■FOOTBALL
Giants end Burress’ season
The New York Giants officially ended the season of Plaxico Burress on Tuesday by placing the embattled NFL star on the injury list. The move came one day after Burress was charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon after suffering a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a Manhattan nightclub the previous weekend. The Giants initially fined Burress and suspended him for four games for conduct detrimental to the team for multiple and repeated violations of club rules. Should the defending Super Bowl champions make the playoffs, which is a mere formality given their 11-1 record, Burress will not be allowed to return to the Giants’ active list.
■FOOTBALL
Six NFL players suspended
The NFL suspended a half dozen players after they failed doping tests, league officials announced on Tuesday. Defensive tackles Pat Williams and Kevin Williams of the Minnesota Vikings, a trio of players with the New Orleans Saints — running back Deuce McAllister and defensive ends Will Smith and Charles Grant — and center Bryan Pittman of the Houston Texans were slapped with four-game suspensions for violating the league’s policy on anabolic steroids and related substances. The NFL’s disciplinary officials did not release the name of the drug but it is reportedly a masking agent for steroids.
■FOOTBALL
Browns sign Gradkowski
The Cleveland Browns signed quarterback Bruce Gradkowski today, while Derek Anderson was placed on injured reserve, the team said. Quarterback Brady Quinn, who hurt his right index finger in his first National Football League victory on Nov. 17 against the Buffalo Bills, will have surgery tomorrow to repair the damage. He was expected to recover in six to 10 weeks. Gradkowski played his first two NFL seasons with Tampa Bay, throwing for 1,661 yards and nine touchdowns in 11 games during his rookie year with the Buccaneers. After four appearances last year, he was waived in June and went to training camp this year with St. Louis.
■GOLF
Ballesteros has operation
Five-time major champion Seve Ballesteros underwent more surgery on Tuesday, this time to drain fluid from his brain. Ballesteros was in stable condition in the intensive care unit after the operation to implant a valve in his brain, La Paz hospital said in a three-line statement. Doctors also repaired a bone defect stemming from one of the procedures the golf great has undergone since his initial operation on Oct. 24 to remove a malignant brain tumor.
■ICE HOCKEY
‘Pit’ falls through ice, dies
Police divers recovered the body of Hubert “Pit” Martin, a four-time NHL All-Star in the 1960s and 1970s, who drowned after the snowmobile he was driving plunged into an icy lake near his home. Divers found Martin’s body on Tuesday, Quebec provincial police said. Constable Marie-Josee Ouellet said Martin was driving the vehicle on Lake Kanasuta in northwestern Quebec on Sunday when the ice cracked and he plunged into the freezing water. Another man who was driving a separate snowmobile at the time confirmed Martin ended up in the water, Ouellet said. Martin, who would have turned 65 next week, lived on an island in the lake that was reached by boat in summer and snowmobile in winter.
■ATHLETICS
Kamel to return to Kenya
Bahrain’s Kenya-born world indoor 800m bronze medalist Youssef Saad Kamel plans to ditch his Bahraini passport and return to Kenya next year, alleging mistreatment in the Gulf nation. The 25-year-old Kamel said the conditions were not favorable for his stay. “Promises are not honored. Sometimes I can go for several months without a salary. When I ask for the money I am told to wait,” said Kamel, who is credited with the second-fastest 800m time in the world behind Abubakar Kaki of Sudan. “I am prepared to come back home and run for Kenya at the 2009 World championships in Berlin.”
■CYCLING
Police question Astana rider
Spanish police stopped an Astana rider on Tuesday because he wasn’t wearing a cycling helmet. Chris Horner was riding alongside teammate Lance Armstrong at Astana’s preseason training camp in Tenerife when a police car pulled the pack over. The team was allowed to continue after an identification check on Horner, who continued without the helmet since professional cyclists are not obligated to wear them in Spain.
■SOCCER
Uruguay chief threatened
Uruguayan Football Federation (AUF) president Jose Luis Corbo said on Tuesday he had received death threats and anonymous calls warning that bombs had been hidden at the federation’s headquarters. Corbo revealed the threats a day after the authorities had announced the league program would resume yesterday following a three-week interruption in the wake of fan violence. The AUF had suspended the league after fighting broke out at a match between Nacional and Danubio. “I don’t know where [the threats] are coming from — most likely these people don’t want the league to resume ... or they’re trying to get me out. But they won’t be lucky as I have a clear conscience and I’m not afraid of them,” Corbo said.
■SOCCER
Tenerife deny allegations
Players at Spanish second division side Tenerife on Tuesday denied allegations they had accepted bribes to lose a key match last season. “This accusation is totally false. We had nothing to do with this affair,” the team said in a statement read out by captain Cristo Marrero. A former Tenerife player, Jesus Mora Nieto, known as Jesuli, said he received around 6,000 euros (US$7,600) to ensure the club lost a match on the last day of last season that allowed opponents Malaga to win promotion to the first division, the newspaper El Mundo said on Monday. He made the allegation in a taped conversation two weeks ago with Inaki Badiola, president of Real Sociedad, which failed to win promotion due to Malaga’s victory. “I cannot tell you if [my fellow players] took money, but, well, if I received it I imagine that everyone also received it, no?” the player said.
■GOLF
US PGA boss rakes it in
US PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem had a US$400,000 drop in his compensation last year, but the US$4.8 million in salary and bonuses was still enough to be the equivalent of No. 3 on the money list for the second straight year. The Sports Business Journal, citing the latest tax forms the tour is required to file, said Finchem received US$1.3 million in salary, US$3.2 million in bonuses and US$240,000 in benefits. The most recent tax forms available for the US LPGA Tour said that commissioner Carolyn Bivens earned US$710,812 in salary and benefits in 2006.
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
RIVALRY: Carlos Alcaraz lost his previous two matches against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, in the Australian Open quarter-finals this year and Paris Olympics final last year Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday dazzled at the US Open to make the semi-finals before Novak Djokovic of Serbia danced his way through to book a New York showdown with the Spaniard that would mark the latest chapter in their generational rivalry. Former champion Alcaraz produced yet another entertaining display at Flushing Meadows to dismantle 20th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at a sunbathed Arthur Ashe Stadium, securing his place in the last four without dropping a set this year. “Sometimes I play a shot that I should not play in that moment, but it’s the way I love
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
Spain are in danger of not getting out of EuroBasket Group C after losing 67-63 to Italy on Tuesday, but the defending champions still control their destiny. Marco Spissu put Italy in front for good at 64-63 with two free throws with 31 seconds left and made two more with 14 seconds remaining. Giampaolo Ricci converted one of two free throws with eight seconds on the clock. Spain, which in 2022 won their fourth title, are tied with Georgia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 2-2 each. Greece and Italy have clinched two of the group’s four spots in the round-of-16,
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