3 Dan is into sports cycling and tennis. (such as)​

Вообще обычно ставится артикль "the", но есть исключения например: страны с названиями в единственном числе Ukraine, Russia, Poland, France, но тут тоже есть исключение The Vatican напрмер в единственном числе, но пишется с артиклем. Так же без артикля пишутся города, штаты, провинции.
А с артиклем такие:
Страны с названиями во множественном числе

The Philippines, the Netherlands, the United States, the Baltic States

Страны, названия которых включают слова: republic, union, kingdom, federation

The United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation

I have a lot of friends, but my best friend is...(name). He is (age). We are the same age. He is my classmate. We go to the same school and so we see each other every day 
He is medium-height (tall). He is a dark-haired (fairy) boy with hazel(blue, grey, green) eyes, black, thick eyelashes and arched eyebrows.
 We spend a lot of time together. We have much in common. We both like listening to the same music, wathcing the same films and playing the same computer games.I like to be with him, because he knows a lot of interesing sroties and funny jokes. I trust him a lot and I can rely on him in any situation.