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.
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