BASKETBALL
Bulls’ Rose named MVP
Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose ended LeBron James’ two-year reign as the NBA’s most valuable player on Tuesday when he became the youngest winner of the league’s highest individual honor. Rose led the Bulls to the best record in the NBA this season. The 22-year-old All-Star, taken with the first overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, is the first Bulls player to capture the honor since Hall of Famer Michael Jordan claimed the last of his five MVP awards in 1998. Rose averaged a career-high 25 points and 7.7 assists this season while guiding the Bulls to a 62-20 record that earned them the top seed in the playoffs.
TENNIS
Williams’ stalker charged
A man was charged with stalking Serena Williams after police said they caught him trying to enter the star’s gated neighborhood. Palm Beach Gardens police said 40-year-old Patenema Ouedraogo told officers he was going to Williams’ home on Monday night “because he loves her” and “he knows the feelings are reciprocal.” A lawyer for the 13-time Grand Slam singles champion said he had recently obtained a restraining order after Ouedraogo tried three times to contact the player. Police said neighborhood security guards stopped Ouedraogo as he walked in several minutes after Williams’ sister, Venus, returned home. According to the police report, Serena Williams’ lawyer, Malcolm Cunningham, got a restraining order to keep Ouedraogo away from Williams after he followed her to a meeting with her agent in Los Angeles last October. Cunningham told police Ouedraogo also posed as Williams’ assistant while she was at the Home Shopping Network in Tampa, Florida, this year, gaining access to her dressing room before he was escorted from the building. Ouedraogo also followed Williams to a radio interview in Florida last month, the lawyer said.
HORSE RACING
Toby’s Corner cut from Derby
Wood Memorial winner Toby’s Corner has been scratched from Saturday’s Kentucky Derby after developing an unspecified injury to his left hind leg. Trainer Graham Motion detected a problem with the son of Bellamy Road on Monday and shipped the colt from his training center in Fair Hill, Maryland, to the New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, for evaluation. “After what was a perfect work on Sunday, we weren’t 100 percent happy with him yesterday,” Motion told the Steeplechase Times on Tuesday. “He had a lameness in his left hind, we had him looked at here and then we sent him to New Bolton. At this point, there’s nothing obvious that’s causing the lameness.”
RUGBY UNION
Armitage suspended again
London Irish and England fullback Delon Armitage received his second suspension of the season on Tuesday — just over a month after coming back from an eight-week suspension. The 27-year-old, who missed the whole of this year’s Six Nations for pushing an anti-doping officer, was banned for three weeks for striking Northampton flyhalf Stephen Myler in the Premiership clash on April 23. His ban, imposed after he pleaded guilty at a disciplinary hearing in London on Tuesday, take effect from yesterday until Monday next week and then from May 24 to June 6. The ban has been split as London Irish cannot qualify for the playoffs. It means Armitage will miss sixth-placed Irish’s final league game away to leaders Leicester on Saturday and also England’s match against the Barbarians at Twickenham on May 29.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Forget Real Madrid, Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain, the world’s best soccer team — statistically speaking — might be a little-known outfit from the closed central Asian nation of Turkmenistan. Founded last year, Arkadag, named in honor of former Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, have been unstoppable, notching up 36 consecutive domestic victories in a run still ongoing. The side have not lost a single competitive match and swept to a league and cup double in their inaugural season — success unthinkable almost anywhere else. However, in Turkmenistan, it could hardly have gone any other way. The energy-rich country is one of the most closed
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and