FERNANDO ALONSO won Le Mans 24 Hours on his first attempt as he and teammates SEBASTIEN BUEMI and KAZUKI NAKAJIMA "finally ended Toyota's long drought." Alonso's victory completed the second part of motorsport's "triple crown" for the two-time Formula 1 world champion (BBC, 6/17). ... Sri Lanka cricket captain DINESH CHANDIMAL was charged with "altering the condition of the ball" in the second test against the West Indies. The Int'l Cricket Council tweeted, "Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal has been charged for breaching Level 2.2.9 of the ICC Code of Conduct." The same charge was leveled against Australia batsman CAMERON BANCROFT in March (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 6/17). ... Banned Australian cricketer DAVID WARNER will play in this year's Caribbean Premier League. Warner, who is three months into a one-year Cricket Australia ban for his role in the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal, will replace compatriot D'ARCY SHORT on the St. Lucia Stars (AAP, 6/17). ... Japan's Princess TAKAMADO reportedly will arrive in Russia on Monday to watch her national team compete in the World Cup, "marking the first visit to Russia by a Japanese royal in over 100 years." Relations between Moscow and Tokyo are "currently strained over the roll-out of a U.S. missile system and Moscow's move this year to deploy warplanes to a group of disputed islands north of Japan" (REUTERS, 6/17). ... Former Premier League side Watford Chair RAFFAELE RIVA was banned from English football indefinitely after he admitted to "breaching regulations over submitting a forged letter to the English Football League" in '14. An EFL disciplinary commission said that the funding letter submitted during the club's change of ownership to GINO POZZO was "not authentic" (London INDEPENDENT, 6/15).
