Centers Dwight Howard and Yao Ming and star playmakers Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade lead the updated vote totals for the NBA All-Star Game released on Thursday.
Orlando’s Howard set the overall pace with 2,102,368 votes with Cleveland forward James next at 1,940,162 and Wade on 1,818,717. Howard is a runaway leader at his position by more than 1.75 million ballots.
Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers guard who claimed league MVP honors last season, led Western Conference candidates at 1,903,798 with China’s Yao, a Houston Rockets star, next best in the West on 1,758,499.
Shaquille O’Neal of the Phoenix Suns ranks a distant second to Yao with 1,006,383 votes.
Chinese forward Yi Jianlian of New Jersey continues to threaten Boston’s Kevin Garnett for the other Eastern Conference forward starting spot alongside James. Garnett, who sparked the Boston Celtics to last year’s NBA crown and a 19-game win streak this season, has 1,375,814 votes to 1,216,348 for Yi, who joined the Nets this season from Milwaukee.
Wade tops East guards with Detroit’s Allen Iverson in the other starting spot with 1,278,600 votes and his nearest rival, New Jersey’s Vince Carter, next on 856,498.
Houston’s Tracy McGrady kept his lead over New Orleans’ Chris Paul for the other West guard spot behind Bryant with 1,216,224 votes to 1,059,161.
San Antonio’s Tim Duncan leads West forwards with 1,454,918 votes while Denver’s Carmelo Anthony is next on 905,121 with Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire needing help to move up on 894,690.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but