The last Red Roses camp before the Rugby World Cup squad is named will be in Treviso, Italy in July.
It is the first foreign camp England’s women have been taken on, but despite the excitement the head coach is promising it will be one the toughest and hottest they have experienced.
“The heat will in itself create its own duress” said Mitchell, with temperatures in the region averaging around 30C in the summer.
“I think our tournament might be hot, so I think we’ll benefit from that. It will probably be our most uncomfortable training camp of all of them because it will be hot and you’ll get bothered.”
After England lost the last Rugby World Cup final after an early red card for wing Lydia Thompson, the coaches are keen to ensure no stone will be left unturned to prepare the side for all eventualities.
“The amount that we’ve layered on our game will put them under a lot of questions through scenarios,” said Mitchell. “The unfairness that comes in the games through the cards, those sorts of things. The play-to-rest ratios will be probably a little bit lower as well. We can create a really quite niggly camp if you like.
“We want to be ready for any form of unfairness and it will come at some point. Look at the way cards and HIA’s (Head Injury Assessments) have advanced the game in that area.
“We’ve definitely got to do it because it’s going to come in the tournament. I’d rather be ready for every eventuality and even then, we probably won’t be ready for every eventuality.
“If we don’t create that exposure, then we’re probably going to let ourselves down like the last World Cup.”
Women face big decisions and even bigger challenges when it comes to their health, so we’re sharing some stories that don’t get talked about enough. We begin with one woman’s decision to freeze her eggs holding space for the future she hopes to build on her own terms. Then, we hear from a woman living with endometriosis – an all-too-common condition that’s often misunderstood or misdiagnosed. We speak to an expert to help you or someone you know navigate this disease. Finally, we speak to a thyroid cancer survivor who fought for years to have her symptoms be taken seriously – and a doctor who offers empowering, practical guidance for anyone having the same experience.
This week on Now You Know, we’re taking you on a journey through some of our most powerful health stories – stories that speak to the challenges and resilience of women today.
FRISCO, Texas — Minjee Lee closed with a two-over 74 but never gave up the lead Sunday in the final round of the Women’s PGA Championship to win her third major title.
While Lee had three bogeys in a four-hole stretch on the front nine, she had started the day with a four-stroke lead over Jeeno Thitikul. And the world’s No. 2-ranked player, also in that final group, bogeyed both par fives that are among the first three holes on Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco.
Lee, ranked 24th, finished at four-under 284, three strokes ahead of Auston Kim and Chanettee Wannasaen, the only other players under par.
“A lot of patience out there today. Obviously, I had ups and downs today,” Lee said. “It’s a battle against myself pretty much, especially with how tough the conditions were this whole week, not just today. Just amplified because it’s major Sunday.”
Kim and Wannasaen both shot 68 to match the best rounds of the day, and the tournament, after only two 68s combined the first three rounds. Kim was bogey-free, but had only pars after three consecutive birdies to wrap up her front nine.
With a record $12 million purse that was up from $10.4 million a year ago and matched the U.S. Women’s Open for the most price money, Lee took home $1.8 million. That matches the $1.8 million Lee got for her four-stroke win in the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open.
The 29-year-old Australian who is a Texas resident, living in nearby Irving, got her 11th career win. It was her first this season, making it 16 players to win 16 LPGA tournaments this year.
PGA Tour
Keegan Bradley celebrates after winning the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands on Sunday.
(Jessica Hill / Associated Press)
CROMWELL, Conn. — Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley rallied from three shots behind with four holes to play and birdied the 18th hole before a delirious home crowd for a two-under 68 to win the Travelers Championship.
The victory only strengthened the case for Bradley to bring his clubs to Bethpage Black for the September matches against Europe. He moved to No. 9 in the standings.
And he wound up beating Tommy Fleetwood, who scored the clinching point for Europe at Marco Simone two years ago.
