Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - American Russell Henley is the clubhouse leader after the opening day of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego.

Henley, who's ranked 63rd in the world, posted a four under par 67, with South African Louis Oosthuizen also at four under after 16 holes when fading light stopped play for the day.

Oosthuizen was among three dozen players unable to complete the round after morning fog delayed the start of play by an hour and a half.

Italian former British Open champion Francesco Molinari and Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello shot three-under 68, while heavyweights Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama and Jon Rahm were among a group on 69.

Phil Mickelson, who last month became the oldest player to win a major when he took out the PGA Championship posted a four over par 75 as he chases the only major title to have so far eluded him.

Mickelson has finished runner-up at the U.S. Open six times.

-Reuters

Tutara to miss Australian Baseball League again

The Auckland Tuatara have opted to sit out the 2021-22 Australian Baseball League season because of uncertainty around travel during the COVID pandemic and to allow the league to confirm a schedule.

The team also sat out this season due to the Coronavirus.

The pandemic has forced the Auckland franchise, the ABL and its clubs to consider the "what if" scenarios and having a team from outside of Australia competing comes with significant risk while both countries continue to protect themselves against the virus.

With the complete backing of the ABL and fellow clubs, the Auckland Tuatara will skip the ABL season and immediately start work on putting together a baseball program for Kiwi fans in Auckland and around the country for the summer as well as planning for their return to the league in 2022-23 and beyond.

"It is an incredibly difficult decision to come to," Auckland Tuatara chairman Noel Davies said.

"It really hurt the franchise not playing last season, but in hindsight it proved the sensible thing to do. It meant our players were not locked down in Australia and it protected ourselves from financial risk. Because we wanted to play in the league, we waited until very late last year to make that tough call and that put pressure on the rest of the league."

Dutch too strong for Austria as the advance to Euro knockouts

An early Memphis Depay penalty and a Denzel Dumfries goal gave the Netherlands a convincing 2-0 victory over Austria and a place in the Euro 2020 last 16 as Group C winners.

The Dutch cannot be overtaken at the head of the standings after a second win while Austria's hopes rest on the result of their last match against Ukraine.

The 11th-minute spot-kick provided an early platform for the home side and flying full back Dumfries proved a popular scorer at the Johan Cruyff Arena as he doubled the tally in the 67th minute with his second goal in as many matches.

The second goal came after Donyell Malen beat the offside trap and unselfishly played in the charging Dumfries, whose finish was enthusiastically celebrated by his team mates and the 16,000-strong crowd.

The Dutch host North Macedonia in their next match and know already they will go to Bucharest on 27 June 27 to face one of the third-placed finishers in the round of 16.

-Reuters

Belgium come from behind for win

Kevin de Bruyne came off the bench to inspire Belgium in a 2-1 comeback win over Denmark to clinch their place in the Euro 2020 knockouts on an emotional afternoon as both sides paid tribute to Christian Eriksen.

Denmark got off to a dream start when Yussuf Poulsen put them ahead after 99 seconds as the team rode a wave of sentiment over playmaker Eriksen's cardiac arrest in their first game.

Denmark dominated the rest of the first half but Belgium turned to a bench bursting with talent and De Bruyne, who came on right after the interval, set up a sublime equaliser by laying on a pass for Thorgan Hazard to level in the 54th minute.

De Bruyne then completed the comeback by finishing off a another classy team move to thump the ball into the net in the 74th minute.

Belgium lead Group B with six points and became the second side in the tournament along with Italy to clinch their place in the last 16.

Denmark have yet to earn a point and will need to win their final game against Russia and hope it is enough to get them through.

In Group C Ukraine beat North Macedonia 3-1 to keep alive their chances of qualifying.

-Reuters

Eriksen gets heart device

Denmark football player Christian Eriksen will have a heart-starter device implanted in response to his collapse during last weekend's Euro 2020 game against Finland.

The device is an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, which helps to regulate a heart's rhythm.

Medics performed life-saving CPR and his heart was restarted with a defibrillator after his collapse.

Eriksen, 29, has a chance return to football even with the ICD, if doctors give him the green light. Netherlands defender Daley Blind has played with one since 2019.

Eriksen, who also plays for Inter Milan, would need permission to return to that team.

Two days ago, he posted a photo to social media from his hospital bed to let fans know he is OK.

-Reuters

UEFA reminds players about sponsor obligations

European football's governing body UEFA has responded to Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo's removal of a Coca-Cola bottle at a Euro 2020 media conference by telling teams they have contractual obligations towards tournament sponsors.

Ronaldo moved Coca-Cola bottles aside as he sat down to speak to the media on the eve of their Group F opener against Hungary in Budapest, which Portugal won 3-0.

The 36-year-old then held up a bottle of water and said "Agua" in Portuguese, making headlines.

A day later, France midfielder Paul Pogba, who is a Muslim, removed a Heineken beer bottle from in front of him after France's 1-0 victory over Germany.

UEFA's Euro 2020 tournament director Martin Kallen said the main issue had been with Ronaldo's action but there was an understanding of players who did such things for religious reasons.

-Reuters

Australia name 35 swimmers for Olympics

Thirty-five athletes, including veterans Cate Campbell and Emily Seebohm who will take part in their fourth Olympics, have been named in a powerful Australian swimming team bound for Tokyo next month.

There had been speculation whether the list of 17 men would include Mack Horton, who fell short in his individual events at the Olympic swimming trials in Adelaide this week. But the popular 400m Olympic freestyle champion and anti doping campaigner makes the cut as a relay swimmer.

Former breaststroke world record holder Matt Wilson, who just missed his qualifying time, was also included as a relay option after he suffered a family bereavement this week.

Sixteen-year-old Mollie O'Callaghan and 17-year-old all-rounder Isaac Cooper make a team that has three athletes heading to their third Olympics, nine bound for their second Games and 21 debutants.

Up to 480 Australian athletes across all sports are expected to make the trip to Tokyo.

-Reuters

Aston Martin pick up designer

Aston Martin have signed Alfa Romeo's chief designer Luca Furbatto in what the expanding Formula One team said was the first of a number of significant new appointments.

Furbatto, who will take the role of engineering director, is expected to join the Silverstone-based team ahead of the 2022 season.

Aston Martin technical director Andrew Green will become chief technical officer with immediate effect.

Furbatto has worked previously at McLaren and Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso, now AlphaTauri, in more than two decades in the sport.

Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer has said the team expect to add some 250 staff before a move to a new factory in 2022.

The team competed as Racing Point last year, after taking over the assets of now-defunct Force India which went into administration in 2018, and changed their name to Aston Martin for 2021.

-Reuters