MOTORSPORTS
Servia to race in Indy 500
Spanish driver Oriol Servia has landed an Indianapolis 500 ride with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL). Servia ran four races last season for RLL, and has raced the Indianapolis 500 two previous times for the team. He had a mechanical failure in the 2009 Indy 500 driving for RLL, and was 11th last year. This will be the seventh Indy 500 for Servia, who finished a career-best fourth in 2012 while driving for Dreyer & Reinbold. Servia is to be teammates at Indy with Graham Rahal, who drives a full-time entry for the team. RLL co-owner Bobby Rahal says Servia is “competitive, he’s smart, has good race craft and brings it home.” Servia has had 195 starts in CART, Champ Car and the IndyCar Series since his rookie season in 2000.
BASKETBALL
Mexico to host NBA game
The Boston Celtics and the Sacramento Kings are to play a regular-season NBA game in Mexico City in December, the league said on Tuesday. The Dec. 3 contest at Mexico City Arena is to be part of the NBA Global Games 2015 series. “Basketball is more popular than ever, and Global Games Mexico 2015 is part of our ongoing dedication to growing the game around the world,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement, promising fans south of the border “the authentic NBA experience.” It is to be the third NBA regular-season game in Mexico and including exhibition games the 22nd NBA contest in the country — the most held in any nation outside the US and Canada. Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, the Indian businessman who has made a point of building his team’s brand in his native country, said the club was “honored” to participate in the Global Games series. “As part of our NBA 3.0 philosophy, we look forward to connecting with fans in Mexico City and sharing our experience through social media and digital platforms with fans around the world,” he said.
FOOTBALL
Manziel spotted out of rehab
Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel, who left a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center on Saturday last week, was at Tuesday night’s Texas Rangers game in Arlington, Texas. The 2012 Heisman Trophy winner from Texas A&M sat in the front row in a VIP area at Globe Life Park. He was between home plate and the home-team dugout down the first-base line for the game against the Los Angeles Angels. Manziel was drafted 22nd overall in 2013. He made five appearances as a rookie, the last two as a starter in Cleveland losses. It is expected Manziel will report to the Browns’ next offseason session, scheduled to begin on April 20. The popular player was released from the undisclosed facility after more than 10 weeks being treated for an unspecified problem, a person familiar with the situation told reporters.
RUGBY UNION
Vunipola cleared to play
Saracens No. 8 Billy Vunipola has been cleared to play in this weekend’s Champions Cup semi-final against Clermont Auvergne after escaping punishment for striking an opponent. The powerful 22-year-old England forward was cited for hitting Leicester fullback Mathew Tait with his head during a Premiership match, but was exonerated by a Rugby Football Union (RFU) disciplinary panel on Tuesday, the RFU said in a statement. Vunipola is free to face Clermont on Saturday when Saracens are to bid to reach the European Cup final for the second year in a row by winning at the Stade Geoffory Guichard in St Etienne.
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