■ Basketball Lakers expect Kobe Bryant \n \nEmbattled NBA star Kobe Bryant is expected to be in attendance when the Los Angeles Lakers' veterans report to training camp in Hawaii in early October, a team spokesman said Tuesday. "It is our understanding that he will be there and he will participate," spokesman John Black said by telephone from Los Angeles. Black said the team has not heard otherwise from Bryant or his agent and is preparing for camp accordingly. The 24-year-old guard is charged with sexual assaulting a 19-year-old woman at a Colorado, hotel on June 30. Bryant has said the two had consensual sex. The NBA star is due to return to Colorado for a preliminary hearing Oct. 9. The Lakers, who last held training camp in Hawaii in 2001, open camp on Sept. 30. Veterans including Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal and newcomers Karl Malone and Gary Payton are scheduled to report Oct. 2. The Lakers play Golden State in exhibition games on Oct. 7 and 8 before returning to Los Angeles on Oct. 9. \n \n■ Panam games \nCuban athletes defect \n \nThree Cuban athletes have defected to the Dominican Republic, where they were competing in the Pan American Games, an official said Tuesday. The defections occurred during the international competition, which started Aug. 1 and ended Sunday, said General Fernando Cruz, director of the Dominican intelligence agency. Cruz refused to give further details on the defections. To diminish the potential for further defections, Dominican officials doubled security during the baseball final Aug. 12 between the US and Cuba. Soldiers in camouflage stood around the Cuban dugout during batting practice and guarded much of the section where Cuba's delegation was seated. Some gates that had previously been open during the tournament were locked and guarded. Defections by Cuban athletes are not rare. Two Cuban gymnasts participating in the World Championships defected Tuesday in California. \n \n■ Athletics \nCarl Lewis enters plea \n \nNine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis pleaded innocent Tuesday to a charge of drunken driving. Attorney Mark Rafferty appeared at the Metropolitan Branch Courthouse to enter the plea on behalf of his client to one count of driving under the influence. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Sept. 16. The charge stemmed from an early morning crash on April 21 involving Lewis' 2004 Maserati. Lewis allegedly lost control of the car and struck a sound wall on the side of the Harbor Freeway in South Los Angles, said city attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan. Lewis was arrested by the California Highway Patrol after allegedly failing field sobriety tests. A breath test administered at a police station allegedly showed a blood-alcohol reading of .08 percent, the level at which a driver is considered intoxicated in California. \n \n■ Tennis \nPaes undergoes treatment \n \nLeander Paes, one of the world's best doubles tennis players, is being treated for a brain lesion and will miss the upcoming US Open. Paes, 30, suffered severe headaches late last week. He checked himself into an emergency room near his Orlando home Sunday, and a scan showed a lesion in the left occipital region of the brain. He was transferred to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Orlando on Tuesday, hospital spokeswoman Michelle Lynch said. Tests are being conducted to determine the lesion's cause, with the results expected within a few days.
US Open champion Emma Raducanu’s grandmother Niculina Raducanu wanted her to quit tennis because of concern about the teen’s health after breathing difficulties forced her to retire from Wimbledon this year. The 88-year-old Romanian told the Daily Mail that her granddaughter’s “health is more important” than wealth or fame. Fortunately for the 18-year-old Briton, neither her father, Ian Raducanu — Niculina Raducanu’s son — nor her Chinese mother, Renee Raducanu, took the advice and she swept through the US Open to become the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title. Niculina Raducanu — known to Emma as “Mamiya,” a Romanian term of
ANGELS BEATEN: The Astros broke through with four runs in the 12th inning in a 9-5 win that left them just three victories from clinching the AL West division title Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker on Wednesday said that a huge source of pride about his American League West-leading team is the way they play defense after right fielder Chas McCormick made two huge plays in their 9-5 victory over the Los Angeles Angels in 12 innings. McCormick made a one-hop throw to prevent Shohei Ohtani from scoring the potential game-winning run in the 10th inning. Two innings later, the Astros broke through with four runs, including a two-run double by Jose Altuve, to reduce their magic number to three to clinch their fourth division title in five seasons. “He has been working
The girls on Afghanistan’s national soccer team were anxious. For weeks, they had been moving around the country, waiting for word that they could leave. One wants to be a doctor, another a movie producer, others engineers. All dream of growing up to be professional soccer players. The message finally came early on Sunday: A charter flight would carry the girls and their families from Afghanistan — to where they did not know. The buses that would take them to the airport were already on their way. “They left their homes and left everything behind,” said Farkhunda Muhtaj, the captain of the Afghanistan
Jim Knous and Maverick McNealy both birdied their final holes of the third round to top a crowded leaderboard at the Fortinet Championship, the first PGA Tour event of the new season, while Taiwan’s C.T. Pan was just four shots off the leaders. McNealy caught fire on the back nine, closing his round of 70 with three consecutive birdies for a 14-under 202 total to maintain a share of the lead on the Silverado Resort and Spa course. Neither McNealy nor Knous would sleep easy heading into yesterday’s final round, as there were 18 players within four shots of the lead, including
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