One shot behind Fleetwood going to the 18th hole, Bradley stuffed his approach to just under 6 feet below the hole. Fleetwood, looking like this might be the time he wins a PGA Tour title, came up some 50 feet short and took three putts for bogey and a 72.
PGA Tour Champions
AKRON, Ohio — Miguel Angel Jimenez won the Kaulig Companies Championship for his fourth PGA Tour Champions victory of the season, rallying to force a playoff and beating Steven Alker with a 20-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole.
Two strokes down after playing partner Alker birdied the par-five 16th, Jimenez made a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-four 17th and an 18-footer on the par-four 18th.
Tied for the lead entering the round at Firestone South, the 61-year-old Jimenez and 53-year-old Alker each shot two-under 68 to finish at 10-under 270. Stewart Cink was third at eight under after a 66.
Jimenez won his third major title after taking the Regions Tradition and the Senior British Open — both in 2018 — and earned a spot next year in The Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass. The Spanish star has 17 career victories on 50-and-over tour.
The U.S. Senior Open begins Thursday at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Australian Minjee Lee opened up a four-shot lead at the “brutal” Women’s PGA Championship with a third-round 69 as overnight leader Jeeno Thitikul faltered in Frisco, Texas.
Lee was three shots behind Thitikul at the start of day three but produced an impressive bogey-free round, which included three birdies, to move to six under as windy conditions again made it difficult at the Fields Ranch East course.
Thailand’s Thitikul, chasing her first victory at a major, led after the first two days of the tournament but shot a four-over 76, which included two birdies and six bogeys, and is on two under par.
England’s Charley Hull shot the lowest score of the second round with a 69 and followed that up with a 73 as she goes into the final day on four over par.
There have only been five rounds in the 60s at the tournament and Lee has carded two of them with 69s on days one and three.
“I just try to stay patient out there,” said two-time major winner Lee. “You can’t get ahead of yourself, especially in these conditions.
“It’s only getting harder and harder just with I think pressure of a major championship, and also the course just demands so much from you.”
Lee’s previous major wins came at the 2021 Evian Championship and 2022 US Women’s Open.
She added: “I know what it takes to win and I know just kind of what to feel and what to expect now that I have two under my belt.
“I just think the experience that I’ve had is really going to help me hopefully get over the line.”
Lee and Thitikul are the only players under par for the third of this year’s five LPGA majors.
American Lexi Thompson is on one over par after a 75 that began with a triple bogey and bogey, while compatriot Nelly Korda (72) and Ireland’s Leona Maguire (72) are one shot further back.
“Definitely proud of how I stayed strong,” Thompson said. “It was kind of a nightmare of a start, but I knew coming into the day it was going to play very difficult.
“I don’t know really what happened on my first hole, but [I’m] happy I got it out of the way and stayed positive out there and just made pars and a few birdies here and there.”
World number one Korda added: “It’s brutal out there when it comes to the set-up of the golf course, wind conditions, everything. I’m very happy with even par.
“You’re just happy to get 18 under your belt on a day like this.”
The Senegalese women’s basketball team has scrapped plans to train in the U.S. for the upcoming AfroBasket tournament in the Ivory Coast next month after several players and team officials had their visas denied, Senegal’s prime minister said.
Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said on Facebook Thursday that the team would train in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, “in a sovereign and conducive setting.”
The West African nation’s federation said in a statement that the visa applications of five players and seven officials weren’t approved.
“Informed of the refusal of issuing visas to several members of the Senegal women’s national basketball team, I have instructed the Ministry of Sports to simply cancel the 10-day preparatory training initially planned in the United States of America,” Sonko said.
The visa denials come amid a push by the Trump administration to make countries improve vetting of travelers or face a ban on their citizens visiting the United States. Senegal wasn’t on that list of countries and it was not immediately clear why the visas were denied.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told the Associated Press that it could not comment on individual cases because visa records are confidential under U.S. law.
