TENNIS
Wildcard entries awarded
Americans Denis Kudla and Irina Falconi were among six players awarded wild-card entries yesterday for the Australian Open beginning on Jan. 19 at Melbourne Park. Kudla and Falconi finished first in their respective divisions of the USTA Pro Circuit Australian Open Wild Card Challenge standings. France’s Lucas Pouille and Oceane Dodin were given wild cards due to a reciprocal agreement between Tennis Australia and the French Tennis Federation. They join Asia-Pacific wild cards China’s Zhang Ze and Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen, who won an Australian Open 2015 Asia-Pacific playoff in Shenzhen, China, late last year.
TENNIS
Murray eyes Melbourne title
Andy Murray has made an impressive start to the new year despite being troubled by left shoulder soreness as he prepares for the Jan. 19 start of the Australian Open. The 27-year-old winner of the 2012 US Open and 2013 Wimbledon played an exhibition in Abu Dhabi where he beat Feliciano Lopez and Rafael Nadal, then represented Britain at the Hopman Cup team event in Perth with Heather Watson.
Murray beat France’s Benoit Paire, Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz and Australia’s Marinko Matosevic, all in straight sets, despite the shoulder complaint he thinks he picked up in Abu Dhabi.
The Scotsman says he’s content to not play in a tournament until the Australian Open, heading instead to Melbourne Park. “Instead of playing a match, one of the days I might use as a rest day to recover and hopefully I can get six or seven good days on-site before the tournament starts,” he said.
BASKETBALL
Suns sign Celtics’ Wright
The Phoenix Suns made a move to beef up their front line on Friday by acquiring Brandan Wright from the Boston Celtics for a protected first-round draft pick. The 2.08m forward averaged 7.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 35 games this season for Dallas and Boston. The former first-round draft pick is in his seventh NBA season. Wright came to Boston in the Dec. 18 trade that sent guard Rajon Rondo to Dallas. The draft pick, originally Minnesota’s, is top-12 protected this year and next year. If the pick is not used by next year, then the Timberwolves would instead give up their second-round picks next year and in 2017. The Suns also waived forward Tony Mitchell, acquired in a trade with Detroit on Dec. 24. Wright was an attractive acquisition partly because he has a US$6 million contract that expires after this season. Phoenix has a guard-heavy lineup that can use some inside strength. “The way Dallas played last year is somewhat similar to what we play — being in the open court and pick and rolls,” Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said.
ICE HOCKEY
Museum buys ‘Moffatt stick’
A Canadian museum has snapped up the world’s oldest known ice hockey stick — made out of maple — for US$300,000. The “Moffatt stick” was hewn in the 1830s in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, “from a single piece of sugar maple,” the Canadian Museum of History said on Friday. “Hockey is Canada’s game — we developed it and we cherish it like no other country in the world,” said Mark O’Neill, the museum president, who called the stick an example of the facility’s “national treasures.” The stick was owned by one family — the Moffatts — from its creation until the early 1980s, when it was given to a barbershop owner, who then sold it in 2008 to the man the museum bought it from.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB