Roger Federer has withdrawn from the Italian Open in Rome with an injury to his right leg, tournament organisers have confirmed.

Federer, who had been due to face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals, came through two matches Thursday at the rain-affected tournament, beating Joao Sousa in straight sets before being forced to a deciding set against Borna Coric later in the day.

It is that match against Coric that is believed to have caused Federer's injury, with him revealing after the 3-hour, 51-minute contest that he tweaked his leg after slipping on the wet baseline.

The withdrawal is the second of the day, with women's world No. 1 Naomi Osaka withdrawing from her quarterfinal with a hand injury.

"I am disappointed that I will not be able to compete today," Federer said of his withdrawal.

"I am not 100 percent physically, and after consultation with my team, it was determined that I not play. Rome has always been one of my favorite cities to visit, and I hope to be back next year."

With nine days to go until the French Open begins at Roland Garros, it remains to be seen whether Federer's injury is serious enough to throw his participation there into doubt.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion has not played at Roland Garros since reaching the quarterfinals in 2015, with this set to be his return to the clay courts in Paris 10 years after his sole French Open triumph.

With Federer out, Tsitsipas will advance to his third consecutive semifinal after winning in Estoril for his maiden clay-court title before finishing as runner-up to Novak Djokovic in Madrid.

Juventus have announced Massimiliano Allegri will leave his post as manager at the end of the season.

There have been a succession of meetings between Allegri and the Juve board in the past few days over the ex-AC Milan boss' future with the decision having been taken that he will step down following their last match of the season away to Sampdoria on May 26.

"Massimiliano Allegri will not be on the Juventus bench for the 2019-2020 season," the statement on Juventus' website read.

Allegri took charge of the Bianconeri in July 2014, after Antonio Conte resigned only days into preseason training. He was an unpopular choice among Juve fans at the time, given his past at AC Milan, whom he had led to the Serie A title in 2011 before being sacked midway through the 2013-14 campaign.

He managed to win most Juve supporters over, however, by guiding the Old Lady to five straight Serie A titles, and leading them to the 2015 and 2017 Champions League finals, which they lost to Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. Allegri also won the Coppa Italia in his first four seasons in Turin -- after Juventus had gone 20 years without winning Italy's main domestic cup competition -- but saw his side eliminated by Atalanta in this season's quarterfinals.

Last summer's signing of Cristiano Ronaldo was seen as a key to Juve finally lifting the Champions League for the first time since 1996 but, despite making a remarkable recovery from a 2-0 first leg defeat to eliminate Atletico Madrid in the round of 16, they were eliminated by Ajax in the quarterfinals, losing at that stage for the second season running following last year's defeat to Real Madrid.

Allegri, 51, turned down a move to Real last summer in a bid to win the Champions League with Juve but, with the Spanish club now back in the hands of Zinedine Zidane, Allegri's future could lie in the Premier League, where he has previously been linked with Chelsea.

Allegri and club president Agnelli will explain the reasons behind the parting of ways at a news conference on Saturday.

Juve will pick up their eighth straight Scudetto following their final home game of the season at the Allianz Stadium against Atalanta on Sunday.

A look ahead to the second meeting in the Diamond League series in China

Reece Prescod will be looking for a repeat of last year’s 100m Diamond League success in Shanghai when he returns to China to face a top-quality field in the meeting once again on Saturday.

Britain’s European silver medallist, who clocked 10.04 to secure a surprise victory in the rain 12 months ago, has a formidable task ahead of him.

He will be up against Diamond League champion, world 60m record-holder and world silver medallist Christian Coleman, not to mention Noah Lyles and Mike Rogers.

All three Americans ran sub 9.90 last year.

Chinese sprinter Su Bingtian will be hoping for the home crowd to will him to victory, while South Africa’s Akani Simbine also returns to Diamond League action.

There are a number of other top clashes set for Shanghai, including in the men’s 400m hurdles where Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba and Rai Benjamin of the US will go head-to-head for the first time. Samba sits second on the world all-time list with his 46.98 from last June while Benjamin is joint third with his 47.02 from earlier that month.

Britain’s Andrew Pozzi opens his outdoor season in Shanghai and will line up in the 110m hurdles alongside Jamaica’s Olympic and world champion Omar McLeod.

Ethiopia’s world indoor champion Yomif Kejelcha and 12:43.02 man Selemon Barega will be joined in the 5000m by Uganda’s world cross country champion Joshua Cheptegei, while the women’s 1500m includes Dutch star Sifan Hassan and the 3000m steeplechase field features Kenya’s world record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech.

Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi of Greece and USA’s world indoor champion Sandi Morris will renew their rivalry in the pole vault, while world and Diamond League champion Gong Lijiao will be seeking home support as she contests the shot put.

Ukraine’s Bohdan Bondarenko goes in the men’s high jump, while Luvo Manyonga contests the men’s long jump, China’s Lyu Huihui is among those in the women’s javelin and Thomas Röhler of Germany is among those in the men’s competition.

The women’s 100m features Jamaica’s double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson, Nigeria’s world medallist Blessing Okagbare, Trinidad and Tobago’s Commonwealth champion Michelle-Lee Ahye and USA’s NCAA champion Aleia Hobbs, while the 400m races include world medallist Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain and USA’s Sydney McLaughlin in the women’s and American Fred Kerley and Steven Gardiner of Bahamas in the men’s.

The non-Diamond League 200m features Britain’s world relay champion anchor Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and Canada’s Andre De Grasse.

Full entry lists can be found here.

Hellen Obiri, Steph Twell, Andy Vernon and Stanley Biwott are among athletes racing the 10km on Sunday

The Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run returns on Sunday, with a number of top elite athletes set to battle for titles ahead of the 30,000-strong mass race.

Kenya’s world 5000m and recent world cross country champion Hellen Obiri is making her debut at the event and will be faced with a field containing Ethiopia’s Tokyo marathon winner Ruta Aga, while two-time world marathon champion Edna Kiplagat also features, as does Ireland’s Fionnula McCormack.

A healthy British contingent is headed by Steph Twell, who won the Brighton 10km in 31:58 last month, and she is joined by Mhairi Maclennan, Jenny Nesbitt and Aly Dixon, who was recently named part of Britain’s IAU 50km World Championships team for the event in Romania in September.

Ugandan world cross silver medallist Jacob Kiplimo is fastest in the men’s field with a personal best of 26:41, though he will be facing the likes of Ethiopian Lelisa Desisa, Boston Marathon runner-up this year, and Kenya’s 2015 New York marathon winner Stanley Biwott.

Mo Farah is not defending the title he won last year but the British presence will feature Nick Goolab, a man on form and the fastest Briton over 10km so far this year after breaking the course record with a run of 28:22 when winning in Brighton.

He will be joined by compatriots Emile Cairess, Ieuan Thomas and Dan Studley.

The wheelchair races will feature Johnboy Smith, Simon Lawson, Mark Telford and Shelly Woods.

The Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run is the third largest running event in the country, after the Simplyhealth Great North Run and the Virgin Money London Marathon, and it will kick off with the Simplyhealth Junior and Mini Great Manchester Run before the adult’s half-marathon and 10km events.

You can read more about ‘the big three’ of the Great Manchester Run, London Marathon and Great North Run in a special five-page spotlight feature included in the latest edition of AW magazine, which is available digitally here.

‘Being in the history books is an amazing feeling after a lifetime of training and travelling’
Interview by SEAN REUTHE

Ahead of next week’s Allam British Open, Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez says that he is heading to Hull with the aim of retaining the title he won in stunning fashion 12 months ago.

The 2019 edition of the British Open will be held at the University of Hull’s new sports complex between May 20-26, and Rodriguez has fond memories of the city after beating World No.2 Mohamed ElShorbagy at the Airco Arena last May to etch his name on to the historic trophy.

In doing so, Rodriguez became the first South American ever to win a PSA World Tour Platinum title and the first unseeded player in the modern era to capture the British Open trophy – accolades that seem all the more impressive given his relative lack of training partners in Colombia when compared to a number of his contemporaries.

“It’s something that is going to be in my mind forever,” said Rodriguez, the 33-year-old from Bogota.

“Becoming a legend at the British Open is something that is difficult to describe. Being in the history books of this tournament is amazing, I’m going to remember this tournament forever.

“I think that moment when I won that match with Mohamed was my career highlight. There were so many years of training, playing, travelling, and it paid off.

“I really wanted to win a Platinum event, but I never thought I was going to win the British Open. That was a great gift because when I was a kid I was just thinking about being top 20 and maybe top 10 in the world, but I never thought I would win the British Open because it was maybe too far for me.

“Especially because I come from South America where I don’t have the same competition and tournaments [than others]. You can consider this tournament as the ‘Wimbledon of Squash’. There’s so much history behind this tournament, and I was very proud to win it last year, it was the first major event in my career.”

Last year’s British Open win saw Rodriguez qualify for the PSA World Tour Finals and, after a below-par season which has seen him fail to make it past the quarter-final stages of any of his tournaments this season, the World No.7 will require similar heroics to qualify for the season-ending event in Cairo next month.