The travel ban includes exemptions for the World Cup, the Olympics and any “other major sporting event,” though it’s unclear what constitutes a major event.
The team is coached by Otis Hughley Jr., who previously led the Nigerian women’s basketball team. He was the men’s coach at Alabama A&M University before resigning in March.
Senegal, which was going to train in the U.S. from Sunday through July 3, has finished first or second in four of the last five AfroBasket championships over the last decade and has won 11 titles overall. The tournament determines Africa’s champion, which earns entry into the FIBA World Cup next year in Germany.
When Janie and Stephanie Ellingwood went to a local brewery one night to watch a U.S. Women’s National Team soccer game with some friends, they didn’t think it would be a big deal to ask the staff to turn on the sound.
The bartenders had always been friendly to the married couple, who frequented the bar at least a few times a week. And they were the only patrons in the small room, situated away from the main viewing area where the volume was on full blast. So they were surprised when the staff curtly shot down their request without any explanation.
Opened in early June to coincide with Pride Month, Untamed Spirits is the first women’s sports bar in the city of Los Angeles.
(Alyson Aliano / For The Times)
The Ellingwoods continued watching the nail-biting game with subtitles, but as it got more and more exciting, customers began spilling over to their side of the bar. Before long, the small room was packed.
“We were all cheering,” says Janie. “We all gave each other high-fives.”
The wife-and-wife duo took over another sports bar in Silver Lake and turned it into Untamed Spirits, the first women’s sports bar in L.A.
(Alyson Aliano / For The Times)
Still, the staff refused to turn up the volume.
The experience left the Ellingwoods, who are diehard fans of the L.A. Sparks and season-ticket holders for Angel City Football Club, wondering why there weren’t any bars in Los Angeles where they could comfortably watch women’s sports without feeling ostracized. So they decided to create their own.
After months of searching for a location, the wife-and-wife duo took over another sports bar in Silver Lake — formerly known as Trophy Wife — and turned it into Untamed Spirits, the first women’s sports bar in the city of L.A.
Opened in early June to coincide with Pride Month, Untamed Spirits joins a short list of bars in the U.S. dedicated to women’s sports, including Portland’s Sports Bra, which is expanding to four new cities including Las Vegas and Boston; Rough & Tumble in Seattle; Minnesota’s A Bar of Their Own; and Rikki’s in San Francisco. Long Beach’s Watch Me! Sports Bar, which opened its doors last July, was the first in California.
Stephanie, 37, who played professional golf for a few years, felt that L.A. needed something like this. “Something that’s a little bit classier, that isn’t sticky when you put your arms on the bar,” she describes.
“For once, I want to watch a game at the bar with sound on instead of some random spot in the corner,” Janie, 34, adds.
The bar is sleek and modern — a neon pink sign reads “Welcome to the Untamed Era,” and whimsical black and white illustrations cover a few of the walls.
(Alyson Aliano / For The Times)
On a recent Tuesday night, Janie was behind the counter pouring drinks, including their signature Angel City pink punch, for patrons sitting at the bar, which was adorned with rainbow flags and an Angel City Football Club flag. Meanwhile, Stephanie was floating around the space, checking on customers. The couple, who met while playing volleyball together at La Quinta High School, also run a made-to-order croissant bakery based in Orange County and remodel and manage residential properties throughout Southern California.
The bar is sleek and modern — a neon pink sign reads “Welcome to the Untamed Era,” and whimsical black and white illustrations cover a few of the walls. Menstrual products are displayed on the bathroom counter. The spacious patio is filled with plants and a sign that says “Watch Women’s Sports Here.” (There’s a TV in nearly every corner, so there’s no bad seat.) Although Untamed Spirits specializes in women’s sports of all kinds — even the more niche ones like kayaking, Janie says — the bar also plays men’s sports.
“Some people might call it a trend, but it’s not a trend,” Janie says. “I believe it’s a movement.”
