BASKETBALL
James to meet with Heat
Two people familiar with the situation said that LeBron James will meet with Miami Heat president Pat Riley this week before making a decision about where to play next season. The time and location were still being scheduled, said the people who spoke on condition of anonymity because neither the Heat nor James announced their plans publicly. James opted out of his contract with the Heat last month. His agent met with several teams last week, including Cleveland, where he spent his first seven NBA seasons.
OLYMPICS
IOC set to keep three bids
OIympic leaders were to meet yesterday to decide which cities make the cut in the race for the 2022 Winter Olympics. It should be an easy choice. After a series of voter rejections and city withdrawals, only three contenders are left standing — and the future of one remains uncertain. The International Olympic Committee executive board is expected to keep all three remaining candidates: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing and Oslo. Also on the agenda for the three-day meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, is an update on Rio de Janeiro’s delayed preparations for the 2016 Olympics, possible venue changes for the 2020 Tokyo Games and a review of IOC president Thomas Bach’s plans for the future of the Olympic movement.
BASKETBALL
Diaw to stay in San Antonio
French forward Boris Diaw says he is staying in San Antonio, Texas. Diaw on Sunday evening tweeted that he is staying in San Antonio “for a few more years.” Diaw did not reveal the specifics of his new contract with the Spurs, but Yahoo Sports first reported that it is a three-year deal worth US$22 million. Diaw was an invaluable contributor to the Spurs’ championship run last season. He averaged 9.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists last season and gave the Spurs a strong defender as well. The Spurs have also been great for Diaw, who revived his career after a disappointing stint in Charlotte. The 32-year-old became a free agent this summer and cannot officially sign the new contract until July 10.
GOLF
Sloan wins Nova Scotia Open
Canada’s Roger Sloan won the Nova Scotia Open on Sunday for his first Web.com Tour title, sinking a 5-foot par putt on the first hole of a playoff with Derek Fathauer. The 27-year-old Sloan played 37 holes on Sunday after high winds from Tropical Storm Arthur wiped out third-round play on Saturday. After the victory, the fans celebrated with a spontaneous rendition of the national anthem, O Canada. “I love being a Canadian,” Sloan said. “They just broke out in song. This means so much to win this here. I don’t know which feels better — to win or to be done today. It was a long day.” Sloan closed with rounds of 71 and 70 to match Fathauer at 11-under 273 on Ashburn Golf Club’s New Course. Fathauer had rounds of 71 and 66. Sloan earned US$117,000 to jump from 80th to 12th on the money list with US$149,303, putting him into position to earn a PGA Tour card as a top-25 finisher in the regular season. “That’s just icing on the cake,” Sloan said. He rebounded from a bogey on No. 12 with birdies on Nos. 13 and 14 and closed with four pars. “I had zero awareness of where I stood all day,” Sloan said. “I asked my caddie on 18 where we stood and he told me that up-and-down would get me in a playoff.” He holed a 4.5-footer on the par-four 18th to force the playoff. “That was ticklish putt,” he said. “It went down a cliff.”
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