France captain Zinedine Zidane, whose name will forever be remembered with “The Head-butt”, was chosen the most valuable player of the 2006 World Cup after his team’s loss to Italy in Sunday’s final.  During the last game of his career, Zidane was red-carded for slamming his head into an opponent’s chest.

After the International Olympic Committee called on international sports federations to keep Russia out of events in response to the invasion of Ukraine, Russian teams and athletes in most major sports were banned from competitions under their country’s name or flag. Belarus was also singled out due to its participation in the Ukraine conflict. The Russian Deputy Prime Minister asserted that sports and politics should be separate, but much of the world appears united behind this new addition to the growing list of sanctions.

Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic has been released from immigration detention in Australia, where he was held following the loss of his visa due to not being vaccinated against COVID-19. While the visa cancellation was overturned as legally invalid, whether he will play at the Australian Open remains up in the air, and the government may exercise powers that will keep him out of the country for three years.

The Women’s Tennis Association has suspended tournaments in China, after one of the country’s top female players accused a former high-ranking politician of forcing her into a sexual relationship and she subsequently disappeared from public view for several weeks. Many national tennis federations have expressed support for the decision.

The Tokyo Olympic organizing committee dismissed the director of the opening ceremony on Thursday, a day before the show, over a Holocaust joke he made in a comedy skit in 1998. The move came after he got flamed on social media.

Four-time major champion Naomi Osaka abruptly withdrew from the French Open on Monday, citing mental health reasons. The decision came after she was fined $15,000 for skipping the news conference following her first-round victory on Sunday.

Hideki Matsuyama became the first Japanese man to win a major championship with his historic Masters victory on Sunday.  That was the moment the nation had been waiting for over half a century.

North Korea has decided to skip the Tokyo Olympics this summer due to coronavirus fears. It will be the first Summer Olympics that the North has missed since 1988, when they were held in Seoul.

Sexist comments made by the president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee sparked a petition calling for action against him. The 83-year-old caused an uproar by saying that women talked too much in meetings.

The organizing committee for the Tokyo Olympics estimated that the one-year delay of the events will cost about 200 billion yen, several sources said on Sunday. The committee, the Japanese government and the host city Tokyo are planning to decide in December how to share the burden.