BASKETBALL
Sterling to ‘fight punishment’
The attorney for Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has told the NBA his client will not pay a league-issued US$2.5 million fine and that he will fight league punishment over his racist comments, Sports Illustrated reported. Sterling was banned for life by league commissioner Adam Silver and threatened with the forced sale of his team after an audio recording surfaced last month of a conversation in which he berated a female friend for publicly associating with black people. Sterling’s lawyer, Maxwell Blecher, wrote in a letter to NBA executive vice president and general counsel Rick Buchanan that his client had done nothing wrong and does not deserve punishment, and that the matter “will be adjudicated,” Sports Illustrated reported late on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
SWIMMING
Phelps back on top
Michael Phelps returned to the top of a podium for the first time since the 2012 Olympics when he won the 100m butterfly at the Charlotte Grand Prix on Friday. Phelps made it through a grueling double in the morning preliminaries, also swimming the 200m freestyle, then limited himself to one race in the evening. While he did not improve on the time from the first meet of his comeback, when he finished second to Ryan Lochte last month, it was another big step toward competing at the 2016 Rio Olympics. “It’s been a while,” he said. “It’s nice seeing the first place next to your name. It’s good to be on that side of it again. That’s my first one since I came back. Hopefully, we can get a string of those.” Going out strong and remaining comfortably ahead on the return leg, Phelps cruised to victory in 52.13 seconds, about a half body-length ahead of runner-up Pavel Sankovich of Belarus.
GOLF
Pieters leads Spanish Open
Little-known Belgian Thomas Pieters stole the show in the second round of the Spanish Open in Girona on Friday, surging to the top of the leaderboard with a second consecutive three-under-par 69. The 22-year-old was one stroke ahead of overnight leader Eddie Pepperell of Britain (71) and Dutchman Joost Luiten (69). Italian Francesco Molinari (67) was in fourth position on 140, two shots off the pace. Spanish trio Alvaro Quiros (141), Miguel Angel Jimenez (142) and Sergio Garcia (143) were also in title contention.
CRICKET
Blake eyes Yorkshire place
Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake revealed on Friday that he would like to play for English county cricket team Yorkshire when he ends his athletics career. “I’m OK, you know. I can make the England team,” the 24-year-old double Olympic silver medalist joked on BBC Radio 5 Live. “I’m good in the outfield, so they would probably pick me for that as well.” Asked if he was serious about swapping the track for the crease, he added: “Yes, definitely. I’ve been wanting to play for Yorkshire or in England, so, after running, definitely I’ll put my mind to that.” He went on to claim that talks had already taken place. Yorkshire welcomed Blake’s interest, tweeting via their official account: “Hey @YohanBlake you’re always welcome to come and play for Yorkshire. Let’s get this sorted and come and have a net with us.” Blake was a keen cricketer as a youth and reportedly only turned to sprinting after one of his teachers noticed how quickly he ran when he came in to bowl. He is the second-fastest man of all time over both 100m and 200m, and won two silver medals and a gold in the 4x100m relay during the 2012 London Olympics.
SOCCER
Messi likely to top earnings
Barcelona and Lionel Messi have agreed an improved contract that is reportedly to make the four-time World Player of the Year soccer’s best-paid player with a net annual salary of 20 million euros (US$27.4 million). Barca did not publish details of the deal, but Spanish media said Messi, 26, would remain tied to the club until June 2018, as in his previous contract, and could earn about 5 million euros more per season in performance-linked bonuses. The Argentina captain would also regain control of his image rights, one report said, further boosting the income of a man Forbes magazine estimates is the 10th-highest-earning athlete, with annual revenues of US$41.2 million, including wages and endorsements. Messi, who had been earning a net 13 million euros per season, is to top soccer’s earnings list ahead of Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo on 18 million euros and Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Paris Saint-Germain on 14.7 million euros, sports daily Marca said.
SOCCER
Bolivian president signed up
A first-division professional soccer club has signed Bolivian President Evo Morales to play midfield at a monthly salary of US$213 and expects the leftist leader to make his debut in August, the head of the team said on Friday. The 54-year-old soccer fanatic is to wear No. 10 for the Sport Boys team, which is based in Santa Cruz Province and rose to become a division one team last year. “He loves soccer and he plays well,” Sport Boys president Mario Cronenbold said. Morales’ monthly paycheck is to be in line with the impoverished South American country’s minimum wage. Cronenbold brushed off questions about Morales’ fitness to play professional soccer. “As I told the president, jokingly, we are not putting the president of Uruguay on the field,” Cronenbold said, referring to Uruguay’s 78-year-old Jose Mujica.
SOCCER
City, Paris Saint-Germain fined
Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, two of the newly rich clubs in European soccer, have been fined up to 60 million euros (US$82.23 million) and had their squads capped for next season’s Champions League after breaching UEFA’s financial rules. As part of their settlement with UEFA, Premier League champions City, owned by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour, and Qatari-owned French champions PSG have also agreed to curbs on transfer spending over the next two seasons. City said their transfer spending would be capped at a net figure of 60 million euros this summer, but added that the restrictions would not greatly impact their plans.
RUGBY UNION
Northampton beat Leicester
Northampton Saints marched into the English Premiership final as they survived Salesi Ma’afu’s red card to secure a shock 21-20 victory over champions Leicester at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday. Trailing 17-6 at half-time and then a man down when Ma’afu was dismissed for punching Tom Youngs, Jim Mallinder’s side looked set for another painful defeat against the Tigers, just 12 months after losing to them in the Premiership final. George North and then Tom Wood in the closing stages scored for Saints, canceling out Leicester’s tries from Manu Tuilagi and Ben Youngs as Mallinder’s men held on to deny Leicester a 10th successive Premiership final appearance. Saints’ opponents in the final at Twickenham on May 31 are either to be Saracens or Harlequins, who were to meet in the second semi-final 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