Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

MLB roundup: Braves, Astros clinch division titles

The Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros kept alive their division dominance with clinching victories Thursday. The Braves got six strong innings from starter Ian Anderson and home runs from Jorge Soler and Austin Riley to beat the visiting Philadelphia Phillies 5-3, clinching their fourth consecutive National League East championship.

Australian state makes COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for athletes

Australia’s Victoria state has included professional athletes in a vaccination mandate that will require about 1.25 million “authorised workers” to have two COVID-19 shots by the end of November. Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews announced the health order on Friday as the southern state grapples with an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant.

For rookie QBs, struggle is real

No wobbly pass, stare-down interception, busted assignment or coughed-up fumble underscores the sad state of the NFL’s underwhelming rookie quarterback class more than these ugly statistics. Between towering Jacksonville Jaguars starter Trevor Lawrence, New York Jets signal caller Zach Wilson and New England Patriots quarterback and Cam Newton replacement Mac Jones, they’ve combined for a 1-8 record, 17 interceptions and only nine touchdown passes.

NBA-Warriors’ Green says not his place to tell team mate to get vaccinated

Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green said it is not his place to convince team mate Andrew Wiggins to take a COVID-19 shot and described the debate surrounding vaccinated and unvaccinated players as a “political war”. Reports in the U.S. media said 95% of players in the league have had at least one shot. Unvaccinated players must comply with a lengthy list of restrictions to play this season.

Handball-Teenage Russians banned for matchfixing after lie detector tests

The Russian national Under-19 men’s handball team underwent lie detector tests and “psychodiagnostic evaluation” in front of a security specialist before eight of them were banned for match fixing, the country’s Handball Federation (HFR) said on Friday. The team were suspected of receiving payment via third-party gambling to throw matches in the European Championship tournament in Croatia in August, when they lost six of their seven games to finish 15th of the 16 competing teams.

Soccer-Former England defender Butcher wants heading phased out of the game

Former England defender Terry Butcher wants heading to be gradually phased out of the sport to reduce the risk of brain trauma and neurodegenerative diseases. Butcher, 62, was a no-nonsense centre back who was strong in the air and famously suffered a head wound playing for England in a World Cup qualifier in 1989, but stayed on the pitch and ended the game covered in blood.

Czech foreign minister summons British ambassador over Rangers game accusations

Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek summoned Britain’s ambassador over accusations that sections of a soccer crowd consisting mainly of schoolchildren attending a game in Prague on Thursday abused Rangers player Glen Kamara. “Enough! Intentionally spread, disgusting insults against Czech children in the media and on the internet do not belong to football and even less so to good relations between two countries,” Kulhanek said on Twitter on Friday.

Soccer-NWSL says weekend matches ‘will not occur’ after report on fired coach

The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) said this weekend’s matches will not take place a day after a report detailed allegations of misconduct against former North Carolina Courage head coach Paul Riley. The Athletic on Thursday https://theathletic.com/2857633/2021/09/30/this-guy-has-a-pattern-amid-institutional-failure-former-nwsl-players-accuse-prominent-coach-of-sexual-coercion outlined allegations of sexual coercion and misconduct by Riley, who led the Courage to back-to-back NWSL championships in 2018 and 2019, after speaking to more than a dozen players he coached since 2010.

Soccer-Vaccinated Premier League players can travel to red list countries – govt

Premier League players who are fully vaccinated will be allowed to travel to countries on the UK’s red list during the international break and will be allowed to train or play when they quarantine on return, the government said on Friday. Many clubs refused to release players to ‘red list’ countries such as Brazil and Argentina last month and the Premier League is looking to avoid a similar situation which angered national federations.

In Uganda, a Kung Fu master spreads love for the craft

Children punch, push up and sprint through an open air, dirt-floor lot in Nansana in central Uganda, hoping to become a Kung Fu master or even the east African country’s first Olympian in the sport. They are students of 30-year-old Manisuru Kizza Ssejjemba, who fell in love with the martial art form after watching Jet Li movies as a teenager.

(With inputs from agencies.)