(Alyson Aliano / For The Times)
Sitting at a table with a date and two friends, Marina Sobreviñas, 31, says she’s found that queer bars like Hi Tops in Los Feliz are more likely to play women’s sports, but she felt that “it’s about time” there is a spot dedicated to them. She recalls her experience trying to watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup at a bar.
Untamed Spirits offers bar food with an international twist with dishes like kimchi fried rice.
(Alyson Aliano / For The Times)
Untamed Spirits sells nonalcoholic and alcoholic drinks including margaritas and a signature Angel City pink punch.
(Alyson Aliano / For The Times)
“There was like, one World Cup TV out of the 10 TVs they had going, and it was sort of fascinating,” she says. “Like, ‘Am I’m the only one wearing a jersey today? OK, no problem.’”
Sobreviñas says that women’s sports are just as exciting as men’s sports.
Lisa Marie Ornelas, 30, agrees. “Women [athletes], in a way, have a little bit more to prove,” she says.
Untamed Spirits arrives in L.A. at a time when interest in women’s sports is expanding at a “meteoric pace” across the globe, according to Nielsen. The 2024 NCAA women’s basketball tournament averaged nearly 19 million viewers (with a peak of 24 million viewers for the final game between Iowa and South Carolina), an 89% bump from the previous year. The WNBA draft audience jumped 511%, and overall interest in the league grew 29% between 2023 and 2024. The National Women’s Soccer League saw a 17% boost in interest between 2023 and 2024. With the heightened interest, ad spending also increased: In 2024, TV advertisers spent $244 million on women’s sports, a year-over-year increase of 139%, according to TV marketing firm EDO.
Untamed Spirits has indoor seating and a spacious patio where patrons can enjoy sports of all kinds.
(Alyson Aliano / For The Times)
“Women in general have been playing great sports for a long time,” says Stephanie. “I just think the right people who have the ability to put them in the spotlight are finally noticing.”
More women’s sports bars are expected to open throughout the country. Jax Diener, who opened Watch Me! Sports Bar in Long Beach with her wife about a year ago, recalls when women’s sports weren’t aired on TV at all. She went to the first WNBA game at the Forum in 1997.
Untamed Spirits recently became an official bar partner of the Angel City Football Club.
(Alyson Aliano / For The Times)
“We used to come home after those games that were so exciting and turn on the sports that night to see the replays, and they weren’t even mentioned,” says Diener. “It was as if the league didn’t even exist.”
Diener says she was excited when she heard about another women’s sports bar opening in Southern California. “To me, it was really important for them to know that we’re in this together,” she says, adding that she has a text thread with other women’s sports bar owners where they share advice. “This is not a competition. This is women supporting women.”
Untamed Spirits recently became an official bar partner of the Angel City Football Club, which has a majority female-led ownership group that includes Natalie Portman, Abby Wambach and America Ferrera. The Ellingwoods will host their first watch party on Sept. 7 when the ACFC takes on Gotham FC.
Janie and Stephanie, who’ve been at the bar every day since it opened, say they are excited to eventually distill their own spirits, host more events and watch parties in the space and foster community among women’s sports lovers.
“Some people might call it a trend, but it’s not a trend,” Janie says. “I believe it’s a movement.”
Janie, left, and Stephanie Ellingwood say they are excited to eventually distill their own spirits, host more events and watch parties in the space and foster community among women’s sports lovers.
India and Pakistan will meet in the round-robin stage of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 on October 5, five months after the most intense military escalations between the two nations, cricket’s governing body has confirmed.
The cricket powerhouses will also face each other in the group stage of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, with the marquee clash scheduled for June 14, according to the tournament’s schedule announced by the ICC on Wednesday.
India are hosting the 50-over World Cup 2025 from September 30 to November 2, but all of Pakistan’s fixtures – including any appearances in the semifinals and final – will be held in Sri Lanka as both countries agreed to an ICC-brokered deal in December 2024 to face each other at neutral venues at future ICC events.
