BASEBALL
Magic Johnson eyes Dodgers
Former Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson of the National Basketball Association is teaming up with a group of investors that are looking at buying the Los Angeles Dodgers. Johnson, who is also a former part-owner of the Lakers, is joining a group that includes former Atlanta Braves executive Stan Kasten and business tycoon Mark Walter. They plan to take part in the auction to purchase the team, which will be sold by owner Frank McCourt. Johnson, who played point guard, sold his stake in the Lakers 13 months ago.
BOXING
Klitschko hospitalized
Wladimir Klitschko’s promoter Bernd Boente said the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion was taken to a Duesseldorf hospital with abdominal pains. Boente told German news agency DAPD on Friday night that Klitschko was displaying symptoms of renal colic, a pain commonly caused by kidney stones. Boente said Klitschko’s bout against French challenger Jean-Marc Mormeck on Saturday next week is not in danger. Boente said “the fight isn’t called off yet. Wladimir is doing well.” Klitschko has never before had kidney stones or other similar problems.
SPEED SKATING
US’ Fredricks wins 500m
Tucker Fredricks of the US won his first 500m World Cup race of the season on Friday at the Thialf in Heerenveen, Netherlands. Fredricks finished in 34.98 seconds. Joji Kato of Japan was second in 35.07 and South Korean Olympic champion Mo Tae-bum was third in 35.08. Martina Sablikova won the first women’s 5,000m World Cup race of the season in 6 minutes, 58.87 seconds. Claudia Pechstein was second and German teammate Stephanie Beckert was third. Yu Jing of China won the women’s 500m in 37.84, edging Lee Sang-hwa of South Korea by seven-hundredths of a second. Wang Beixing of China was third. Ivan Skobrev of Russia took first place in the men’s 1,500 in 1 minute, 45.81 seconds, ahead of Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands and Havard Bokko of Norway.
BOXING
Muhammad Ali recovering
Icon Muhammad Ali is recovering at home after a short hospital stay in Arizona, the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper reported on Friday. The newspaper said it spoke to Ali’s close friend John Ramsey, who said Ali was “home and well” after a scare last month where his wife called for an ambulance to take him to the hospital. “I don’t think he stayed very long,” Ramsey said. “He may not be going in the direction you or I like, but no one is on the alert.” Earlier on Friday, Star magazine and RadarOnline.com reported that Ali had been hospitalized just a few days after attending the funeral for old rival Joe Frazier, after Ali lost consciousness at his Phoenix home.
BIATHLON
Bergman wins 10km sprint
Carl Johan Bergman of Sweden won the men’s 10km sprint on Friday at the season-opening biathlon World Cup meet in Ostersund, Sweden, shooting clean to hold off Tarjei Boe of Norway. The 33-year old Bergman finished in 24 minutes, 22.5 seconds to beat Boe by 7.6 seconds. The Norwegian also hit all targets in the two shooting rounds. Bergman said he “probably hadn’t imagined winning today, but I felt pretty strong during the race.” He added he “had decided beforehand to be on the offensive, but in a positive way.” Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway was third, 13 seconds behind Bergman after missing one target.
SOCCER
Djalo lets cat out of bag
Aston Villa coach Alex McLeish was unable to hide his annoyance on Friday after potential signing Yannick Djalo announced his trial at the club on Facebook. The Portuguese forward was due for a trial at Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground, but any hopes McLeish had of keeping the move quiet were extinguished when Djalo wrote about it on his Facebook account. “We’re just going to look at him on trial,” McLeish said. “Talk of signing him is very premature. I didn’t really want it to be anybody’s business, but I know the lad put it on Facebook himself, so what chance have you got?”
SOCCER
Lighter sentences vetoed
Turkish President Abdullah Gul has vetoed amendments that would have reduced prison terms for match-fixing and led to lighter sentences for about 30 club officials and players arrested in a recent rigging scandal. Parliament voted for the changes last week, only eight months after it approved sentences of up to 12 years for anyone convicted of rigging games. The changes led to criticism that they were designed to save Fenerbahce president Aziz Yildirim, who is among those awaiting trial for alleged involvement in the scandal. A statement from Gul’s office on Friday said the president vetoed the new reduced term of three years on grounds it was giving “the impression of a special arrangement” to save the suspects.
SOCCER
Nancy not to play host
AS Nancy-Lorraine has pulled out of hosting games at the 2016 European Championship because of a financial disagreement between the French city and companies bidding for the renovation of the Marcel Picot stadium. Nancy was among the 11 cities picked by the French Football Federation to host Euro 2016, but it needed to expand the Marcel Picot stadium’s capacity from about 20,000 to 32,000 to comply with the UEFA requirements. However, Nancy and the two companies bidding for the renovation of the stadium could not reach an agreement over the financing.
SOCCER
German trio break record
German trio Rene Enders, Maximilian Levy and Stefan Nimke have broken the world track speed record for three laps (750m) during qualifying at the Track Cycling World Cup in Cali, Colombia. The trio’s time of 42.914 seconds on Thursday beat the previous record of 42.95 seconds set by Great Britain’s Jamie Staff, Jason Kenny and Sir Chris Hoy during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Enders completed the first lap in 17.118 seconds, the quickest individual time over the first 250m recorded in the event’s history. The trio beat another German team in the final.
SOCCER
‘Mar Mostro’ gets new mast
Puma Ocean Racing’s disabled Mar Mostro has been loaded onto a container ship at a remote south Atlantic Ocean island for transport to Cape Town for the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. Skipper Ken Read says loading took about five hours on Friday. Team officials estimate it will take about four days to get from Tristan da Cunha to Cape Town. Mar Mostro’s 105-foot (32m) mast broke in three pieces on Nov. 21, forcing the crew to withdraw from leg one. A new mast was to arrive in Cape Town yesterday. The crew hopes to have the boat ready for the in-port race on Saturday. The second leg, to Abu Dhabi, begins the following day.
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