BASKETBALL
Bryant on Sina livestream
Kobe Bryant, who has won five NBA championships, was to be part of Sina’s pre-game and post-game livestream of Game 3 of the NBA Finals in China last night. The Lakers superstar was to provide analysis before and after the game, joining host Huang Shuo remotely from Los Angeles. Bryant remains one of the most popular players in Asia and played for the US Olympic team in the Beijing Games in 2008. He first traveled to China for a clinic in 1998 and has returned nearly every year since. He has almost 3.5 million followers on Weibo, a social media site and on Monday posted that he would be talking about the game and making an announcement about what’s coming this summer. Sina is an online media community serving China and Chinese communities.
CRICKET
Petherick dies at 72
Former New Zealand off-spinner Peter Petherick, a late-bloomer who became one of only three cricketers to take a hat-trick on his Test debut, has died. He was 72. Petherick died in Perth, Australia, on Sunday, New Zealand Cricket said. The cause of death was not disclosed. Petherick made his first-class debut for New Zealand’s Otago province in 1975 aged 33 and his Test debut against Pakistan the following year. He had 0-96 and Pakistan was 336-4 when Petherick achieved one of cricket’s rarest feats. Javed Miandad and Asif Iqbal had added 281 for the fifth wicket when Petherick dismissed Miandad (163), Wasim Raja (0) and Intikhab Alam (0) with consecutive deliveries. Petherick went on to take 16 wickets in six Tests at 42.56 and 189 first class wickets at 24.47.
OLYMPICS
Brazilians allocated 35%
Only 35 percent of the tickets initially available for next year’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics have been allocated to Brazilian fans after the first phase of sales ended. Rio organizers on Monday said that almost 1.6 million tickets — of a total of about 4.5 million — have been awarded to fans after the first random draw happened this month. Brazilian residents made 5.2 million requests for tickets, but most were duplicated for the most popular sessions. Only 121 of the Games’ 694 sessions have sold out, including the opening and closing ceremonies, the men’s soccer final and both men’s and women’s volleyball finals.
HORSE RACING
Triple Crown tickets kept
Thousands of punters left more than US$315,000 on the table after declining to cash in their US$2 tickets following American Pharoah’s historic Triple Crown triumph. The majority of the horse racing fans who bet on American Pharoah to win at the Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack simply walked away without cashing in their tickets, ESPN.com reported on Monday. American Pharoah roared to victory in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, snapping a 37-year drought by becoming the first horse to sweep the Triple Crown since Affirmed. Belmont Park sold 94,128 US$2 win tickets, but after the bay colt — who is owned by Egyptian Ahmed Zayat — won, 90,237 of those tickets were not claimed. The winning tickets are worth US$3.50. Some of the tickets have appeared on eBay, where they have been selling for the most part between US$20 and US$30. Zayat on Sunday said the three-year-old Triple Crown winner would continue to race until the end of the year.
BASEBALL
Woman hit by bat improving
The condition of a woman hit by a broken bat at Boston’s Fenway Park has been upgraded to fair. The family of Tonya Carpenter issued a statement on Monday that said: “Tonya is responsive, and her condition has been upgraded from serious to fair.” Carpenter, 44, of Paxton, Massachusetts, suffered what police initially said were life-threatening injuries during Friday night’s game between the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics. She was struck on the head in the second inning when the bat of Oakland’s Brett Lawrie broke and sailed into the seats along the third-base line when he hit a ground ball. She was being treated at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where her condition was listed as serious on Saturday and Sunday. The Red Sox on Monday said her well-being is “forefront in our minds.” The team said Major League Baseball would re-examine fan safety and that it would “fully participate.”
TENNIS
Vandeweghe defeats Mitu
Coco Vandeweghe started the defense of her Topshelf Open title with a 7-6 (1), 6-1 win over Andreea Mitu on Monday as the season shifted to grass. The third-seeded Vandeweghe, who won her sole career title in the Netherlands last year, trailed 4-1 in the first set before she found her range. She saved four of the five break points she faced and fired nine aces. Mitu, who made it to the fourth round at the French Open, was overwhelmed in the tiebreak and dropped her serve twice in the second set. Fifth-seeded Camila Giorgi also progressed to the second round with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Irina Falconi. In men’s play, Robin Haase defeated Blaz Kavcic 6-2, 7-5 and Gilles Muller beat Marsel Ilhan 6-0, 7-5.
TENNIS
Kohlschreiber to proceed
Sixth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 6-3 on Monday to ease into the second round of the Mercedes Cup. It was the only completed match of the day, as heavy rain delayed start of play for several hours and the meeting between Viktor Troicki and Borna Coric was postponed until yesterday. The tournament is being played on grass for the first time and is a build-up for Wimbledon. Rafael Nadal is top-seeded in the event, which also features Feliciano Lopez, Gael Monfils and Marin Cilic. They all had a bye into the second round.
TENNIS
Knapp and Tomljanovic exit
Seeded players Karin Knapp and Ajla Tomljanovic lost in the first round of the Nottingham Open on Monday as top-level women’s tennis returned to the central England grass-court venue for the first time in 42 years. The fourth-seeded Knapp lost 6-4, 6-2 to Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium and Tomljanovic, the No. 8 seed from Croatia, was beaten 4-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5 by Lauren Davis of the US. Other winners before rain arrived late in the afternoon were Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Bojana Jovanovski and Ana Konjuh. When play resumed, fifth-seeded Alison Riske of the US completed a 6-3, 6-4 win over China’s Saisai Zheng. No. 13 Agnieszka Radwanska is the only member of the world’s top 20 playing in the Wimbledon warm-up tournament and is looking to rebound from a first-round loss at the French Open. The Polish player was to begin her campaign yesterday when the first round was scheduled to be completed. Billie Jean King won the title the last time the Nottingham Open was staged on the main tour, in 1973.
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