National Sports

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Canada's Corey Conners is tied for second after the morning wave of the first round of the Players Championship. Conners, from Listowel, Ont., shot a 4-under 68 today.

TORONTO — A Canadian Championship that had been delayed, revamped and ultimately stripped down to its bare essentials was finally put on hold Thursday with Toronto FC given a bye into the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League.

DOHA, Qatar — Canada's Denis Shapovalov lost 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 to American Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Open on Thursday. The fourth-seeded Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont.

CALGARY — The men curling in the Canadian championship don't much care there's a small, silver box processing their nasal and throat swabs in a matter of hours, but the result it produces matters deeply to them.

GENEVA — China strengthened its relationship with the International Olympic Committee on Thursday by offering to pay for vaccines for athletes as criticism of the 2022 Winter Games host country continues.

FLORENCE, Italy — Canadian Janine Beckie and Manchester City advanced to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Women's Champions League with a 5-0 win Thursday at Fiorentina.

VANCOUVER — Montreal Canadiens centre Phillip Danault breathed a giant sigh of relief Wednesday. Twenty-five games into the season, he finally scored his first goal of the year.

EDMONTON — Leon Draisaitl said before Wednesday's game it's tough to be the Edmonton Oilers' best player with Connor McDavid on the roster.

CALGARY — The Kevin Koe and John Morris role reversal is paying dividends for their curling team at the Canadian men's championship. Koe played third for Morris when the latter skipped a team from 2003 and 2006.

Sonny Bill Williams, who wore Wolfpack colours briefly but never made it to Toronto, says he is retiring from rugby to focus on boxing. The 35-year-old former All Black, a star in both rugby union and rugby league, said his farewell on social media.