FOOTBALL
Four players suspended
The National Football League issued two-game suspensions to four players on Friday for substance abuse violations, ending a three-year court battle. Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Kevin Williams, New Orleans defensive end Will Smith and two free agent defensive linemen not on NFL rosters, Charles Grant and Pat Williams, were issued bans six days before the NFL season begins. The NFL had imposed four-game bans on the players before a long legal fight that resulted in reduced suspensions. Kevin Williams and former Vikings teammate Pat Williams, who are not related, fought their suspensions starting for testing positive for the banned diuretic bumetanide in 2008.
MOTOGP
Lorenzo clocks fastest time
Championship leader Casey Stoner had to make do with second best in Misano, Italy, on Friday as defending champion Jorge Lorenzo laid down the fastest free practice time for today’s San Marino Grand Prix. Stoner topped the first session, but Lorenzo, who was only sixth-fastest in the morning, came through in the second session to clock one minute, 33.929 seconds on his Yamaha. It left him 0.076 seconds clear of the Australian, whose Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa was third-fastest.
FORMULA ONE
Senna to replace Heidfeld
Lotus-Renault have announced that Brazilian Bruno Senna will replace Nick Heidfeld for the remainder of the season after reaching a settlement with the German, which sees him leave the team with immediate effect. Heidfeld had been dumped by the team prior to the Belgian Grand Prix, leading to tensions and threats of a court battle. Senna, 27, was called up to replace Heidfeld at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend, where he drove to a 13th-place finish. Lotus-Renault said on Friday that an “amicable settlement” had been reached with Heidfeld, which “enables both parties to bring the matter to a close and concentrate on their respective sporting challenges in the future.”
BASEBALL
Clemens to face trial again
A US judge on Friday refused to throw out the perjury case against baseball star Roger Clemens over steroid use after a mistrial was declared when prosecutors presented evidence that had been barred. Judge Reggie Walton agreed to start a second trial on April 17 next year over whether the former pitcher lied when he told the US Congress and investigators in 2008 that he had never taken steroids or performance-enhancing drugs. After a lengthy and costly investigation, Clemens was indicted for lying to Congress, perjury and obstruction.
ULTRAMARATHONS
Four runners burnt in fire
Four runners taking part in a three-day, 100km international ultramarathon have suffered serious burns after being trapped in a gorge by a wildfire in Western Australia state’s Kimberley tourist region. Royal Flying Doctor Service spokesperson Joanne Hill told reporters in a telephone interview yesterday that two women, believed to be from the eastern states of Australia and aged 36 and 24, were in critical condition at Darwin Hospital after suffering burns over 60 to 80 percent of their bodies. She said two men, aged in their 40s and 50s, had less serious burns following the Friday afternoon incident. The race, which was scheduled to end today, was later canceled.
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
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday kept Taiwan on the board as they faced their first major challenge of the group stage after marching into the last eight at the Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen, China. Taiwan were losing 3-1 to South Korea as of press time last night, with only the men’s doubles match remaining. Taiwan and four-time champions South Korea have already progressed to the quarter-finals, after Taiwan on Monday blanked the Czech Republic 5-0 without giving up a single game. Before last night’s tie, Taiwan were undefeated in Group B, with a 9-1 match record, ahead of South Korea, who, although also
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