BASKETBALL
Anthony eyes free agency
Carmelo Anthony is to opt out of the final year of his contract with the New York Knicks and become an NBA free agent, according to media reports on Sunday. Anthony has said that he planned to make the move and had a deadline yesterday to notify the Knicks. The 30-year-old, seven-time NBA All-Star said he wants to test free agency. Knicks president Phil Jackson had hoped Anthony would consider playing out the last year of his contract, worth US$23.3 million, and testing free agency next year. Anthony, according to unnamed sources in USA Today and ESPN reports, is interested in the Chicago Bulls. Houston, Miami and the Los Angeles Lakers are among those said to be interested in Anthony, as well as the Knicks.
BASEBALL
Padres drop Byrnes
The San Diego Padres, struggling with the worst run production in Major League Baseball, fired general manager Josh Byrnes on Sunday. At 32-43, the Padres stood 12.5 games behind National League West division leader San Francisco, their record the third-worst in the major leagues ahead of only Arizona and Tampa Bay. San Diego managed only 224 runs over 75 games and the team is batting just .215. “This ownership group is committed to fielding a team that consistently competes for post-season play,” Padres president Mike Dee said. “Thus far this season, the results on the field have been mixed at best and clearly have not lived up to expectations. After a lengthy evaluation of every facet of our baseball operations, we have decided to make this change.” Byrnes got the general manager post in 2011; the Padres responded with 76 victories in each of the next two seasons. General manager duties are to shared on an interim basis between senior vice president of baseball operations Omar Minaya and assistant general managers A.J. Hinch and Fred Uhlman.
SOCCER
Cordoba end top-tier drought
Cordoba earned promotion to Spain’s first division for the first time since 1972 after scoring a last-gasp goal for a 1-1 draw at UD Las Palmas on the Spanish Canary Island of Gran Canaria on Sunday, following a premature pitch invasion by home fans. With Las Palmas winning 1-0, and less than two minutes of stoppage-time left, several dozen home fans invaded the pitch, which forced the game to be delayed for about 10 minutes. When play restarted, Cordoba made one last push that ended with Ulises Davila scrambling the ball into the net and sending his team into the top flight on away goals. After the match, TV images showed clashes among Las Palmas fans, with some blaming the result on those who had invaded the pitch. “It was a minority [of fans who invaded], but because of them Las Palmas lost something that it had in its grasp,” Las Palmas president Miguel Ramirez said. Cordoba join promoted SD Eibar and RC Deportivo de La Coruna.
SWIMMING
Ledecky resets 800m record
Katie Ledecky sliced 2.86 seconds off her 800m freestyle world record on Sunday, clocking 8 minutes, 11 seconds at a meet in Texas for her second world record in four days. The 17-year-old American improved on her own previous 800m free world record of 8:13.86 set at the World Championships in Barcelona in August of last year. On Thursday night, Ledecky had shattered her previous record in the 1,500m free with a time of 15:34.23, improving on the mark of 15:36.53 she had set in Barcelona.
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
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