BASKETBALL
Turkey to sign Sefolosha
Oklahoma City Thunder starting guard Thabo Sefolosha is working on a deal to play with Turkish club Fenerbahce Ulker while the NBA lockout is in place. Sefolosha’s agent, Guy Zucker, said a contract with the Turkish team could be finalized as early as yesterday. Zucker says any deal would include an exit clause that would bring Sefolosha back to the Thunder once the lockout is resolved. The NBA has already canceled the first two weeks of the regular season. Sefolosha, who is from Switzerland, started 79 games in the regular season and then all 17 playoff games for the Thunder last season as they made it to the Western Conference finals. He averaged 5.1 points and 4.4 rebounds.
ICE HOCKEY
Peverley signs extension
Rich Peverley has signed a three-year contract extension that will keep the center with the Boston Bruins through the 2014-2015 NHL season, the team said on Tuesday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. “I like his speed and I like his grit,” Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli told reporters. “I like the way his speed backs up the [defense], and I think he’s made us a faster team.” Peverley, acquired from the Atlanta Thrashers in February, had four goals and 12 points during Boston’s run to the Stanley Cup. The 29-year-old leads the team in goals this season with two after three games.
FOOTBALL
Giants’ Kennedy suspended
The NFL has suspended New York Giants defensive tackle Jimmy Kennedy for four games without pay for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. No other details were provided in the NFL statement posted on the Giants’ Web site on Tuesday. Kennedy would be eligible to return to the Giants’ roster following the team’s Nov. 13 game against the San Francisco Giants. The 31-year-old Kennedy has been used as a reserve and has just four tackles this season, his first with the Giants after stints with Minnesota, Jacksonville, Chicago and St Louis in his nine-year career.
FOOTBALL
Phoenix gets Super Bowl
The 2015 Super Bowl will be played in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, NFL owners decided on Tuesday. The University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, where the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals play their home games, will host the championship game, owners said at a meeting in Houston, Texas. Two previous Super Bowls have been played in the Phoenix area, most recently in 2008 when the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots in Glendale. Tempe, Arizona, hosted the game in 1996 when the Dallas Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. Indianapolis will host the Super Bowl next year, followed by New Orleans in 2013 and the New York/New Jersey area in 2014.
FOOTBALL
NFL to keep playing in UK
NFL owners voted to keep playing regular-season games in the UK through the 2016 season, with the possibility of more than one contest each year, the league said on Tuesday. The resolution passed by team owners at a Houston, Texas, meeting allows teams to volunteer to play at least one regular-season game per year as a home team in the UK and enables the league to schedule more than one game there a year. The NFL has played one regular season game in Britain each year since 2007. This year’s contest will match the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against the Chicago Bears on Oct. 23 in London’s Wembley Stadium.
SOCCER
Nigeria, Ghana fluff chances
Nigeria and Ghana failed to find a cutting edge as the African rivals fluffed a series of chances in a 0-0 draw in an international friendly in Watford, England, on Tuesday. Nigeria striker Ideye Brown came closest to breaking the deadlock just before halftime, smashing a shot from 20m against the bar with Ghana goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey well beaten. Ikechukwu Uche and Obinna Nsofor also squandered opportunities for Nigeria after the team weathered early pressure from Ghana, who reached the World Cup quarter-finals last year. Albert Adomah sent a volley just over the bar, before Prince Tagoe drew two smart saves from Nigeria goalkeeper Austine Ejide. Ghana substitute Asamoah Gyan headed over one of the best openings in the second half.
SOCCER
Odemwingie to miss derbies
Nigeria international striker Peter Odemwingie was set to undergo surgery for a persistent ankle problem in Amsterdam, national coach Sam Siasia said on Tuesday. The West Bromwich Albion player left Nigeria’s hotel in Watford, England, on Monday night to return to Birmingham and he did not feature in a friendly against Ghana later on Tuesday. The 30-year-old striker will also miss his club’s two derbies against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa. “[Odemwingie] has been playing with painkillers and after speaking with the doctor, we all agreed that he should have his surgery as soon as possible,” Siasia said. “It is his career that is on the line, and it is very important for us to put the health and welfare of our players first above everything else.” Odemwingie has been battling the injury for the past two months and he was scheduled to undergo surgery yesterday.
SOCCER
Mancini facing jail term
A judge has requested that a three-year, eight-month jail term be imposed on Brazilian player Mancini for the alleged sexual assualt of a young woman at a party organized by teammate Ronaldinho, the Italian press reported on Tuesday. Former AS Roma, Inter and AC Milan winger Mancini is accused of taking advantage of a drunken Brazilian woman at a party hosted by Ronaldinho in Milan last December. The player is alleged to have offered to escort the model home, before taking her to his apartment, where the attack allegedly occurred. Both Ronaldinho and the 31-year-old Mancini were based at AC Milan at the time. Mancini, who now plays for Atletico Mineiro in his native Brazil, denies the charges. According to Gazzetta dello Sport, prosecutors pursued the case despite the alleged victim withdrawing her complaint. The verdict is expected on Nov. 28.
CRICKET
Watson shocked at claims
Australia allrounder Shane Watson says unproven match-fixing claims against Australia players are “shocking” and threaten the integrity of cricket. Watson said it was “very disappointing and pretty shocking” that the player agent at the center of the Pakistan spot-fixing case said Australia players were “the biggest” fixers. Mazhar Majeed’s allegations were part of recordings played to a British court on Monday. He did not name any players. On tour in South Africa, Watson said on Tuesday: “I know from my perspective how damaging they [the claims] really are to the game.” Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Amir are accused of conspiring with Majeed to bowl deliberate no-balls in a Test against England in London last year.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier