BASKETBALL
Wall re-signs with Wizards
Point guard John Wall and the Washington Wizards have agreed on a four-year, US$170 million contract extension, reports said on Friday. Wall, 26, is coming off the best season of his career and was eligible to sign a “supermax” contract after being named to the All-NBA Third Team last season. Wall did not sign immediately in the off-season, but quickly silenced any doubters by committing back to the team that drafted him first overall in 2010. Wall helped lead the Wizards to the Eastern Conference semi-finals before losing to Boston in a seven-game series this season. The four-time All-Star averaged career highs in points (23.1), assists (10.7) and steals (2.0) in 78 games last season, his seventh in the NBA. Wall, Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook and Houston’s James Harden were the only players to average 20 points and 10 assists last season.
SOCCER
Serbian attacked by fans
Serbian midfielder Nikola Trujic was attacked by his own supporters in the dressing room after his Vojvodina side lost a Europa League qualifier earlier this month, global players’ association FIFPro said. FIFPro said that UEFA should open disciplinary proceedings against Vojvodina and their opponents, MFK Ruzomberok of Slovakia. “FIFPro has today made a formal request that UEFA opens disciplinary proceedings against two clubs, FK Vojvodina (Serbia) and MFK Ruzomberok (Slovakia), after FK Vojvodina player Nikola Trujic was attacked at a UEFA Europa League qualifying match,” Fifpro said in a statement on Friday. “Immediately after the July 6 match, in which FK Vojovdina was eliminated from the UEFA Europa League, a group of the Serbian club’s supporters was able to gain access to the away team’s changing room at MFK Ruzomberok’s stadium before intimidating and physically assaulting the player.” The assault happened after the Serbian club lost the second leg of their first-round qualifying tie 2-0 to bow out 3-2 on aggregate.
TENNIS
Isner advances to semis
US top seed John Isner on Friday blasted 20 aces in a 6-4, 6-4 win over compatriot Dennis Novikov, advancing to the ATP Hall of Fame Open semi-finals. Isner, ranked 21st, never faced a break point in the 73-minute triumph to book a date against countryman Bjorn Fratangelo on the grass at Newport, Rhode Island. “Just one of those matches on a surface like this, with two pretty good servers, that’s how it can go — you just get one break and you try to hold onto it. That’s what I did,” Isner said. “I felt like in the second set I could have extended it to a two-break lead, but a lot of times one break is all I need, so I’m happy to get off the court in pretty quick fashion so I’ll be ready to go tomorrow [yesterday].” Fratangelo, ranked 142nd, upset French fourth seed Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in Friday’s other quarter-final match to book his first ATP meeting with Isner. Fratangelo denied world No. 72 Herbert on 9-of-11 break chances, while the Frenchman could rescue only one chance from five before the American held at love to win after 2 hours. 9 minutes. Isner, the 2011 and 2012 Newport champion, was chasing his 11th career ATP title and first since Atlanta in 2015. His most recent ATP final came at the Paris Masters in November last year, where he lost to Britain’s top-ranked Andy Murray. Australian 249th-ranked qualifier Matthew Ebden and Germany’s 131st-ranked Peter Gojowczyk were to meet in yesterday’s other semi-final.
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