■ Boxing
Police arrest Joe Frazier
Former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier was arrested Friday and charged with assaulting a woman. The victim was described in police documents as the mother of Frazier's son, department spokesman Jim Pauley said. The 44-year-old woman was not seriously injured and refused medical treatment, police said. The 60-year-old boxing great was awaiting arraignment on charges of simple assault and reckless endangerment, police said. The 60-year-old Frazier was the world champion from 1970 to 1973, and fought Muhammad Ali in three classic heavyweight bouts, winning once and losing twice. He was also the heavyweight gold medalist at the 1964 Olympics.
■ Auto racing
Busch beat the best
Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and IRL star Helio Castroneves of Brazil finished sixth and IRL champion Scott Dixon of New Zealand was eighth in the season-opening 12-car International Race of Champions Series on Friday. Ryan Newman squeezed past fellow NASCAR driver and defending IROC champion Kurt Busch 100m from the finish line to win the 40-lap, 160-kilometer event on the banked 4km oval at Daytona International Speedway. Castroneves managed to finish in the top half despite being penalized to the back of the field for passing under the yellow line eight laps from the end. Newman will go into Texas Motor Speedway on April 2 -- the second of four IROC races this season -- holding a one-point (21-20) lead over Busch. The winner in the series sponsored for the first time this season by Crown Royal will get US$1 million, while the rest of the drivers each receive US$80,000.
■ Luge
Germany wins doubles
Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch posted the two fastest times Saturday as Germany won the men's doubles event at the luge World Championships in Nagano, Japan. Leitner clocked a time of 49.279 at Nagano Spiral while Resch had a run of 49.651 for a combined time of 1:38.930. Andre Florschuetz and Torsten Wustlich, also of Germany, were second with a time of 1:39.274 while Americans Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin were third in 1:39.280. Silke Kraushaar gave Germany its second victory of the day when she won the women's singles title with a time of 1:39.611. Germany also won the team event on Friday. Barbara Niedernhuber was second in 1:39.653 while Sylke Otto was third with a time of 1:39.860 as Germany made a clean sweep of the podium. American Ashley Hayden finished sixth with a time of 1:40.450.
■ Basketball
Manute Bol charged
Former NBA center Manute Bol was charged with hitting his daughter, cutting her lip and interfering with a police officer. Bol also was injured and needed medical treatment, West Hartford Police Captain Lori Coppinger said. He was taken to St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center. The hospital, citing federal privacy laws, declined to say on Friday if Bol was a patient. Bol, 43, was arrested early Wednesday, police said. He was in court Thursday and is to return on Feb. 26. He also was charged with assault.
‘DEVASTATED’: Argentina’s win was a reversal of their 28-24 defeat last week, with Australian forward Fraser McReight adding that ‘we did the same thing last week’ Argentina flyhalf Santiago Carreras punished an undisciplined Australia with 23 points off the tee as the Pumas held on grimly for a 28-26 win in Sydney yesterday to breathe new life into their Rugby Championship campaign. A try-fest beckoned in afternoon sunshine at Sydney Football Stadium, but Argentina needed only one through captain Julian Montoya, with Carreras doing the damage with seven penalties and a conversion in front of a sell-out crowd. A week after letting a 14-point lead slip in a 28-24 defeat to Australia in Townsville, Argentina saw most of a 21-point advantage erased in the final quarter as the
ELEVEN STRIKEOUTS: Blake Snell allowed two singles and two walks against the Rockies as he ended a personal three-game skid with his first win since Aug. 16 Blake Snell on Wednesday struck out a season-high 11 in six innings, while Mookie Betts hit a grand slam in the eighth as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 9-0 for their fourth straight win. Helped by their third series sweep of the Rockies this MLB season, the Dodgers increased their National League West lead to three games over the San Diego Padres, who lost 2-1 at home to the Cincinnati Reds. Betts went four for five with five RBIs, capped by his seventh career slam on a 3-0 pitch from reliever Anthony Molina to make it 8-0. Andy Pages and
Captain Vijay Kumar led the way yesterday as the Hsinchu Titans claimed the Taiwan Premier League title at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), beating PCCT by 27 runs. The weather was a topic again, but not the rain that played a role in previous matches in the often-delayed tournament. Kumar, who made 80 not out from 63 deliveries, and teammate Vishwajit Kumar (58 from 43) rescued the Titans from a precarious state at the end of the power play in the T20 match. The visitors were put in to bat and struggled to 26-3 as PCCT
China’s state-run People’s Daily newspaper on Monday published an essay about Chinese basketball it said was written by LeBron James, but a representative for the NBA star said on Thursday that the article was based on a series of interviews. The paper, better known as the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, had said James authored the essay, “Basketball is a Bridge that Connects Us,” a tribute to Chinese players and fans of the sport written in the first person. “LeBron James Pens an Article in the People’s Daily,” read a post published on the newspaper’s official WeChat account. On Thursday, a representative