Tuesday Sports In Brief

Sep 2, 2015 - 7:04 AM OLYMPICS

LOS ANGELES (AP) The U.S. Olympic Committee named Los Angeles as its candidate for the 2024 Games, replacing Boston's soured bid and marking a comeback for LA's dream of becoming a three-time Olympic host.

The announcement by USOC CEO Scott Blackmun came under a summer sun at Santa Monica Beach, where the city's plan calls for staging beach volleyball on the site where the sport was founded.

''I want to thank Los Angeles for standing up, once again, as America's bid city,'' Blackmun said, adding that LA's proposal squares with the Olympic movement's goals of watching the bottom line while investing in projects that dovetail with community needs.

Mayor Eric Garcetti said the city was inspired to bring the games back to the U.S. for the first time in 28 years.

''This is a quest that Los Angeles was made for,'' the mayor said. ''This city is the world's greatest stage.''

Earlier in the day, the Los Angeles City Council cleared the way for Garcetti to strike agreements for a 2024 bid. The 15-0 vote came about a month after Boston was dropped from contention amid shaky public support and questions about taxpayer spending and liability.

LONDON (AP) - Olympic organizers promised to introduce viral testing in the polluted waters in Rio de Janeiro where about 1,400 athletes will compete in next year's games.

The IOC and Brazilian organizers had repeatedly insisted that only bacterial testing was required despite an independent five-month analysis by The Associated Press showing dangerously high levels of viruses from human sewage at all Rio Olympic water venues.

Acknowledging that viral water testing was now necessary, local organizing committee head Carlos Arthur Nuzman told the AP that his team was still studying how best to carry out the analysis and what pathogens to search for.

''The viral tests, we will do and we will repeat this because the most important (thing) for us is the health of the athletes,'' Nuzman said in an interview in London. ''We are working with our medical department and looking for this.''

Nuzman said he did not know when organizers would be ready to start the testing.

TOKYO (AP) - Tokyo Olympic organizers decided to scrap the logo for the 2020 Games following another allegation its Japanese designer might have used copied materials.

Reversing their earlier support for designer Kenjiro Sano against allegations of plagiarizing the design, the organizers said the decision came after new accusations over the weekend.

''We have reached a conclusion that it would be only appropriate for us to drop the logo and develop a new emblem,'' said Toshio Muto, director general of the Tokyo organizing committee. ''At this point, we have decided that the logo cannot gain public support.''

The logo has faced scrutiny since a Belgian designer took legal action saying it resembled one of his works that was created for a theater in Belgium.

Organizers had defended Sano during a news conference last Friday when they released his original design, which had been altered into its final shape, to stress its authenticity. That, instead, triggered fresh allegations over the initial ''T'' design.

TORONTO (AP) - Toronto lawmakers are wary about bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

The head of the city's budget committee said there is more uncertainty now that excitement has faded over Toronto's role as host of the recent Pan Am Games.

Gary Crawford says he hasn't consulted all 43 of his council colleagues, but he's heard doubts. He says ''everyone is being very cautious about moving forward and they're not sure.''

Bidders have two weeks to notify the IOC. Others in the mix for 2024 are Rome; Paris; Hamburg, Germany; and Budapest, Hungary. On Tuesday, Los Angeles lawmakers voted to clear the way for its mayor to pursue an Olympic deal. Boston's bid collapsed last month.

Toronto unsuccessfully bid for the games twice, most recently for the 2008 Summer Games that went to Beijing.

TENNIS

NEW YORK (AP) - Nick Kyrgios does what he wants and says what he wants on a tennis court, seemingly no matter the ramifications, and amid all the near-napping, cursing and racket smashing, he troubled Andy Murray for moments at the U.S. Open.

Only for brief moments, though.

In the tournament's most-anticipated first-round matchup, the No. 3-seeded Murray hit 18 aces, saved 11 of 14 break points and, perhaps most importantly, stayed steady in the face of Kyrgios' various distractions, putting together a 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 victory.

This was Kyrgios' first match since he was essentially put on probation by the ATP, with the threat of a 28-day suspension and $25,000 fine if he misbehaves at one of the tour's sanctioned events over the next six months. Those parameters don't apply at the U.S. Open, however, because Grand Slam tournaments are sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation.

That stemmed from some trash-talking last month against Stan Wawrinka in Montreal, where a courtside microphone picked up Kyrgios saying that his pal, Australian pro Thanasi Kokkinakis, had been with Wawrinka's girlfriend. Kyrgios was fined a total of $12,500 the next day by the ATP.

FOOTBALL

NEW YORK (AP) - A New York judge has reiterated that he'll rule this week whether New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady must serve a four-game suspension for ''Deflategate.''

Judge Richard Berman issued a one-sentence order saying he planned to rule by Friday whether the NFL properly followed its collective bargaining agreement with players when it suspended Brady for his role in using underinflated footballs in a playoff game. He said at a hearing Monday attended by Brady and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that he hoped to rule Tuesday or Wednesday, but would decide by Friday for sure.

His order Tuesday came out after an apparently new and bogus Twitter account with his photograph claimed he would rule by 4 p.m. Tuesday. The tweet did not come from his chambers.

The NFL wants Brady's suspension upheld. The NFL Players Association wants it struck down.

BASEBALL

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - All-Star reliever Kelvin Herrera and Royals right fielder Alex Rios have been diagnosed with chickenpox, raising concerns that others on the AL Central leaders may have been exposed.

Team officials said that Herrera and Rios likely will miss a couple weeks after both were sent home from Tampa Bay over the weekend. The bigger concern is whether other players could come down with the highly contagious disease, and whether it might affect the postseason.

''Think there is always a concern because these guys were in for three or four days before they showed signs of it,'' manager Ned Yost said before starting a series against Detroit on Tuesday night. ''Since that point, (trainer) Nick Kenney has done a real good job of monitoring.''

The Royals have reached out to players, coaches and family members to determine whether they have had chickenpox or been vaccinated. Most of them said Tuesday they were in the clear, but right-hander Yordano Ventura acknowledged that he has never had the virus, and several others from Latin America - where vaccinations happen less frequently - also may be at risk.

WNBA

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Tamika Catchings had 13 points, and the Indiana Fever beat the Connecticut Sun 81-51 to reach the playoffs for a WNBA-record 11th straight season.

Indiana snapped a three-game losing streak and swept the four-game season series with Connecticut.

Maggie Lucas and Natalie Achonwa each scored 11 for Indiana (18-12). The Fever went 15 for 15 at the line and outrebounded the Sun 39-26.

Connecticut did not reach double-digit scoring until the 5:28 mark of the second quarter. The Sun scored seven points in the first quarter and eight in the second to trail 41-15 at the break. Catchings had 11 points in the half for Indiana, which held Connecticut to 5-of-34 shooting.

Kelsey Bone led Connecticut (13-18) with 17 points. The Sun set a franchise record for fewest points in a half at 15.

OTHER NEWS

NEW YORK (AP) - A day after its trailer debuted online, the Will Smith football head-trauma film ''Concussion'' is already sparking controversy.

Citing studio emails leaked in the hack of Sony Pictures, The New York Times reported that the movie ''Concussion'' was altered to avoid antagonizing the NFL. The Times quoted one email that discusses a top Sony lawyer taking ''most of the bite'' out of the film ''for legal reasons with the NFL.''

In a statement to The Associated Press, ''Concussion'' director Peter Landesman disputed that report. He called his film ''a David and Goliath story'' in which Smith plays the forensic pathologist who discovered that chronic brain damage factored in the deaths of NFL players.

The NFL and Sony Pictures had no immediate comment.