lot of horses, and hopefully, he can be Johnny on the spot.”

“Looking at the forecast on Saturday, there’s a chance it will be wet and the way Caulfield has been racing as well, it might suit him too.”

Explore the betting sites for the upcoming PB Lawrence Stakes.

Paula Radcliffe has described the empty stands at the European Athletics Championships as “a shame” after the event in Birmingham came under fire for its expensive prices.

Nearly 10,000 empty seats were available on the first evening of the Championships as 13,623 people watched Great Britain’s Amy Hunt sprint her way to 100m glory at the Alexander Stadium.

Extortionate food and drinks prices have also been called out – supporters are being made to pay as much as £18.50 for a BBQ pork roll and chips, while a bottle of water costs nearly £4 from vendors in and around the stadium.

Fans were being made to pay £150 for a Category A ticket on Monday evening and while prices for those tickets dropped by £40 for Tuesday and Wednesday, they rocket back up to £150 for the final four evenings of the tournament with no discount for concessions. The cheapest ticket in Category E is £26.

Radcliffe – who competed for Great Britain at four consecutive Olympic Games between 1996 and 2008 – exclusively told the Press Association: “It is a shame because I think there is the willingness but I don’t know whether perhaps as a sport we need to look at the pricing and accessibility for those tickets.

“Nothing beats a stadium seeing a home victory, feeling the buzz and the hairs on your arms stand up, it’s really special.

“It’s fighting with many more different sports now, that’s the truth. We have so many different sports available to choose from, it’s about standing above the rest.

“It’s about giving the opportunity to see and experience it live in person but some people are not able to afford expensive prices.

“Something like athletics, the best experience is in the stadium or on the side of the road rather than TV.”

Attendance on Tuesday evening was seemingly higher but empty seats were still scattered across the stadium to watch the men’s 100m athletes in action.

Fans turned up to the Alexander Stadium to find there is no on-site parking and are being forced to cough up £22.50 for a park and ride service which serves as an inconvenience.

Many people have spoken out on social media while former Aston Villa striker Stan Collymore also branded the pricing “tone deaf”.

He posted on X: “Weather is amazing and the sport needs as many eyeballs as possible so kids for a quid!! £150/£100/£70 for the 3 categories at the weekend is aimed at who? Not families and kids who may want to be athletes!”

All eyes are on the championships in the UK this week after London formally submitted a bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships in London and the empty seats inside stadiums are not a good look.

Some prices on the concourse differ from the food vans sitting on the premises and PA understands that organisers have no control over the expensive sausage rolls outside the stadium.

Birmingham 2026 responded to criticism and said they were “delighted” with ticket sales which have “surpassed” targets and say Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening sessions are approaching sell-out.

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy also defended ticket prices and says numbers will pick up as the week goes on.

She said: “Some of the ticket prices are higher but half of all the tickets here at the championships are £30 and under. Organisers have really worked to make it accessible.

“The numbers have been a bit low being the first few days. I think we will see that rise steadily and hoping for big numbers this weekend.”

Cristiano Ronaldo poses with his partner, model Georgina Rodriguez(AP Photo)

Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez are officially married, but a series of photographs circulating online claiming to show football stars such as Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane at the wedding are fake and AI-generated.Ronaldo confirmed his marriage to Rodríguez on Tuesday by sharing a photograph of the couple’s hands showing their wedding bands. The Portugal star captioned the post “C (heart) G”, confirming that the couple had tied the knot after almost a decade together.

Cristiano Ronaldo confirms marriage with long-time girlfriend, posts picture with rings

The announcement was quickly followed by a wave of images on social media supposedly showing some of football’s biggest names attending the ceremony. Among those featured in the viral photographs are Messi, Mbappé, Haaland and Kane.

