BASEBALL
Stroman to miss MLB season
Marcus Stroman suffered a torn left knee ligament while taking fielding practice on Tuesday, robbing the Toronto Blue Jays of one of their starting pitchers for the upcoming Major League Baseball season. The 23-year-old right-hander moved to cover first base on a bunt attempt and felt a pop in his knee, detected as a torn anterior cruciate ligament by an MRI exam. “Beyond devastated,” was how Stroman described it on Twitter. “Not being able to compete with my brothers each and every day is extremely disappointing. Still can’t believe it.”
BASKETBALL
Miami’s Whiteside banned
The Miami Heat’s center Hassan Whiteside was suspended for one game without pay on Tuesday by the National Basketball Association for elbowing the Boston Celtics’ center Kelly Olynyk in the back of the neck. The violation took place with 2 minutes, 45 seconds remaining in the third quarter of Boston’s 100-90 victory in Miami on Monday. Whiteside guarded Olynyk near the free throw line and when he turned to move toward the basket, Whiteside elbowed him in the back of the neck. Whiteside then charged at Olynyk and threw him to the floor. The incident drew a flagrant foul call on the play and Whiteside was ejected from the game after scoring seven points and grabbing nine rebounds in 21 minutes. Whiteside was set to serve his ban yesterday when the Heat hosted the Brooklyn Nets. Whiteside’s violation was his second outburst in as many weeks, having tackled Phoenix center Alex Len in an altercation that led to ejections for both players. Whiteside has averaged 10.9 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks since signing with the Heat midway into the season, Miami’s first arrival since the departure of superstar LeBron James, who guided the Heat to the past four NBA finals and won two titles before leaving in July last year for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
SOCCER
EPL teams to play in Asia
Arsenal, Everton and Stoke City are scheduled to play in the Asia Trophy held in Singapore for the first time this year as part of their English Premier League (EPL) preseason, organizers said yesterday. The English clubs are set to be joined by a Singapore Select XI, comprised mainly of national team players, in the knockout tournament to be held on July 15 and July 18. “We are very excited to bring the Barclays Asia Trophy to Singapore for the first time,” Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said in a statement. Arsenal and Stoke will be competing in the biennial tournament for the first time, while Everton appear for the first time since the 2005 edition in Bangkok. This year’s Asia Trophy is timed to coincide with celebrations marking Singapore’s 50th year of independence from British colonial rule in August. Manchester City won the last edition in 2013 in Hong Kong. The Singapore tournament is scheduled to be held at the 55,000-seat National Stadium, which opened last year. The English clubs are expected to bring strong squads in preparation for the new Premier League season, which begins on Aug. 8.
RUGBY UNION
Guitoune out of Italy clash
France winger Sofiane Guitoune is ruled out of Sunday’s Six Nations match against Italy and has been replaced by Marc Andreu, the team announced at their training camp outside Paris on Tuesday. The Bordeaux-Begles back, who played in the 20-13 defeat against Wales in Paris, picked up a thigh injury during his club’s Top 14 defeat against Stade Francais on Saturday, last week.
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