MADRID — Lionel Messi will not take a planned pre-season coronavirus test on Sunday or return to training on Monday after his shock announcement earlier this week that he wants to leave Barcelona, Spanish media reported on Saturday.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC has announced his resignation as head of the ATP’s Player Council and intends to form a new breakaway body to represent athletes -— but his plans have immediately met with stiff resistance from within tennis.

WORLD number one Dustin Johnson and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama will share a two-stroke lead going into the final round of the BMW Championship on Sunday after shooting one-under-par 69s on Saturday.

THE BLAZERS could very well just have folded. Down one and three in their first-round series, they could have readied themselves for the inevitable, and, under the circumstances, the desired: a departure from the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) bubble environment at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando Florida, and a much-awaited return to their families. After all, they were missing Damian Lillard, their leader and best player by far, due to a bum knee while up against the heavily favored Lakers. They were tired, beaten up both on the court following three straight defeats and off it by their compelling calling to be part of protests against abuse of authority, particularly over Blacks. And yet they competed from the get-go and until the final buzzer, if for no other reason than because they stood for what was right.

THE NATIONAL Basketball Association (NBA) postponed all three playoff games on Wednesday after the Milwaukee Bucks boycotted Game 5 of their series against the Orlando Magic to protest racial injustice, triggering similar moves across other sports.

THE PHILIPPINE Basketball Association (PBA) held team workouts for the first time this week after months of on-court inactivity and it was warmly welcomed by stakeholders.

AMID the issue surrounding possible violations of some collegiate teams of government health and safety protocols in relation to the coronavirus pandemic, the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) joined the call to strictly follow the guidelines, particularly in ensuring the safety of students.

THE PUSH of newly approved professional league Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 to start its season got further wind with the first batch of teams having their coronavirus tests and later on proceeding to practice.

ONE Championship holds another live event in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday and it will feature two Filipina fighters out to do well and give their respective careers a boost.

COMMITTEE on Youth and Sports Development congressmen promised their support when the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) lobbied for Tokyo 2021 budget support from the House of Representatives during the committee regular meeting held Wednesday.

THE MOST intriguing first-round series of the NBA playoffs moves to a Game 6 on Thursday with the second-seeded Los Angeles Clippers one victory from advancing past the seventh-seeded Dallas Mavericks.

THE BMW Championship, which figures to occupy golf habitues this weekend, is being compared to the 2003 United States Open for good reason. Apart from sharing the Olympia Fields Golf Club in Cook County, Illinois, as the venue, the first stop on the FedEx Cup Playoffs rota likewise looks to sport penal conditions reminiscent of typical setups for the major tournament. And it doesn’t help that the weather slated to reign at least through the first two rounds will make the Bent grass fairways hard and Blue grass greens uninviting. Under the circumstances, players are right to expect high scores, and certainly well north of those that bombarded The Northern Trust at TPC Boston over the weekend.