India and Pakistan were engaged in a four-day conflict last month, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10. More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides, but there are competing claims on the casualties.
Following the escalations, several Indian media outlets reported that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has asked the ICC to avoid allocating them the same group as Pakistan in global tournaments.
However, BCCI vice president Rajeev Shukla confirmed that while India does not “want to play with Pakistan in bilateral series because of the government’s stand”, the country will meet its western neighbour at ICC events “due to the ICC’s engagement”.
“The ICC is also aware, whatever is happening, they will look into it,” Shukla was quoted as saying by Indian media.
During the standoff, which led to fears of an all-out war, former and current cricketers from both countries made social media posts in support of their respective armed forces.
Given the gravity of the situation, the possibility of both nations meeting on a cricket field was under some doubt, but the ICC confirmed the 50-over tournament’s schedule on Monday, with the India-Pakistan round-robin stage match scheduled in Colombo, Sri Lanka, during the first week of the tournament.
The rest of Pakistan’s six fixtures will also be played in the Sri Lankan capital, with the R Premadasa Stadium the likely venue.
Should Pakistan qualify for the semifinals, they will play the first knockout match on October 29 in Colombo. If they do not qualify, the match will be played on the same date in Guwahati.
The fate of the final will also be decided in a similar manner, with Colombo bagging the hosting rights should Pakistan make it, and Bengaluru hosting it in case they do not.
The eight-team Women’s Cricket World Cup will begin on September 30 with hosts India taking on Sri Lanka at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Defending champions Australia, England, Bangladesh, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka are the other participant nations.
India and Pakistan meet only in global and regional cricket tournaments as they do not play bilateral cricket series [File: Altaf Qadri/AP Photo]
India and Pakistan will meet again in June next year, when they play their Group 1 match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the United Kingdom.
The match will be played at Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham at 13:30 GMT.
The tournament, which was last won by New Zealand in 2024, will be held at seven venues across England and Wales.
Hosts England will play Sri Lanka at Edgbaston in the tournament opener on June 12 at 17:30 GMT.
Twelve teams, divided into two groups, will participate.
Group 1 comprises Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa and two qualifiers, which will be decided at the end of the qualifying rounds in 2026.
Group 2 includes England, New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka and two qualifiers.
The semifinals are scheduled for June 30 and July 2 at the Oval cricket ground in London, while Lord’s Cricket Ground will host the final on July 5.
The last meeting between India and Pakistan came at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 in Dubai on October 6, when India eased to a six-wicket win in the group-stage encounter.
A trio of Angel City players were called up to the women’s national team Wednesday for a pair of friendlies against Ireland and one with Canada.
Sisters Gisele and Alyssa Thompson will be reporting to their fourth training camp together when they arrive Monday in Commerce City, Colo., alongside teammate Angelina Anderson. A goalkeeper, Anderson is one of six players still looking for her first cap with the senior national team, making this 25-women roster one of the most inexperienced in recent USWNT history.
Four players will be training with the national team for the first time.
The U.S. will play Ireland on June 26 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City and again on June 29 at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati before finishing the FIFA competition window against Canada at Audi Field in Washington on July 2.
“We want to continue to improve our understanding of how we want to play and widen the player pool, and those are some of the key goals of this three-game window,” U.S. coach Emma Hayes said in a statement. “On this roster, we have players with a varied amount of experience, and my priority is to deepen the exposures required for international soccer.
“These are three challenging matches and as always, we want to win, but also to make sure we are ready for the next steps.”
In 13 months, Hayes has given 27 players their first call-up to the senior national team.
Returning to the roster this month will be World Cup and Olympic champion midfielder Rose Lavelle, whose 110 caps and 24 international goals are both tops among players called up this month. Lavelle is returning to the national team after losing more than six months following ankle surgery.