However, Rodriguez has proven himself as one of the most resilient players on the tour and has fought back from injury, illness and a world ranking which dropped as low as No.25 in May 2017 to become a real force at the sport’s major tournaments once again.

Now armed with the experience of claiming silverware on the biggest stage, Rodriguez insists that he has what it takes to defend his crown.

“The passion and the love that I have for this sport is huge, and it motivates me,” he said.

“I still think that I can play for many years, and I think that I can win many tournaments. It’s like a little piece of a big cake that I’ve already tasted, now I know how it feels when you win a big tournament, especially beating the World No.1 in the final.

“I’m going to face this tournament with great motivation, this year the competition is even harder because most of the players know that they are capable of winning it.

“It’s a great opportunity for me and a great chance. I’m excited knowing that I’m the defending champion, I know there’s going to be a lot of pressure, but I want to play, I want to be fit and healthy and the other things will come.

“I’m pretty sure that I can do the same thing as last year, I’m looking forward to playing this event, and I would love to be the British Open champion again.”

Rodriguez is seeded sixth for this year’s tournament and has been drawn on the same side of the draw as ElShorbagy, with the pair seeded to lock horns once again in the quarter-finals.

Also involved in the men’s draw are the likes of World No.1 Ali Farag, World No.5 Simon Rösner and England’s former World No.1 James Willstrop.

The women’s draw is headed up by World No.1 Raneem El Welily as she looks to go one better than last year’s runner-up finish to fellow Egyptian Nour El Sherbini.

Former champions Camille Serme, Laura Massaro and Nicol David are also involved, with the latter two making the final appearances of their illustrious careers as both are set to retire at the end of this season.

A prize purse of $324,000 is split evenly between the men’s and women’s draws, while matches from the glass court will be shown live on SQUASHTV (rest of world), Eurosport Player (Europe only) and the official Facebook page of the PSA World Tour (excluding Europe and Japan. The semi-finals and finals will be shown live by broadcasters such as BT Sport, Fox Sports Australia, Astro and more.

Tickets are available via Ticketmaster. 

Interview by SEAN REUTHE (PSA PR and Media Manager). Edited by ALAN THATCHER

Pictures courtesy of PSA 

Israel Folau's contract has been terminated by Rugby Australia after he said "hell awaits" gay people in a social media post.

The full-back, 30, was sacked in April but requested a hearing, which was heard by a three-person panel.

The panel found him guilty of a "high level breach" of RA's player code of conduct and upheld the dismissal.

Folau, who had a RA deal until 2022, has 72 hours to appeal against the ruling and is considering his options.

An appeal would mean a second code of conduct hearing with the same evidence but a new panel, while he could also try to take his case to Australia's Supreme Court.

The fundamentalist Christian posted a banner on his Instagram account in April that read: "Drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolators - Hell awaits you."

New South Wales Waratahs' Folau, who escaped punishment for similar comments last year, said he was "deeply saddened" by RA's decision.

"It has been a privilege and an honour to represent Australia and my home state of New South Wales, playing the game I love," he said in a statement.

"As Australians, we are born with certain rights, including the right to freedom of religion and the right to freedom of expression.

"The Christian faith has always been a part of my life and I believe it is my duty as a Christian to share God's word.

"Upholding my religious beliefs should not prevent my ability to work or play for my club and country."

Folau, RA chief executive Raelene Castle, Wallabies coach Michael Cheika and New South Wales Rugby Union (NSWRU) chief executive Andrew Hore all gave evidence at the three-day hearing earlier this month.

The panel then took written submissions before deciding on Folau's punishment.

"This outcome is a painful situation for the game," said Castle.

"Rugby Australia did not choose to be in the situation, but Rugby Australia's position remains that Israel, through his actions, left us with no choice but to pursue the course of action resulting in today's outcome."

Folau was expected to play at this year's World Cup in Japan but Cheika has said he is unlikely to be selected for Australia again.

"This issue has created an unwanted distraction in an important year for the sport and for the Wallabies team," added Castle.

"But our clear message for all rugby fans is that we need to stand by our values and the qualities of inclusion, passion, integrity, discipline, respect and teamwork."

NSWRU boss Hore said: "While NSWRU is disappointed to lose a player of Israel's calibre, rugby has a code of conduct and values that we must adhere to ensure that our game remains a game for all, no matter people's background or beliefs."

In addition to his rugby union career, Folau has also played professional rugby league and Australian rules football.

In April, Australian rugby league's governing body ruled out Folau returning to the NRL.

He has recently lost sponsorship deals with Land Rover, who withdrew a car issued to him, and sportswear brand Asics.

