TENNIS

Federer plans to return for Wimbledon warmup

Organizers say Roger Federer will return from a back injury to play at the grass-court tournament in Stuttgart, Germany, next week.

Federer was forced to skip the French Open because of a lingering back injury.

The former No. 1 had signed up for the inaugural grass-court edition of the tournament that used to be played on clay. Now, it is a warm-up for Wimbledon.

HIGH SCHOOLS

SOFTBALL: Kirsten Pelletier of Messalonskee High was named the Gatorade Maine Softball Player of the Year.

Pelletier, a pitcher and shortstop, was 14-0-1 with a 0.25 ERA and had 14 RBI in 15 games.

HOCKEY

NHL: The New York Islanders agreed to terms on a $16.75-million, five-year contract extension with forward Casey Cizikas.

The 25-year-old set a career high in points last season with 30 on eight goals and 22 assists for the Islanders.

• Voice of the New York Rangers Sam Rosen will receive the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for hockey broadcasting and Blackhawks team historian Bob Verdi will get the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for excellence in hockey journalism. They will be honored during the Hockey Hall of Fame’s induction weekend in November.

• The Montreal Canadiens hired Kirk Muller as an associate coach on Michel Therrien’s staff.

Muller spent the past two seasons as an assistant with the St. Louis Blues. Previously, he coached of the Carolina Hurricanes for three seasons.

SOCCER

FIFA: A former FIFA anti- corruption adviser says the departure of audit panel chairman Domenico Scala is “the worst thing” for efforts to reform the scandal-hit soccer body.

Michael Hershman, who helped bring Scala to FIFA in 2012, told The Associated Press the independent financial monitor was “one of the few hopes we had.”

Scala resigned this month after his working relationship with FIFA President Gianni Infantino broke down, including disputes over the presidential salary and the FIFA Council taking powers to fire elected independent officials.

• Argentina will kick off the Copa America as the world’s top-ranked team, and No. 2 Belgium goes to the European Championship as the best on its continent.

Colombia, which opens the Copa America on Friday against host United States, moved up one place to No. 3. Germany is No. 4.

Defending Copa America champion Chile dropped two places to No. 5.

Mexico is the top-ranked CONCACAF team at No. 16. The United States dropped two to No. 31.

• FIFA says competitions in six countries have been approved to run experiments with video replays.

The off-line experiments won’t involve referees but FIFA says live trials could be run in games next year.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino says he hopes “video assistant referees” will be used to support refs at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The experiments will take place in Australia’s A-League, Germany’s Bundesliga, the league and cups in Portugal, Major League Soccer in the United States as well as unspecified competitions in Brazil and the Netherlands.

Video replay officiating would be restricted to decisions on goals being scored, penalties being awarded, players being sent off and cases of mistaken identity.

– From staff and news services