Japan head into their home leg of the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series this weekend desperate for some points as they try to retain their status on the tour.

Hitoshi Inada's side head to Kitakyushu's Mikuni World Stadium as the lowest-ranked core team, two points behind Fiji and seven back from England as the series reaches the third round of five. Captain Chiharu Nakamura has urged Japanese fans to come out to the seaside ground and support the Sakura Sevens.

Cities the length and breadth of Japan will host team camps for Rugby World Cup 2019, according to a list announced Friday by the sport's global governing body.

World Rugby said the 20 teams competing in the tournament starting Sept. 20 will utilize 52 camps during the group stage, ranging from Ebetsu in the northernmost island prefecture of Hokkaido to Miyazaki on the southwestern main island Kyushu.

Japan's Kei Nishikori edged Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters, his first clay court tournament of the season.

Up 3-2 in the third set, Nishikori, who returned to the ATP Tour in February after a season-ending wrist injury last summer, turned the tide in the sixth game when he broke Seppi's serve and pulled away to join the final eight.

Japan's Kenichi Ogawa, who is set to be stripped of his International Boxing Federation super featherweight title after receiving a six-month ban for failing a doping test in December, apologized Thursday at a press conference in Tokyo.

News of the positive test broke in January, more than a month after Ogawa won the then-vacant title by beating American Tevin Farmer in a split decision on Dec. 9 in Las Vegas.

The 2018-2019 Japan Rugby Top League season will run from Aug. 31 to Dec. 15, the Japan Rugby Football Union announced Thursday, with a new cup competition to be held from Nov. 10 to Jan. 19.

Last year's league champions Suntory Sungoliath and runners-up Panasonic Wild Knights head the Red and White Conferences, respectively, as the 16 teams are once again split into two divisions with pool games running until Oct. 20.

Los Angeles right-hander Kenta Maeda fanned 10 batters in 5-2/3 innings en route to his second win of the season Wednesday in the Dodgers' 13-4 victory over the San Diego Padres that capped a three-game sweep.

After a shaky start against the National League West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, Maeda (2-1) threw 74 strikes in 106 pitches while allowing four runs that were canceled out by the visitors' early lead at Petco Park.

A female mayor of a city in western Japan visited the Japan Sumo Association on Thursday and asked the sport's governing body to reconsider its longstanding male-only rules and adopt gender equality.

Takarazuka Mayor Tomoko Nakagawa, who was refused entry into the dohyo ring on the grounds of gender, met with JSA public relations chief Shibatayama and asked that the "nyonin kinsei" (no females allowed) policy be tabled for discussion.

Tennis player Naomi Osaka, now living in the United States, has expressed her willingness to play in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a member of the Japanese team.

The 20-year-old Osaka was born in her namesake city of Osaka, western Japan. Her father is Haitian and her mother is Japanese. She moved to the US when she was 3 years old.

Shohei Ohtani lasted just two innings after he developed a blister on his pitching hand Tuesday, and was tagged with his first major league loss as the Boston Red Sox trounced the Los Angeles Angels 10-1.

Ohtani (2-1), pitching in his third game since moving to the majors, gave up a homer to the first of 12 batters he faced at Angel Stadium and never recovered, allowing three runs on four hits and two walks before being pulled.

Shizuka Arakawa, Japan's first Olympic champion in figure skating, was among the latest group elected to the sport's Hall of Fame, nominating chair Lawrence Mondschein said Tuesday.

Arakawa, who won the women's singles title at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, is the third Japanese to enter the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. She joins Midori Ito, a silver medalist at the 1992 Albertville Games, and Nobuo Sato, a former competitive skater and coach.

Shizuka Arakawa, Japan's first Olympic champion in figure skating, was among the latest group elected to the sport's Hall of Fame, nominating chair Lawrence Mondschein said Tuesday.

Arakawa, who won the women's singles title at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, is the third Japanese to enter the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. She joins Midori Ito, a silver medalist at the 1992 Albertville Games, and Nobuo Sato, a former competitive skater and coach.

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Defending champions Japan cruised past China 3-1 on Tuesday to advance to the final of the Women's Asian Cup, the Asian Football Confederation's showpiece tournament.

Japan's Satoshi Kodaira came from six shots back to defeat Kim Si Woo of South Korea on a third extra hole to win the RBC Heritage Sunday, his first title on the PGA Tour.

Kodaira, who entered the final round at the Harbour Town Golf Links in 12th, carded seven birdies and two bogeys over the regulation 18 holes to equal the day's low of 66 and join 2017 Players champion Kim atop the leaderboard on 12-under 272, forcing a sudden-death playoff.

Japan's Ryota Murata successfully defended his World Boxing Association middleweight title Sunday night, improving to 14-1 with an eighth-round technical knockout of Italian Emanuele Blandamura.

In front of a vocal home crowd at Yokohama Arena, the London Olympic gold medalist became the first Japanese fighter to successfully defend a world championship in the weight class.