The African football confederation says it has ended a ban on Guinea hosting international matches after the country was declared free of Ebola. Health concerns forced Guinea to play its first home qualifying match for the 2018 World Cup in Morocco. CAF wrote to Guinea’s football federation yesterday lifting a ban which was imposed in August 2014 and applied to national and club teams. CAF says it acted after the World Health Organization confirmed last week that Guinea was clear of the Ebola virus. Last November, Guinea beat Namibia 2-0 in Casablanca to advance 3-0 on aggregate to the final group stage in African qualifying. Guinea resumes qualifying in October in one of five four-team groups which are scheduled to be drawn in June.
Tennis | Riske eliminates Beck in 1st round of Shenzhen Open
Alison Riske advanced to the second round of the Shenzhen Open by beating eighth-seeded Annika Beck 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2 yesterday. The unseeded American will next face Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan. Hsieh beat Ying-Ying Duan 6-4, 7-5. Irina-Camelia Begu was among three seeded players to advance. The third-seeded Begu beat Lara Arruabarrena of Spain 6-3, 6-2, while fourth-seeded Monica Niculescu defeated Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 and seventh-seeded Zarina Diyas beat Zhang Kai-Lin of China 6-4, 7-6 (3). Timea Babos, Anna-Lena Friedsam and Katerina Siniakova also advanced.
NFL | Browns fire coach Mike Pettine, general manager Ray Farmer
The Cleveland Browns fired Mike Pettine and the San Francisco 49ers dismissed Jim Tomsula as their head coaches on Sunday, paying the price for disappointing seasons. Pettine went 10-22 in two years, dropping 18 of his final 21 games after a promising 7-4 start in 2014. Owner Jimmy Haslam also announced the firing of Ray Farmer as general manager. Pettine was the team’s seventh full-time coach since 1999, and the team has changed coaches and GMs five times since 2008. “We’ve made this decision because we don’t believe our football team was positioned well for the future,” Haslam said. “We are all disappointed with where we are and we take full responsibility.”
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