AI-generated or digitally manipulated images

AI-generated or digitally manipulated images

Advertisement

However, the images are not genuine photographs from Ronaldo and Rodríguez’s wedding. They are AI-generated or digitally manipulated images that have been circulated online as though they were authentic pictures from the ceremony.The confusion has been fuelled by the fact that Ronaldo and Rodríguez kept their wedding extremely private. The couple reportedly married in Cascais, Portugal, in an intimate ceremony attended by their five children. Ronaldo has so far shared only a simple photograph of the couple’s wedding bands to confirm the occasion.There is no evidence to suggest that Messi, Mbappé, Haaland, Kane or the other footballers seen in the viral images attended the wedding. The photographs circulating online should therefore not be treated as proof of their presence at the ceremony.Ronaldo and Rodríguez first met in 2016 when Rodríguez was working at a Gucci store in Madrid. The couple have remained together ever since, building a family and sharing several major milestones during Ronaldo’s career.Rodríguez announced their engagement on August 11, 2025, when she shared a photograph of her engagement ring on Instagram. Exactly one year later, Ronaldo confirmed that the couple had married.The wedding marks another major milestone for the pair, who have largely kept their personal life away from the spotlight despite their enormous global following.As the wedding photographs continue to circulate online, however, social media users should be careful not to mistake AI-generated content for genuine images. While Ronaldo and Rodríguez’s marriage is real, the viral photographs showing Messi, Mbappé, Haaland, Kane and other football stars at the ceremony are not authentic.

The organisers of the upcoming BWF World Championships in India have taken extensive steps to upgrade the venue, the Indira Gandhi Stadium, to avoid the embarrassment that rocked the India Open earlier this year.

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) — the venue’s owner — learnt their lesson the hard way. During the India Open in January, pigeons twice halted a second-round match between HS Prannoy and Loh Kean Yew. The subsequent complaints regarding hygiene and Delhi’s smog left the BAI in a difficult position.

With the BWF World Championships returning to India after 17 years, the organisers are leaving no stone unturned to avoid further controversies. They have put anti-bird measures in place and even roped in monkey whisperers to host the world-class event from August 17 to 23.

The vents have been sealed, wooden doors have been replaced with a double-door entry system, and an automatic outer door has been added ahead of the regular ones. Additionally, a non-toxic gel sourced from the US has been applied around the stadium’s ducting to keep birds and insects away, while portable machines that mimic predatory bird calls have been installed as a final layer of defence.

“The January event, the India Open, we had our job cut out… so we had to improve it and we were given this task. We actually started planning from February itself on how we can improve the overall situation of this stadium as this is a pretty old stadium. The infrastructure is obviously quite old. So we just wanted to refurbish it and also represent it as a new and good thing,” SAI Executive Director Ambar Pratap Singh told reporters.

“So as you’ve be seeing, it’s not just structural upgradation that have been done, a lot of soft upgradation has also been done. One, I would like them to see is the lake. We have a lake and we have tried to improve it. By the start of the event, you will see a beautiful lake just across the stadium. These are some of the soft upgrades that have been done along with structural upgrades where the roof was treated, a lot of expansion joints were treated.

“A lot of chairs are new, many of them have been rubbed and polished properly. The buildings have been painted. As far as the pigeons are concerned, there was concern inside the arena. We have introduced innovative ways to deal with it.

“It includes machines which have been imported from the US. It has also to do with a lot of non-toxic gel, a technology which repels pigeons,” he added.

He said it was a joint effort between SAI, CPWD, and BAI, and that the Badminton World Federation was happy with the work done and the condition of the venue. 

“Many works have been done together by a newly-constituted engineering division. SAI now has come up with a specialised engineering division of its own. The engineering division have taken up some works, others have been taken up by the CPWD and now it has been taken over by BAI. We have given the venue to them and they will be further beautifying it, making it ready for the tournament.

“The BWF is pretty happy and satisfied with the work,” he said during a guided tour of the venue for mediapersons accompanied by BAI secretary general Sanjay Mishra.

Singh said they are in regular touch with MCD to keep stray dogs and monkey away from the venue.

“We have introduced double doors, automatic closing system… now it is not possible for monkeys to enter the arena. As far as the whole campus is concerned, there can be a possibility (of stray monkeys) but we are in touch with the MCD.

“For dogs also we are regularly in touch with the MCD. They will do whatever is there to be done… send them (dogs) to shelters.” 
He declined to reveal the expenditure for the renovation, stating that the BWF was satisfied with the court lighting and drift control.

“That (court lighting and drift control) has been done by specialists from the BWF. These are technical things BWF has to do, so that was sorted and they’re absolutely satisfied that the drift has been managed.

“At the India Open also, the BWF had no problem with the lighting. There was a little bit of shadow (on the court) during the India Open. We have resolved it. An expert will come from Indonesia to test the facility but BWF is satisfied,” the official said.

“Besides, roof leakages have been sorted. This is a very old building and roof leakage was a big issue but the engineering team has done a wonderful job so far. We have had heavy rains in the past few days and we have been tested.