Missing, however, are most of the team’s Europe-based players, among them defenders Emily Fox and Crystal Dunn, midfielders Lindsey Heaps and Korbin Albert, and forward Catarina Macario. Hayes said those players would get the FIFA window off to recuperate after a long club season. Defender Naomi Girma, who missed much of Chelsea’s schedule because of injury, is the only player on the camp roster from outside the NWSL.
Anderson, 24, has played every minute for Angel City this season, allowing 21 goals and making 37 saves. Gisele Thompson, 19, leads the team with four assists while Alyssa, 20, is second with five goals. All three players will be with Angel City (4-5-3) for Friday’s game in Kansas City. The NWSL will then take nearly seven weeks off to allow players to compete for their countries in international competitions such as the Women’s Euro and the Copa América Femenina.
Midfielders: Croix Bethune (Washington Spirit), Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns), Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current), Rose Lavelle (Gotham), Sam Meza (Seattle Reign), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns)
Forwards: Lynn Biyendolo (Seattle Reign), Michelle Cooper (Kansas City Current), Yazmeen Ryan (Houston Dash), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville), Ally Sentnor (Utah Royals), Alyssa Thompson (Angel City)
The amendment comes after police investigated more than 100 women, including some who had natural miscarriages.
British parliamentarians have voted to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales after concerns sparked by the prosecution of women who end a pregnancy.
The House of Commons approved an amendment to a broader bill on Tuesday that would prevent women from being criminally punished under an antiquated law.
Currently, a woman can face criminal charges for choosing to end a pregnancy after 24 weeks or without the approval of two doctors, under laws that technically still carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The amendment passed 379-137. The House of Commons will now need to pass the crime bill, which is expected, before it goes to the House of Lords, where it can be delayed but not blocked.
Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, the Labour member of Parliament who introduced one of the amendments, said the change was needed because police have investigated more than 100 women for suspected illegal abortions over the past five years, including some who suffered natural miscarriages and stillbirths.
“This piece of legislation will only take women out of the criminal justice system because they are vulnerable and they need our help,” she said. “Just what public interest is this serving? This is not justice, it is cruelty and it has got to end.”
Changes in the law implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic allow women to receive abortion pills through the mail and terminate their own pregnancies at home within the first 10 weeks.
That has led to a handful of widely publicised cases in which women were prosecuted for illegally obtaining abortion pills and using them to end their own pregnancies after 24 weeks.
In May, Nicola Packer was acquitted after taking abortion medicine when she was around 26 weeks pregnant, beyond the legal limit of 10 weeks for taking such medication at home.
The 45-year-old told jurors during her trial, which came after a four-year police investigation, that she did not realise she had been pregnant for so long.
Carla Foster was jailed in 2023 for illegally obtaining abortion tablets to end her pregnancy when she was between 32 and 34 weeks pregnant. The Court of Appeal eventually suspended her sentence.
Maria went an early break up in the first set, drawing errors out of Anisimova, before a thumping backhand winner from the American put it back on terms.
However, Maria kept Anisimova on the move, visibly frustrating her, and a netted forehand gave Maria the break back, before she served out the set with ease.
The numbers told the story, with Anisimova committing 10 unforced errors to Maria’s three in the opener, and the momentum stayed with the German as she broke at the first chance in the second set.
A mammoth fourth game saw seven deuces and Maria saving two break points for 3-1, before a brilliant scamper to a drop shot in the next allowed her to go a double break up.
Anisimova, who won the WTA 1000 title in Qatar earlier this year, went for broke, pummelling her shots to rescue a break and keep in touch.
But Maria, backed by the packed crowd, kept her nerve to serve out to 30 and secure her place in Queen’s history.
Maria is due to compete at the Nottingham Open, which begins on Monday, but said she will celebrate with her family first.
“This doesn’t happen every week so we have to celebrate with something,” she added.
“I think the kids will probably want some crepes with Nutella!”
