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■ SOCCER

Star files extortion complaint

Marseille striker Djibril Cisse has started legal proceedings after falling victim to an attempted extortion bid, a police source said on Tuesday. The 26-year-old French international presented himself at a police station in Marseille last week after receiving a series of phone calls demanding 150,000 euros (US$230,000), according to the newspaper La Provence. The money was intended to prevent a potentially damaging video clip featuring the former Liverpool striker from being transmitted on the Internet, the police source said. A number of people have been questioned over the affair but there have been no arrests.



■ BASKETBALL

Pistons unveil new coach

Michael Curry was introduced as the new coach of the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday, with the NBA outfit believing he is the man to get the most of out of their remaining veterans, some of whom are former team-mates. Curry was on the Pistons’ staff last season, his first as a coach, and he played with some current Pistons as recently as the 2002-2003 season.



■ CYCLING

Hincapie sprints to stage win

American George Hincapie sprinted to victory in the second stage of the Dauphine Libere on Tuesday but Thor Hushovd retained the overall lead. In a lively last kilometer, Hincapie was the sharpest to react, out-pacing sluggish Frenchman Sebastien Chavanel (Francaise des Jeux) and German duo Sebastian Lang and Heinrich Haussler (Gerolsteiner). Hincapie said his win was down to the hard work of his High Road team. “The team worked hard during the last 15km, like yesterday. We are a team that can win with many riders and in many ways. We have some of the best sprinters in the world. A sprinter like [Mark] Cavendish is perhaps the fastest in the closing stages,” said Lance Armstrong’s former team-mate. “Cavendish will perhaps bring the team a victory at the Tour [de France]. I would also love to win a stage at the Tour.” The greatest cycling event in the world takes place from July 5 to July 27. Norwegian Hushovd, of the Credit Agricole team, was next to cross the line alone in the hilly 184km Rhone Valley stage. A pack comprising Frenchman Stephane Auge, Spanish pair David de la Fuente and Benat Albizuri made an early breakaway shortly after the start at Bourg-Saint-Andeol. The group opened up a four-minute lead before being caught with 11km to go by the peloton headed by Hushovd. But the experienced New Yorker Hincapie, who will celebrate his 35th birthday at the end of the month, was the quickest in the sprint finish.



■ BASKETBALL

Arenas to be free agent

Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas opted out of his NBA contract on Tuesday, giving up a US$12.8 million deal to become a free agent on July 1. Arenas, a three-time All-Star who has undergone two operations on his left knee in the past 14 months, beat a June 20 deadline to file paperwork with the league under contract terms. “It is something that he said he would do and it’s something that we expected,” Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld said. “This was just a formality.” Arenas can begin to talk with other clubs in three weeks and has said he seeks a rich long-term deal but would take less money to stay in Washington so the Wizards could have more money to re-sign forward Antawn Jamison. Arenas has averaged 22.8 points and 5.5 assists in a seven-year NBA career.
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