Mbappé looks OK to play vs. Dutch

Kylian Mbappé trained wearing a blue, white and red face mask with the rest of his teammates on Thursday ahead of France’s game against the Netherlands at Euro 2024 in Germany. France coach Didier Deschamps said he assumes his star player will be available for Friday’s game. Mbappé seemed fully integrated with the rest of the team as he trained with the group after the stretching. Deschamps sounded confident that Mbappé will play. “Everything is going well, after the shock we had. He was able to take part is some light exercises yesterday and that will be the same this evening. Everything is evolving in the right direction,” Deschamps said before the training session. “We’ll do all we can to ensure that he’ll be available tomorrow.” Mbappé broke his nose in France’s opening 1-0 win over Austria on Monday when his face collided with Austria defender Kevin Danso’s shoulder as he was trying to head the ball. Blood stained his white France jersey. If he plays Friday, he’ll need to wear a mask. France and the Netherlands are level on three points in Group D.

Gauff to lead US tennis at Olympics

Coco Gauff will headline the U.S. tennis team at the Paris Olympics three years after missing the Tokyo Games because she tested positive for COVID-19. The 20-year-old Gauff, ranked No. 2, will be joined by No. 5 Jessica Pegula, Danielle Collins and Emma Navarro in women’s singles, along with Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Chris Eubanks and Marcos Giron in men’s singles. Olympic tennis starts July 27 at Roland Garros, the site of the French Open. The American team features six first-time Olympians, the U.S. Tennis Association said in Thursday’s announcement. Gauff is the U.S. Open champion and has reached the semifinals at the year’s first two Grand Slams, the Australian and French Opens. She was a finalist on the Roland Garros clay in 2022 and will be a medal contender in doubles, too. Gauff and Pegula have won five doubles titles as a pair. Gauff won her first major doubles title — with Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic — at the French Open this month. Gauff tested positive for COVID-19 days before the start of the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics in July 2021.

Woods’ son to play in 1st USGA event

Charlie Woods earned his way into his first USGA championship on Wednesday when the 15-year-old son of Tiger Woods had the leading score among qualifiers for the U.S. Junior Amateur next month at Oakland Hills. Charlie Woods recovered from a bogey-double bogey start at Eagle Trace Golf Club in Coral Springs, Florida, to finish with a 1-under 71 to be medalist from his qualifier. “I didn’t play great my first two holes, but I played really good for the last 16. I just told myself not to make any more bogeys or doubles and I took advantage of some nice birdie looks when I had them,” Woods, above, said. Tiger Woods, 48, was 14 when he qualified for his first U.S. Junior, reaching the semifinals. Woods won his first U.S. Junior Amateur a year later at Bay Hill in 19 holes. He’s the only player to win the U.S. Junior three straight times. Players have to be under 19 before the championship ends. Woods will be among 264 players who will go through 36 holes of stroke play on the North and South courses at Oakland Hills to determine which 64 players advance to match play. —AP