SWIMMING
Ledecky claims another title
Katie Ledecky claimed another US national title in another year’s best time, winning the 200m freestyle at the US Swimming National Championships on Wednesday. She notched her 12th career national title with a time of 1 minute, 54.84 seconds in Indianapolis, Indiana, as she ramps up for the World Championships in Budapest. On Tuesday, the opening night of the meet, Ledecky qualified for the 800m freestyle in a year’s best time and is also qualified for the 1,500m. Should Ledecky, who won four golds at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics last year, finish in the top two in today’s 400m free, she will be in line to contest six events in Budapest, including relays, her busiest schedule yet at an Olympics or Worlds.
BASKETBALL
Chris Paul traded to Rockets
Chris Paul on Wednesday was traded from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Houston Rockets in the first major NBA talent move of the off-season with free agency looming tomorrow. The 32-year-old point guard, who helped the US win Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008 and in London in 2012, joins shooting guard James Harden in what might be the NBA’s most dynamic backcourt next season. In exchange, the Rockets sent the Clippers seven players — Sam Dekker, Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, DeAndre Liggins, Darrun Hilliard, Montrezl Harrell and Kyle Wiltjer — plus a first-round NBA Draft pick for next season and US$661,000. “Any day you can acquire a Hall of Fame-level player is a good day for the franchise,” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said. “It’s a weapons race in the NBA and you’re either in the weapons race or on the sidelines. We felt with Harden in his prime, Chris Paul in his prime, this gives us a real shot to chase the juggernaut teams that are out there and puts us right there with them.”
RUGBY UNION
Hansen criticizes media
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen yesterday criticized the media, saying that talk of a “feud” with British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland was off-base. Earlier this week, Hansen branded Gatland’s complaints about All Blacks players diving at the legs of Conor Murray in the first Test as “desperate,” which gave rise to articles about how the two New Zealanders did not get on. “I read somewhere that I ‘lashed out at Warren Gatland,’” Hansen said yesterday. “I haven’t lashed out at Warren Gatland, at all. I’ve got a lot of respect for him, and I’m looking forward to having a beer with him and a chuckle about life. We’ve got a lot of common interests. He likes racing horses and so do I. He coaches Wales and I’ve been through that experience myself. It’s the media that ramp it up because it sells you guys’ newspapers. Who am I to say stop it? But I do look at it and say: ‘Well, that’s actually not how it went.’” Hansen also criticized the New Zealand Herald’s decision to run a cartoon depicting Gatland as a clown. “I think it’s really disappointing. It’s one thing to have a bit of banter and you guys beef that up to make it bigger than it really is,” he said. “To come out and do that is ridiculing somebody. He doesn’t deserve it and, at the end of the day, we’re all coaches trying to do what we think’s right.”
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite