Carabins, Thunderbirds among those in action as U Sports football playoffs continue

SHIGA, Japan (AP) — Hana Wakimoto shot a 4-under 68 on Friday to maintain her lead after the second round of the LPGA’s Toto Japan Classic.

The Japanese player shot a 63 in the opening round and continued to set the pace with a 13-under-par total of 131 after 36 holes.

Yealimi Noh of the United States and Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand were two strokes off the lead after the second round. Noh shot 65 and Jutanugarn carded a 66.

Rio Takeda of Japan was three behind after a 65.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson, of Smiths Falls, Ont., shot 71 and was at 3-under, 10 strokes behind. Minjee Lee of Australia shot 75 and was 11 strokes behind Wakimoto.

Noh, who has been using a new putting stance over the past year, birdied her first hole of the day, the par-5 1st, and made pars on her next two holes. The 23-year-old then had four consecutive birdies.

“For me, last year, I was really struggling with my putting and I just needed something new and something completely different,” said Noh, who needed only 20 putts throughout her second round Friday.

“I never even thought of trying it but my coach and my dad suggested it to me and I tried it. It helped me get over that uneasy feeling over the ball. So, that’s how it started and now using it a year after, my stroke has gotten really solid and my speed is great with the putter so it has helped me a lot.”

The Japan tournament concludes a four-event Asian swing for the LPGA Tour that included events in China, South Korea and Malaysia.

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AP golf:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Manchester United hired Ruben Amorim on Friday, gambling on a manager unproven in Europe’s top leagues to turn around the fortunes of the fading English power.

At age 39, Amorim, who has joined from Portuguese champion Sporting Lisbon, will be the youngest person to coach United since the 1960s and the sixth permanent manager since the retirement of Alex Ferguson in 2013.

He will take charge on Nov. 11, after completing his commitments to Sporting, and has signed a contract until June 2027, with United having an option of an additional year.

“Ruben is one of the most exciting and highly-rated young coaches in European football,” United said.

United, the 20-time English champion, hasn’t won the Premier League since Ferguson’s final season in charge. Amorim’s task will be to revive the glories of a club that has fallen way behind the best in England and Europe — something that has been beyond the likes of Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and most recently Erik ten Hag, who was fired on Monday.

United is currently in 14th place in the 20-team Premier League, having lost four of its first nine games.

Amorim, a former Portugal midfielder who spent the majority of his club career at Benfica, joins after United paid 10 million euros ($10.8 million) to release him from his contract at Sporting, which he led to two Portuguese titles in four full seasons in charge.

He has only worked in Portugal and has no experience of managing some of the game’s top players under the constant glare of the world’s media.

However, Amorim did end Sporting’s 19-year title drought in the Portuguese league in 2021 to end the dominance of rivals Benfica and Porto, and won the League Cup that year, too, in his first season in charge.

Sporting also won the league last season and has won all nine of its league games in this campaign, bolstering Amorim’s status as a burgeoning coaching prospect. In his only other top-flight role, at Braga, he won the League Cup in a stint lasting less than a season.

Amorim will finish his time at Sporting with a game against Estrela da Amadora on Friday, at home to Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday and with a trip to Braga on Nov. 10.

In the meantime, Ruud van Nistelrooy will stay in interim control of United, taking charge of three games before the international break, which are all at home: against Chelsea and Leicester in the Premier League either side of a Europa League match against PAOK.

Amorim’s first game with United will be away to Ipswich on Nov. 24.

He reportedly held talks with West Ham last season before the London team hired Julen Lopetegui, and was also linked with replacing Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool before Arne Slot was appointed.

Now, he is taking charge of one of the world’s most storied clubs, which has been in decline for the past decade and is in a period of upheaval following the arrival of a new soccer-focused leadership team fronted by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe.

Ratcliffe will hope he has signed the latest coaching gem, with Amorim the youngest United manager since a 31-year-old Wilf McGuinness took charge in 1969.

Following on from the appointment of Ten Hag, who arrived from the Dutch league, it continues United’s shift from hiring high-profile coaches such as Van Gaal and Mourinho.

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AP soccer:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

A university basketball star on Vancouver Island is speaking out about the treatment she’s received as a transgender athlete.

Vancouver Island University forward Harriette Mackenzie took to social media to detail what happened during and after a pair of home games against Canadian Bible College last weekend.

The six-foot-two forward says in a video that she was physically targeted by her opponents, that the visiting team’s coach, Taylor Claggett, went on a “tirade” about how Mackenzie shouldn’t be allowed to play, and that a social media account linked to Claggett posted anti-trans messages after Friday’s game in Nanaimo, B.C.

Canadian Bible College, an evangelical Mennonite bible college located in Abbotsford, B.C., issued a statement late Thursday saying it feels Mackenzie’s video “does not accurately represent all the events that took place” and that Claggett was “speaking out for the safety of her players like any good coach would do.”

Mackenzie says the treatment was “nothing new,” and that she has been “outed and attacked” by players, coaches and fans across her basketball career, with people attributing her success to being transgender instead of hard work.

Mackenzie says she’s proud of her story and that queer, trans and nonbinary people belong in sport.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.