■ Basketball
Cavaliers fire Jim Paxson
Jim Paxson was fired Thursday as general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers, whose stunning second-half collapse this season cost them their first trip to the National Basketball Association playoffs in seven years. Paxson's dismissal has been expected for weeks and came exactly one month after Paul Silas was fired as coach by owner Dan Gilbert, who has had a tumultuous first 50 days running the franchise. The Cavaliers were 31-21 on Feb. 25, and 34-30 when Silas was fired. But the team fell apart down the stretch.
■ Hockey
Demitra decides to play
Pavol Demitra has decided to play for Slovakia at the ice hockey world championships. The NHL forward initially said he would skip the April 30-May 15 tournament to stay home with his wife, who is expecting twins and has been hospitalized. But on Thursday, Demitra told TV Markiza in Bratislava, Slovakia that he has changed his mind after discussing the matter with doctors and his family. Slovakia, which won the title in 2002, is also expected to have Marian Hossa of Ottawa, Zigmund Palffy and Jozef Stumpel of Los Angeles and Miroslav Satan of Buffalo.
■ Boxing
Title fights scheduled
WBA super featherweight champion Yodsanan Nanthachai of Thailand and IBF junior bantamweight champ Luis Perez of Nicaragua will defend their titles on April 30 at Madison Square Garden. The bouts will be on the undercard of WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz's defense against James Toney. Yodsanan (44-2-1, 36 knockouts) will fight Vicente Mosquera of Panama in a mandatory bout. Yodsanan has held the belt since 2002 and has not lost since 1994, winning 37 straight. Mosquera is 20-1-1 with 10 knockouts. He will be participating in his first title fight and making his first appearance in the US. Perez also will make a mandatory defense against No. 1 contender Luis Bolano. Perez (22-1, 14 knockouts) won the 51kg title on Jan. 4, 2003. Bolano (38-2, 28 knockouts) is from Colombia.
■ Basketball
Academic expresses doubts
Yao Ming has been nominated as a "Model Worker," but a prominent Chinese academic says the NBA star doesn't qualify for the title usually bestowed on ordinary laborers. "Sports stars ... are not the perfect models for the public," Zhou Xiaozheng, a sociology professor at Beijing's Renmin University, was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency said Wednesday. "According to the past criteria, the title of `Model Worker' should only be given to ordinary laborers," Zhou said. The ruling party nominated the Houston Rockets center last month for the honor, which for decades has turned anonymous miners, teachers or factory workers into celebrities in the state media. Winners are to be announced April 30. Yao already has twice received a local version of the award given by his hometown of Shanghai. Shanghai has also named him an official spokesman to promote the city.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB