BASKETBALL
Obama bemoans dispute
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday said billionaire NBA owners and millionaire players should think of their fans, bemoaning the labor dispute which has axed the start of the season. Obama, a hoops enthusiast, also warned that labor stoppages like the one that shuttered the NBA could take some time to get over. The president, appearing on NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno, compared the situation to the recent labor row in the NFL, which was solved before regular season games were canceled. “We should be able to figure out how to split a US$9 billion pot so that our fans, who are allowing us to make all of this money, can actually have a good season,” he said, paraphrasing the conversation between NFL players and owners. “I think the owners and the basketball players need to think the same way,” he said. “I’m concerned about it. I think they need to just remind themselves that the reason they are so successful is because a whole bunch of folks out there love basketball.”
BASKETBALL
Ibaka signs with Real Madrid
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka has signed a two-month deal to play for Real Madrid, while the NBA lockout continues. The 2.07m Ibaka will join the Spanish club immediately, filling in for the injured Novicka Velickovic. Ibaka has averaged 8.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots in two seasons for the Thunder. He previously played for Spanish clubs L’Hospitalet and Ricoh Manresa before moving to the NBA in 2009. He is the second NBA player to join Madrid after Dallas Mavericks guard Rudy Fernandez.
CYCLING
Australia’s Ball banned
Three-time Australian Paralympic cycling representative Gregory Ball has been banned for two years after testing positive for the banned steroid stanozolol. Ball tested positive for the anabolic agent during the Australian Track Cycling Champions at which he set a world record in the men’s C1 kilometer time trial. All results achieved by Ball at the championships have been overturned. The ban, imposed by Cycling Australia and acknowledged yesterday by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, has been backdated to the date of Ball’s provisional suspension, and will expire on March 9, 2013. Ball is therefore ruled out of consideration for the Australian team to next year’s London Olympics.
BASEBALL
Clemens wants fees back
Former pitching star Roger Clemens on Tuesday asked a US federal judge to make the US government pay for some of his legal tab in his steroids case after a mistrial was declared because of a miscue by prosecutors. Clemens asked that Judge Reggie Walton order the government to pay for his legal fees and expenses incurred between June 25 and July 14, arguing the prosecutors wasted time and money to resolve the allegations. In July, the judge declared a mistrial in the opening days of the trial because prosecutors showed jurors a video clip that included material he had explicitly banned from the trial unless the information was brought up by the defense team. Clemens was indicted last year for perjury, making false statements and obstruction over his testimony to the US Congress in 2008 in which he denied ever taking steroids and human growth hormones. “The court can and should make the government, the party responsible for the need for a second trial, pay for the waste and loss incurred in connection with the first one,” Clemens’ lawyers said in a brief motion.
MOTHER KNOWS BEST: Warriors’ coach Kerr said his 91-year-old mother criticized him for his attitude toward officials that led to his ejection from Monday’s game Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Wednesday rescued the Oklahoma City Thunder with a game-tying buzzer-beater before finishing with 46 points in a 129-125 overtime victory against the Utah Jazz. The reigning NBA champions looked to be heading for a third straight loss after the Jazz inched into a 114-112 lead following Lauri Markkanen’s layup with just three seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. However, NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander drained a superb 13-foot jump shot to tie it up at 114-114 as the buzzer sounded to send the game into overtime. Gilgeous-Alexander then took over in the extra period with nine points as the Western
Mohamed Salah’s Egypt knocked reigning champions Ivory Coast out of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with a 3-2 win in the quarter-finals on Saturday, while Victor Osimhen starred as Nigeria beat Algeria 2-0 to set up a clash with hosts Morocco. In Agadir, Morocco, a thrilling last-eight tie saw Omar Marmoush and Ramy Rabia net in the first half for the Pharaohs before an own goal by Ahmed Aboul-Fetouh brought the Ivorians back into it. Salah then got Egypt’s third early in the second half and they held on after Guela Doue again reduced the deficit. Egypt is to face Senegal
AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE: Sabalenka aims to follow up with a third Australian Open win, while Taiwanese Joanna Garland claimed a WTA 125 title in Canberra Aryna Sabalenka beat Karolina Muchova in straight sets to reach her third Brisbane International final in a row yesterday, a week ahead of the Australian Open. Sabalenka looked in great touch against the tricky Czech, who had won their last three meetings and went into the match as one of the few players with a winning record over the world No. 1. However, Sabalenka showed her class and power as she broke Muchova once in each set to take the semi-final 6-3, 6-4 in 89 minutes to face Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the final. “I struggled against her a couple of times [in
Brandon Miller scored 18 points, LaMelo Ball had 17 and the Charlotte Hornets built a 47-point lead in the first half of a 150-95 rout against the Utah Jazz on Saturday night. It was the second-biggest win in franchise history for the Hornets and their largest on the road. The Hornets bounced back from a pair of frustrating losses in a big way, having fallen to Toronto by one point and Indiana by two in their last two games. Charlotte pounded the NBA champion Thunder by 27 in Oklahoma City before those defeats, previously the Hornets’ most lopsided victory of the season. Tre
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