■BASEBALL
Bonds’ trial date delayed
US baseball home run king Barry Bonds apparently must wait until next year for a court date on charges he lied to a federal grand jury when he denied knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs. Lawyers for the Major League Baseball (MLB) star and government prosecutors were unable to agree upon a date in the three-year-old case on Friday and because the presiding judge only has a short span to hear it, a long delay is likely. US District Court Judge Susan Illston told attorneys for both sides that her courtroom was only available in September, but lawyers for Bonds ruled out having the trial in that month, seemingly setting the case on a path for next year.
■BASEBALL
Ty Wigginton suspended
MLB suspended Baltimore Orioles first baseman Ty Wigginton for three games and fined him an undisclosed amount on Friday for making contact with an umpire in a game on Thursday. Wigginton said he would appeal the ruling handed down by league officials after his confrontation with umpire Gary Darling after a call at first base in a game against the Minnesota Twins. Darling declared J.J. Hardy safe at first after a throw back to first, prompting Willington to toss his cap off and scream at the umpire until being pulled away from interim manage Juan Samuel. After being ejected from the game, Wigginton tossed the ball into the stands.
■BASKETBALL
Bryant undergoes surgery
Two-time NBA scoring champion Kobe Bryant has undergone surgery to repair his injured knee, the Los Angeles Lakers announced on Friday. Bryant, a 12-time NBA all-star, underwent arthroscopic surgery on the right knee last week. He is expected to be ready for the start of the training camp on Sept. 25. During the Lakers’ playoff run last season, Bryant had doctors drain the knee to reduce swelling. Bryant played through several injuries while leading the Lakers to their second straight championship last month. Bryant could also need surgery on a broken finger, which hampered him throughout the 2009-10 season playoffs.
■BOXING
Pacquiao says talks stalled
The Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather mega-fight talks took another twist on Friday with Paquiao’s camp saying negotiations had stalled again and so they were looking to Mexico’s Antonio Margarito. Pacquiao was going to fight Mayweather this year, but the latest deal to fight in November appears to have fallen through. Promoter Bob Arum told SI.com on Friday that Pacquiao would face Margarito for the vacant WBC junior middleweight championship on Nov. 13. Arum said he is growing tired of Mayweather’s act. “[Mayweather’s] idea of being part of his team is having guys who when he says ‘jump,’ they say ‘how high?’ Why didn’t they just say we decided not to fight until next year?” Arum said.
■SOFTBALL
Finch loses no-hit bid
Jennie Finch took a no-hit bid into the fifth inning in one of her final starts for the US national team as they beat top rival Japan 5-0 on Friday in the World Cup of Softball. Finch, who announced earlier this week that she’d retire from international softball after the World Cup, lost her no-hitter with two outs in the fifth when Maki Tanigawa lined a single off the glove of third baseman Andrea Duran. Shortstop Natasha Watley picked up the deflected ball but her throw to first was off target.
■CYCLING
Landis reiterates allegations
Disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis says he witnessed first hand former American teammate Lance Armstrong using performance-enhancing drugs, including receiving transfusions for blood doping. Speaking on ABC’s news magazine show Nightline on Friday, Landis reiterated his sweeping allegations against Armstrong. Landis, who at first denied, then admitted using performance enhancing drugs, said it would take up too much time to go into specifics about every time he saw Armstrong using drugs. “Rather than go into the entire detail of every single time I have seen it, yes, I saw Lance Armstrong using drugs,” Landis told Nightline. “If I am taking on Lance Armstrong then that should be evidence that there is a problem with the system, because I am saying it — a bunch of people did it. Look. At some point people have to tell their kids that Santa Claus isn’t real. I hate to be the guy to do it, but it’s just not real.” Asked during the 90 minute interview if he ever saw Armstrong receiving transfusions, Landis answered: “Yes.” When asked if he saw Armstrong transfuse more than once, Landis answered: “Yes, multiple times.”
■CRICKET
Tendulkar denies blood story
Sachin Tendulkar has denied a report that his blood will be used in a special pictorial “celebration” book on the career of the Indian cricket legend. The mammoth book scheduled to appear in February is designed to be the “ultimate tribute to a living sporting legend” and “the definitive work on his life and career,” publishers Kraken said. The 37-year-old Tendulkar, who is in Sri Lanka playing a Test series, denied reports that appeared last week in the Guardian that his blood would used on the book’s signature page. “There is no truth in my blood being part of the book,” Tendulkar told the Times of India in comments published yesterday. Kraken chief executive Karl Fowler was quoted by the British newspaper as saying 10 copies of the book would be printed using Tendulkar’s blood. Fowler told the Times of India that his comments had been “misunderstood.”
■SOCCER
Champions beaten by Ajax
Premier League champions Chelsea slumped to a 3-1 defeat to Martin Jol’s Ajax in a pre-season friendly on Friday, but coach Carlo Ancelotti praised his side, eight of whom were under 21. “Our young players did their best and it is normal for young players to play this kind of game,” said Ancelotti, whose World Cup players did not feature. “It was more difficult, but it was a good test for them. They are disappointed with the result, but individually the performance of the young players was good.” Ajax took the lead when goalkeeper Ross Turnbull inadvertently deflected a Jeffrey Bruma header into his own net. Daniel Sturridge leveled, before Siem De Jong made the most of a Turnbull mistake to score into an empty net. South Korea’s Suk Hyun-jun sealed victory in the final minute.
■SOCCER
Riera signs for Olympiakos
Liverpool’s Spanish winger Albert Riera completed his Greek record move to Olympiakos on Friday when he signed a four-year contract. It is the biggest transaction ever in the Greek Super League, with Olympiakos paying Liverpool 5 million euros (US$6.5 million). “I will work hard to write history with Olympiakos,” 28-year-old Riera said. The former Espanyol and Girondins Bordeaux winger will receive a total of 7 million euros for the duration of his contract, a figure that does not include bonuses.
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