■ICE HOCKEY
NHL reaches Coyotes deal
The National Hockey League and the owner of the league’s Phoenix franchise have struck an agreement that will allow the league to buy the Coyotes. Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes has been listening to offers from prospective buyers for the bankrupt franchise for several months. Nothing is official and the deal can’t go through without the approval of a US bankruptcy court that announced the pending sale on Monday. One of those purchase offers came from Canadian business tycoon Jim Balsillie who wanted to move the team to Hamilton, Ontario. Balsillie’s bid was rejected by the court. Bill Daly, deputy commissioner of the league, said they hope to wrap up the sale by Nov. 2. He said the NHL wants to eventually find a buyer who will keep the team in Arizona. “Obviously, the pieces fell into place,” Daly said. “The focus now has to shift to getting the club out of bankruptcy and finding a new owner. I’m pleased with the outcome today.” Phoenix has made the playoffs just five times since 1976 and have never made go out of the first round.
■SOCCER
Rangers’ plight intensifies
Concern surrounding Rangers’ financial plight intensified after the British government held talks with the club’s bankers in a bid to allay fears of the Scottish champions entering administration. Last week Rangers manager Walter Smith said Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS), part of the Lloyds group, were in charge at Ibrox since chairman David Murray stepped down at the beginning of the season. Rangers have debts of around £30 million (US$49 million) and the club announced in January that every player on their books was up for sale. Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy held talks with Lloyds, which is 43 percent owned by the UK taxpayer, on Monday as the bank moved to make clear it was not planning to pull the plug on Rangers. A Scotland Office spokesman confirmed Murphy had spoken to Lloyds by saying: “The Secretary of State for Scotland spoke to Lloyds Bank about the importance of the bank’s support for Rangers Football Club.” Meanwhile, the bank said: “We do not run or manage the companies that we bank — that is, quite properly, the responsibility of the management. Given the recent press coverage, we would therefore like to be clear that Rangers FC is neither operated or run by Lloyds Banking Group.”
■SOCCER
Leicester shut out Reading
Martin Waghorn added to the pressure on Reading manager Brendan Rodgers by scoring the only goal of Monday’s Championship game as Leicester won 1-0 at the Madejski Stadium in Reading, England. Defeat meant Reading’s nine-month wait for a home league win continued and left them in the relegation zone. Leicester, last season’s champions of the third tier League One, moved into a play-off position after on-loan striker Waghorn headed home Matt Oakley’s cross on the stroke of half-time.
■SOCCER
Totti goes under knife again
Roma captain Francesco Totti on Monday had surgery on his right knee for the second time in 18 months, his club said in a statement. The 33-year-old forward previously suffered a ruptured cruciate ligament in his right knee a year and a half ago but following training on Monday he went to see the club doctor, when it was decided that he would need surgery. No details were given about how long he will be on the sidelines.
South Korean giants T1, led by “Faker,” won their fifth League of Legends (LoL) world championship crown in London on Saturday, beating China’s Bilibili Gaming (BLG) in a thrilling final. The teams were locked at 2-2 at a packed O2 arena, but T1 clinched game five to make it back-to-back titles after nearly four hours of tense action. China’s BLG started strongly, taking the first game before T1 struck back to level. The Chinese team pulled ahead again at 2-1 only for their opponents to hit back again and go on to take the decider. Faker, who won the Most
Amber Glenn overcame a fall and her own doubts to win a maiden Grand Prix figure skating title on Saturday at the Grand Prix de France. The American skater had the lead from Friday’s short program. That and the support of the crowd got her through a tough free skate in which she fell on a triple flip and put a hand onto the ice to steady herself on two other jumps. “I didn’t feel that great out there today, but I really tried, and the audience really got me through that last half when I was doubting myself,” Glenn
The Major League Baseball World Series trophy is headed to Los Angeles, but the party is extending all the way to Japan. People milled around local train stations yesterday morning in Tokyo as newspaper extras were ready to roll off the presses, proclaiming Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as world champions along with their Dodgers teammates after a stirring Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. The 30-year-old is a national hero in Japan whose face adorns billboards and TV adverts all over the country. Ohtani this year became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Belgian partner Elise Mertens on Monday notched up their first win in the doubles group stage of the WTA Finals in Riyadh to keep their semi-final hopes alive, while Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova were aiming to record their first victory after press time last night. Third seeds Hsieh and Mertens came back from a disheartening opening-day loss to Australia’s Ellen Perez and Nicole Melichar-Martinez to defeat top seeds Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the women’s doubles world No. 3 and 4 respectively. The 6-1, 6-3 victory at King Saud University Indoor Arena