BASKETBALL
Mavs trade Fernandez
NBA champions the Dallas Mavericks continued their roster changes on Tuesday by trading away Spanish guard Rudy Fernandez and forward Corey Brewer to the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets, who announced their new acquisitions, sent Dallas a second-round pick in exchange for the pair of players. For the Mavs, the move saves money and clears room for their newly acquired forwards Lamar Odom and Vince Carter. Brewer appeared in six playoff games for Dallas after he was signed by them midseason, while Fernandez never appeared for the team after he was picked up through a Mavericks’ trade with Portland in June.
FOOTBALL
James Harrison suspended
Pittsburgh Steelers’ linebacker James Harrison was suspended one game for a dangerous helmet-to-helmet hit on Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy, the NFL announced on Tuesday. Harrison was penalized for roughing the passer during last Thursday’s game, won 14-3 by the Steelers, but the NFL added a one-game ban because of his previous indiscretions. A repeat offender, Harrison was fined four times between 2009 and last year for illegal hits on quarterbacks. He was also fined on two other occasions for unnecessary roughness. The NFL has recently introduced new rules to protect quarterbacks from late hits. The one-game suspension means Harrison will miss Monday’s game against the 49ers in San Francisco, where a victory for the Steelers, last season’s AFC Conference champions, would secure their place in this season’s playoffs.
TENNIS
Tomic says being targeted
Teenage Australian star Bernard Tomic yesterday said he was being targeted by a police officer who repeatedly pulled over his distinctive orange sports car. The 19-year-old, ranked No. 42 in the world, has been granted a special exemption from his provisional license to drive his high-octane A$150,000 (US$150,000) BMW M3 to and from tennis training. However, the teenager, who this year became the youngest man to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals since Boris Becker in 1986, said he was pulled over by a policeman in Queensland State on Sunday night for allegedly “hooning.” Hooning is an Australian term, which covers driving recklessly and street racing. “The car’s very loud, but I don’t know what he defines as hooning,” Tomic told the Courier Mail newspaper. “I didn’t speed, I didn’t do any of that stuff.” Tomic said he felt the officer had taken a personal dislike to him and was “always on my tail,” insisting he had done nothing wrong and was simply going “about my business as a tennis player.” “He’s pulled me over a few times, but now it’s starting to get a little bit more aggressive,” he said. “I don’t know what it is — jealousy or whatever — but this policeman seems to have it in for me. If I did the wrong thing, he would charge me, but he hasn’t.”
BASEBALL
More video replay coming
Baseball’s new labor contract includes more video replay, the chance for a longer All-Star break and a small, but likely welcome perk for players: the chance to get a private room instead of a roommate during spring training. Teams from the same division will now be allowed to meet in the playoffs before the league championship series. There’s also a ban on players getting tattoos with corporate logos and the possibility that major leaguers can wear microphones during games.
SOCCER
Blatter likened to an eel
Bayern Munich boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge on Tuesday attacked FIFA president Sepp Blatter by describing him as being like a slippery “eel” at the head of a “dictatorship.” “I believe Sepp is like an eel, who you can never really grasp,” Rummenigge said on German soccer show LIGA total! when asked about the FIFA boss. “It will be difficult to convince him to make room. For others or perhaps also for a new start.” Rummenigge also said he believes world soccer’s governing body FIFA is “neither transparent nor democratic. I find it a pity that there are such relics left which are led like a dictatorship.” In June, FIFA delegates voted Blatter in for a fourth term in office. Blatter was unopposed in the election because his rival, Asian Football Federation president Mohammed Bin Hammam, pulled out after being suspended over bribery allegations.
SPORTS AWARDS
BOA considers boycott
The British Olympic Association (BOA) is considering a boycott of the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year show, the last before the London Games, in protest at the lack of women on the shortlist. It is understood that senior BOA officials are weighing up whether to snub the annual showcase, which takes place next week, after the furor over the all-male shortlist. The buildup to this year’s awards, for which world cycling road race champion Mark Cavendish is favorite, have been overshadowed by the row over the lack of recognition for female athletes. BOA chief executive Andy Hunt was one of the most outspoken critics of the shortlist, compiled from the votes of 27 newspapers and magazines, including lads’ magazines Zoo and Nuts.
SOCCER
Fletcher to take break
Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher is to take an extended break because of health reasons, the club confirmed on Tuesday. The Premier League champions said Fletcher, 27, had been battling the bowel condition ulcerative colitis, which had already forced the midfielder to miss several months last season. United said the club had previously attributed Fletcher’s absence to a mystery viral illness to protect the player’s medical confidentiality. Meanwhile, Scotland manager Craig Levein wished Fletcher a speedy recovery. “I am obviously absolutely devastated for Darren because I know how hard he has worked to get back to playing regularly for his club and country,” Levein said. “He is one of the most inspirational players I have had the pleasure of working with.”
CRICKET
Public dumped for experts
Cricket Australia will revert to a panel of experts to decide man of the match awards after Doug Bracewell failed to win a public vote despite bowling New Zealand to victory in a Test match in Hobart, Australia, on Monday. Bracewell’s six wickets for 40 runs in Australia’s second innings were unarguably decisive in the Black Caps winning their first Test match since 1985 across the Tasman Sea. However, the 21-year-old still lost out heavily to Australia opener David Warner, who made an unbeaten 123, in a vote conducted among subscribers of a mobile telephone company that is a major sponsor of Australian cricket. “We were always running a bit of a trial for these two Tests with those man of the match awards, but we will definitely revert back to an expert’s choice for that decision about man of the match,” Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland told Melbourne’s Radio 3AW yesterday.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two