BASKETBALL
Wage dispute continues
The NBA’s players union and owners appear no closer to resolving their wage differences before the June 30 expiry of the collective bargaining agreement after the League rejected the latest offer on Wednesday. Players have offered to reduce wages by US$500 million over a five-year period, while owners are looking for a minimum of US$2 billion a year in conjunction with a flexible salary cap. The NBA is also reportedly seeking funds that were held back in escrow from players’ salaries to ensure wages did not exceed 57 percent of league revenues. The players had expected those funds, approximately US$160 million, to be dished out as last year’s salaries are expected to fall below that threshold.
HOCKEY
Thomas, Perry net awards
Boston goalie Tim Thomas and Anaheim forward Corey Perry shared the spotlight at the 2011 NHL Awards on Wednesday. Stanley Cup-winning goaltender Thomas, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs’ most valuable player last week, won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie for the second time in three seasons. Perry took home the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player, as voted by the media, and the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the top goal scorer with 50 goals. Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom won his seventh Norris Trophy as the League’s best defenseman.
SOCCER
Fans clash with police
Hundreds of soccer fans clashed with police in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, the second outbreak of serious post-match rioting in barely a week, officials said yesterday. Forty fans were detained for hooliganism after a visiting team, Ravshan from the southeast of Tajikistan, won 3-2 over CSKA-Pomir of Dushanbe, authorities said. “Fans, excited by their team’s victory, left the stadium, blocked the traffic, threw rocks at police,” a source in the Ministry of the Interior said. Following the game on Wednesday night, young men ages between 14 and 18 beat up drivers, smashed several cars and a police van, hurled rocks into windows of nearby buildings, he said. At least one person was treated at a hospital. “The mob was stopped only after a police task force group arrived. Many ran away,” an eyewitness said, according to local reports.
SOCCER
Player carded for piercing
An amateur soccer player fell foul of the referee, and could incur the wrath of his mother, after failing to prove he had removed a piece of jewelry from an intimate body piercing during a match in Melbourne. Aaron Eccleston, who turned out for Old Hill Wanderers against Swinburne University reserves, was handed a second yellow card for the offense in the first half of last Sunday’s match. “During the first half, our player was struck in the groin by the ball, and left the field to receive attention,” a statement on the club Web site said. “At this point the referee became aware that he had a body piercing. He subsequently received two yellow cards, firstly for re-entering the field of play without the referee’s permission, and secondly for privacy reasons being unable to prove that he had removed the piercing.” The latter end of the incident was captured on amateur video and posted on the Internet. Eccleston, who describes himself on his Twitter page as a “disillusioned Mansfield Town fan, down under,” was shocked at how quickly the story had spread. “I don’t think my mum’s going to be particularly happy!” he tweeted.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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