BASKETBALL
‘T-Mac’ retires from NBA
Seven-time All-Star Tracy McGrady, a shooting guard renowned for his exceptional athleticism, announced on Monday that he was retiring from the National Baseketball Association (NBA) after 16 years in the league. A two-time scoring champion who played a small role for the San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs last season, McGrady averaged 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game in a career that began with much promise in 1997, when he was drafted out of high school. The 34-year-old, known to many as “T-Mac,” later told ESPN’s First Take he had enjoyed “a great run, but it’s time for it to come to an end.” However, McGrady did not rule out the possibility that he might consider playing competitively in China when asked to clarify his thinking about the future. McGrady played for the Qingdao Eagles in the Chinese Basketball Association during the 2012-2013 season, before his last NBA hurrah with the Spurs. Often bracketed with Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter as the best players of his generation, McGrady played for the Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic, Houston Rockets, New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks and Spurs.
BASEBALL
Harvey likely out for season
New York Mets star pitcher Matt Harvey has a partially torn elbow ligament and is likely out for the remainder of the season, the Major League Baseball team said. The All-Star right-handed pitcher said on Monday an MRI has revealed the ulnar collateral ligament, in his right elbow, is partially torn. General manager Sandy Alderson said they would wait a couple of weeks before deciding whether surgery is necessary. The 24-year-old underwent an MRI after feeling tightness in his forearm during his most recent start, a 3-0 loss to Detroit in which Harvey allowed a career-high 13 hits.
GOLF
Woods pulls out of event
Tiger Woods has pulled out of a charity event for good friend Notah Begay because of his ailing back. The Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge said that Gary Woodland will replace Woods in the field today at Turning Stone Resort. Woods said he felt stiffness in his back last week at The Barclays from a soft bed in his hotel. He said he suffered a back spasm during a seven-hole stretch at the end of the final round, and he dropped to his knees after one shot. Woods finished one shot behind Adam Scott.
JUDO
Takato wins gold
Young Japanese judoka hope Naohisa Takato delivered his country’s first gold medal of the world championships on Monday in Rio de Janeiro. The 20-year-old took the men’s 60kg title, beating Mongolia’s Amartuvshin Dashdavaa in the final, and proved the perfect riposte to a Mongolian having denied one of his celebrated compatriots in the previous final. Japanese judoka Haruna Asami’s hopes of a third successive world title in the 48kg category were dashed as Mongolia’s Asian champion Urantsetseg Munkhbat beat her in the final. Munkhbat, 23, had never even won a medal in a global competition before this, but she showed few nerves in taking gold with an ippon in immobilizing Asami. It was quite a turnaround in her fortunes, as the last time they met in competition Asami came out on top in the semi-finals of the Paris tournament in February. Asami, 25, was competing in only her third tournament of the year, and came in to the championships unbeaten, having won in both Paris and Tokyo.
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