SPORTS digest

Milan-Cortina to host 2026 Winter Olympics

LAUSANNE, Switzerland

Riding a wave of widespread Italian enthusiasm to be an Olympic host, Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo won the vote Monday to stage the 2026 Winter Games.

International Olympic Committee members voted 47-34 for the long-favored Milan-Cortina bid over Stockholm-Are from Sweden that also included a bobsled track in Latvia.

Milan-Cortina’s jubilant delegation broke into chants of “Italia! Italia!” when the result was announced, giving the Alpine nation a second Winter Games in 20 years.

Italy will get a third Winter Games, after Turin hosted in 2006 and ski resort Cortina staged in 1956.

Sweden never hosted the Winter Games and was sent to an eighth loss in bidding in the past 41 years.

YSU men’s tennis signs three European players

Youngstown State Men’s Tennis Head Coach Ulises Hernandez announced Monday three signees who will join the Penguins’ program this fall.

YSU has signed Jordi Bou Sastre (Cala Ratjada, Spain), Will Everett (Bromley, England) and Laurentiu Mandocescu (Bucharest, Romania) to National Letters of Intent.

The Penguins open the 2019-20 campaign in September.

Ex-Missouri coach says cancer returned

COLUMBIA, Mo.

Former Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel says he is being treated for cancer again.

Pinkel told ABC17 TV in Columbia Saturday that he had treatment last month after his cancer came out of remission for the first time in four years.

Pinkel retired after the 2015 season after announcing that he had non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He coached the Tigers from 2001 to 2016, compiling a 118-73 record.

He says his type of cancer will never be healed and he intends to keep fighting it.

Pinkel, who is 67, has been a fundraising liaison with the Missouri athletics foundation. He also started the “GP MADE Foundation” to raise money for cancer research and programs to help underprivileged and special needs children.

NBA fines Knicks over feud with Daily News

NEW YORK

The NBA has fined the New York Knicks $50,000 for violating media rules by not allowing the New York Daily News to cover one of the team’s news conferences.

The Knicks held a news conference on Friday to introduce their new draft picks, sending out an advisory announcing the details to some media that cover the team but not to the Daily News. The Knicks have feuded with the tabloid for years over what the team feels is negative coverage, and Friday was not the first time the Daily News had been excluded from an event.

The NBA said Monday that the Knicks have agreed to comply with league rules regarding equal access for the media in the future.

Mets hand out fines after run-in with media

PHILADELPHIA

Mickey Callaway needed two news conferences to issue one apology.

After the New York Mets fined their manager and pitcher Jason Vargas for their expletive-filled confrontation with a reporter following a weekend loss, Callaway stopped short of saying he was sorry for the incident during his first meeting with the media on Monday.

Callaway cursed at Newsday beat reporter Tim Healey and Vargas had to be restrained from charging him in the cramped Wrigley Field clubhouse after a 5-3 loss on Sunday. There was no physical contact.

Two hours after Callaway initially met with media members, Callaway clarified his remarks.

“In my meeting with Tim, I apologized for my reaction,” Callaway said. “I regret it. I regret the distraction that it’s caused to the team.... It’s something I’m not proud of. I’m not proud of the distraction. I’m not proud of what I did to Tim. For that, I’m definitely sorry.”

Staff/wire report