Rugby Australia is a foundation member of Pride in Sport Index (PSI), which is a programme in Australia set up to help sporting organisations with the inclusion of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community.

"We commend Rugby Australia, as well as New South Wales Rugby Union, for their leadership and courage throughout this process," said PSI co-founder Andrew Purchas.

"Their swift and decisive actions shows that homophobic and transphobic discrimination is not acceptable in sport and individuals - irrespective of their social or professional stature - will be held accountable for their words and actions."

INDIANAPOLIS – Another day passed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and it was a day when Fernando Alonso and McLaren did not turn a lap in preparation for the 103rd Indianapolis 500.

The team hoped to have its backup car ready to hit the track by 1 or 2 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday, but it was continuing to work on the No. 66 Chevrolet when a rain storm around 4:30 p.m. ended all on-track activity for the remainder of the day.

Alonso and McLaren were the only driver/car combination that did not turn a lap at the 2.5-mile speedway Thursday. That means his first serious track time will have to wait until Friday and that will create a very precarious situation.

RELATED: Jones Fastest On Abbreviated Day At Indy

Alonso will have to forego full-tank and pack running because extra boost is given to the cars beginning Friday and through qualification weekend.

That is a boost pressure that won’t be used in the race. The majority of the field ran race trim on Thursday and won’t begin speed setups for qualifications until Friday.

Gil de Ferran, the 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner who now serves as sporting director at McLaren, said the team is not rushing to get the backup car ready.

Among the things the team worked on Thursday was an engine change. The team made the call to switch engines when the powerplant from the primary car was found to be damaged in Wednesday’s incident.

“While we have a number of experienced individuals in the team, we are still relatively new as a crew,” de Ferran said. “Because of this and the fact that we have deep respect for Indianapolis, we are being careful and measured in our approach and want to ensure we’re sending the best possible car out on track.

“Not running today was a serious setback to our Indy 500 program, but all is not lost. We should have a full day of practice and preparations for qualifying tomorrow and our goal will be to have a nice, clean day.”

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Boston Bruins are in the Stanley Cup Final, which means the Tuukka Rask redemption tour continues.

The Bruins goaltender has been spectacular in the Bruins' postseason run, including a 24-save shutout in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Thursday to knock out the Carolina Hurricanes in a sweep.

Rask had a .956 save percentage in the series and improved to 3-0 with a .990 save percentage (95 saves on 96 shots) in games this postseason with a chance to eliminate opponents.

"I don't have the words for it," teammate Charlie McAvoy said. "I sat on the bench tonight, I would see a Grade A [chance] and just shake my head of how easy he made it look, making some of those saves. He's unbelievable. I've always had that belief in him and I know everyone else in our room has."

Though the Bruins are confident in the 32-year-old Finn, Rask has always been polarizing among Boston fans. It began in 2010, when he was in net when the team blew a 3-0 series lead against the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round. Rask had a great chance to lead the Bruins to a championship again in 2013, but Boston lost in the Stanley Cup Final to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Despite winning the Vezina Trophy in 2014 as the league's top goaltender, Rask always seemed to have skeptics in Boston.

Boston's coach, Bruce Cassidy, offered a passionate defense of Rask after he knocked out the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 of the first round by stopping 32 of 33 shots. "I think you have to, as a fan, acknowledge when a player plays well," Cassidy said then. "I know in this town when you don't, you hear about it -- that's fine too. But tonight he played well and hopefully the people get behind him."

Cassidy and the Bruins continued to praise Rask this spring, including on Thursday.

"I don't know if I can say more [that hasn't been said]," veteran forward David Backes said, "It's great to have him behind us, to know that if mistakes do get made in front of us, he'll bail us out. He's been our backbone. Phenomenal. Your best penalty killer is often your goalie, and he's been that."

The Bruins were especially impressive stymieing Carolina's power play in the series, limiting them to just one power play goal on 14 opportunities. But all series the plucky Hurricanes couldn't keep up with the high-powered Bruins and their red-hot goaltender. After being outscored 11-4 in the two opening games, Carolina captain Justin Williams said his team needed to "eat a poop sandwich" and "chew on it for a little bit" to get the bad taste out, and start over.

Carolina came out storming in Game 3, including 20 shots on goal, 33 shot attempts and a 46-second 5-on-3 in the first period alone. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Canes had a 2.49 expected goals in the first period, but they ended up with zero -- thanks to Rask.

When asked how the team seemed to be getting stronger as the postseason went on, Cassidy said: "Tuukka has been very consistent. Usually if you're going to get on a roll, your goaltender has got to be there for you."