BASKETBALL
NBA to host three NBL teams
Three NBA teams are to host opponents from Australia’s National Basketball League (NBL) for pre-season games in October. The Utah Jazz, who feature Australians Joe Ingles and Dante Exum, are to host the Sydney Kings on Oct. 2. Ingles was chosen NBL Rookie of the Year after playing with the Melbourne South Dragons in 2006-2007. Exum was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft. NBA Most Valuable Player Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder are to host Melbourne United on Oct. 8, while the Phoenix Suns welcome the Brisbane Bullets on Oct. 13. This is to be the first time NBL teams travel to the US to play NBA teams. The NBA on Monday said that there were a record-tying eight Australian players on last season’s opening-night NBA rosters.
CYCLING
Dylan Teuns wins third stage
BMC’s Dylan Teuns won Monday’s mountainous stage three of the Tour de Pologne ahead of Peter Sagan and his teammate, local rider Rafal Majka. The results put Sagan back in the overall lead six seconds ahead of Teuns and 12 seconds ahead of Majka as overnight leader Danny van Poppel, a sprinter, drops out of the top 10. Belgian rider Teuns launched a sudden attack on the final climb to a summit finish at Szczyrk, but world road race champion Sagan dug deep to limit the damage and retake the yellow jersey. The 161km stage featured four climbs, but there are more challenging mountain stages to come in the eight-day event.
GOLF
McIlroy fired caddie: reports
Rory McIlroy has fired his caddie and is to employ his best friend at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and the PGA Championship, media outlets reported. Reuters cited a source it did not identify as saying McIlroy has parted ways with J.P. Fitzgerald. They have worked together over the past nine years, during which McIlroy has won four major championships and reached No. 1 in the world. McIlroy is expected to speak about the change today at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. The Telegraph reported that McIlroy’s caddie at the next two tournaments would be Harry Diamond. If confirmed, it would be the second significant player-caddie split this summer after Phil Mickelson and Jim “Bones” Mackay decided to end 25 years together. Mackay has since taken a job as an analyst on the course at NBC Sports.
RUGBY UNION
Mauger to coach Otago
Former All Blacks center Aaron Mauger was yesterday appointed head coach of the Otago Highlanders under a three-year deal with the New Zealand Super Rugby club. Mauger said he was excited at the prospect of joining the Highlanders, who won the competition in 2015 and were quarter-finalists this season. “The club has become a consistent performer at the top of the competition in recent years and we look forward to the challenge of growing our game and achieving great things,” he said. Mauger, 36, played 45 Tests for New Zealand and made 89 appearances for the Canterbury Crusaders. After a chronic back injury forced him to hang up his boots in 2010, he was an assistant coach with the Crusaders before joining the coaching team at Leicester Tigers in 2015.
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