Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling has agreed personal terms with Chelsea.

The 27-year-old has one year left on his contract at City and had attracted interest from major clubs overseas.

City signed Sterling from Liverpool in a $95m deal in 2015 and he went on to score 131 goals in 339 games.

Should the deal be completed, Sterling - who has 77 England caps - will become Chelsea's first major signing since they were taken over by a consortium led by Todd Boehly this off-season.

Other major clubs, including Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich were also interested in Sterling but the player was swayed by Chelsea's public and privately stated desire to sign him.

Apart from Manchester United players, only John Terry and former City team-mate Fernandinho have won more than his four Premier League titles.

However, he is still to win a Champions League.

-BBC

Pogacar puts time on other Tour contenders

Tadej Pogacar passed his first Tour de France test with flying colours when he gained time over all his rivals on the cobbled roads in a vintage fifth stage.

The two-time defending champion, who was expected to suffer on the 19km of cobbles peppering the 157-km ride from Lille, finished 51 seconds behind stage winner Simon Clarke of Australia but left the overall contenders behind.

Clarke prevailed in a lung-busting sprint finish to beat Dutch Taco van der Hoorn and Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen, who were second and third, respectively.

Wout van Aert retained the overall lead at the end of a rough day for his Jumbo Visma team, with Primoz Roglic, runner-up in 2020 and one of the pre-race favourites, losing more than two minutes to fellow Slovenian Pogacar after a crash.

Van Aert also hit the deck but ground through the whole stage and helped his team mates to chase down all day long.

Overall, Van Aert leads American Neilson Powless, fourth on the day, by 13 seconds, and Boasson Hagen by 14.

Pogacar sits in fourth position, 19 seconds off the pace.

-Reuters

British Triathlon bans transgender athletes

British triathlon has banned transgender athletes from competing in the female category at the elite and grassroots levels, instead allowing them to participate in an "open" category alongside men.

The move follows the decision of swimming's world governing body FINA to restrict the participation of transgender athletes in elite women's competitions.

British Triathlon said said triathlon was a gender-affected sport and the new policy would see transgender athletes above the age of 12 feature in an open category "for all individuals including male, transgender and those non-binary who were male sex at birth".

A separate female category would be reserved "for those who are the female sex at birth". The guidelines will come into effect from Jan. 1 next year.

World Athletics and FIFA are among a number of federations reviewing their guidelines on the involvement of transgender athletes following FINA's ruling, which is the strictest by any Olympic sports body.

While FINA engaged leading scientists on the taskforce which drew up its rules, advocates for transgender inclusion argue that not enough studies have yet been done on the impact of transition on physical performance.

-Reuters

Former Nauru star dies

A Commonwealth Games gold medalist and Olympian is the first recorded covid-related death in Nauru.

The Oceania Weightlifting Federation has announced the death of Reanna Solomon at the age of 40.

Solomon won two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in 2002 in the super heavyweight category.

She competed at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens placing 10th overall, after which she retired from the sport.

As well, Solomon won three gold medals at the 2003 Pacific Games and she was many times Oceania Champion.

Former Nauru president and Nauru's greatest weightlifter Marcus Stephen says she set the standard for other Nauruan lifters to follow.

Chinese golf tournaments canned again

The World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions event and the LPGA tournament in Shanghai, both scheduled for October, have been cancelled for a third consecutive year because of COVID-19 restrictions in China.

The WGC event was due to be played from Oct. 27-30 at Sheshan International while the LPGA event was scheduled for Oct. 13-16 at the Qizhong Garden Golf Club.

"We have worked with all Tours, as well as the China Golf Association, on the viability of hosting the WGC-HSBC Champions this fall, but unfortunately the logistical implications forced the difficult decision to cancel the event," said PGA Tour Senior Vice President, International, Christian Hardy.

As a result, the Bermuda Championship in the same week at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton will be played as a stand-alone event with full FedExCup points and an elevated purse of $10.6 million.

The LPGA said China's COVID-related restrictions also meant that their event, would not go ahead.

Mainland China reported 427 new coronavirus cases for July 5.

-Reuters

Albon says he feels okay

Williams driver Alex Albon said he felt fine for this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix after being taken to hospital for checks following a big crash at Silverstone last weekend.

The British-born Thai said he was back in the team's simulator today after relaxing for a couple of days.

"I feel pretty much back to normal," he said, explaining he had just a few bumps and bruises.

Albon, who was pitched into the pitwall and back across the track on the opening lap by Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel, said he had watched replays of his accident and put it down to "one of those things".

He added that the aerodynamic updates he had used for the first time at Silverstone appeared to be salvageable.

Albon's accident occurred seconds after a huge crash involving Alfa Romeo's Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou, who escaped unhurt after his car flew over a tyre wall and lodged against a catch fence.

-Reuters

Rennie doing good things with Wallabies

Australia defence coach Matt Taylor said head coach Dave Rennie's clarity and calm demeanour were key factors in their improvement over the last couple of years and that the Wallabies were now more adaptable as situations change on the field.

New Zealander Rennie, who replaced Michael Cheika after the 2019 Rugby World Cup, led the Wallabies to their first win over England in nine matches in Perth on Saturday despite playing much of the game with 14 men following Darcy Swain's red card.

Even-keeled Rennie gave the squad the stability it needed, said Taylor.

"He's very measured, he doesn't get too high, he doesn't get too low," he added.

"He takes things as it comes, so I certainly think that the osmosis of him being very calm probably promotes through the group.

"He's also very good at the clarity within the team. The fruit of that over the last couple of years maybe came out at the weekend, where we were able to adapt and adjust and get on with it without too much panic at all."

The second of three tests takes place on Saturday at Brisbane's Lang Park, where Australia have won their last 10 matches.

-Reuters

Paul calls off fight

Jake Paul's fight against Briton Tommy Fury set for Madison Square Garden is off after the American YouTube personality-turned-boxer tweeted that he would take on a new opponent.

The fight, which had been set for Aug. 6, would have marked Paul's first bout with a professional boxer after producing a 5-0 record against fellow celebrities and former MMA fighters.

Paul had previously said that Fury, the younger half-brother of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, had until today to resolve issues that prevented him from travelling to the United States last week.

Fury was not immediately reachable for comment.

-Reuters

Open spectators face delays

Spectators attending the 150th Open at St Andrews next week could face travel chaos with organisers urging them not to take trains because of industrial action by local operator ScotRail.

With the R&A putting emphasis on sustainability and safeguarding the environment, they are now faced with the prospect of gridlocked roads as fans drive to the coastal course instead.

A total of around 290,000 fans are expected to attend the practise days and four tournament days and, with accommodation options in St Andrews limited, many fans will stay as far afield as Edinburgh, 80km away.

-Reuters