RUGBY UNION
Fiji player ban to stay
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said yesterday that calls for Fiji to boycott the Rugby World Cup would not force Wellington to lift a ban on players linked to the Pacific nation’s military regime. Fiji’s Olympic chief Vidya Lakhan has urged a boycott if the travel sanctions, imposed after a 2006 military coup, remained in place for the Sept. 9 to Oct. 23 tournament in New Zealand. Key said relaxing the ban on anyone with ties to Fijian strongman Voreque Bainimarama’s military regime “would make a bit of a mockery” of New Zealand’s efforts to restore democracy in the country.
RUGBY UNION
New colors already fading
Fans of the Otago Highlanders are dismayed at their team’s decision to change the colors of their strip from the traditional blue, maroon and yellow. The new colors, widely expected to be mostly green, are being kept under wraps until the team host the Western Force at Carisbrook in Dunedin, New Zealand, in their final game at the ground on Friday before they move to a new indoor stadium next season. Television cameras have been banned from the dressing room before kickoff so the strip will not be seen until the players run out onto the field. The Highlanders have undergone a renaissance this season under new coach Jamie Joseph and the move to the new stadium had prompted the decision to unveil new colors, the Highlanders’ general manager Roger Clark said earlier this week. The fans are less than enthused, with more than 90 percent of the 2,500 people taking part in an online poll on the Otago Daily times Web site against the decision. “Highlanders in green. What next, the All Blacks in nipple pink?” a reader named Torea wrote on the Web site.
BASKETBALL
McHale to coach Rockets
Former Boston Celtics stalwart Kevin McHale on Tuesday confirmed he has agreed to become the new coach of the Houston Rockets. The long-time general manger of the Minnesota Timberwolves, following a decorated playing career with the Celtics from 1980 to 1993, McHale accepted an undisclosed three-year contract with an option for a fourth season, according to the NBA’s Web site. McHale’s announcement will end his recent stint as a television broadcaster and return him to the sidelines where he briefly stepped in for the Timberwolves’ final 63 games of the 2008 to 2009 season, along with a stretch as interim coach from 2004 to 2005. The 53-year-old McHale expects to be introduced by the Rockets at a news conference in Houston tomorrow. Rick Adelman departed the Rockets days after completing his fourth season at the helm of the franchise.
BASKETBALL
NBA approves Pistons sale
NBA commissioner David Stern said on Tuesday that the league has approved the proposed sale of the Detroit Pistons to California billionaire investor Tom Gores. Stern said prior to game one of the NBA finals that he expected the sale to close officially this week. The Pistons said in April that Gores had reached a tentative deal to buy the club from Karen Davidson. The deal ended a lengthy effort by Davidson to sell the club. She became owner when her husband died in March 2009. Davidson had hoped to reach a deal to sell the team by the time the season started last year, but talks with Mike Ilitch, owner of baseball’s Detroit Tigers and the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings, collapsed. Gores, a Michigan native, will take over a struggling franchise.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
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