RUGBY UNION
’Bok lock Etzebeth banned
Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth has been banned for two weeks for a headbutt and will miss Saturday’s Rugby Championship Test against the All Blacks. The 20-year-old was found guilty of headbutting veteran Wallabies lock Nathan Sharpe in the first half of their 26-19 defeat in Australia last weekend. SANZAR judicial officer Nigel Hampton found it was a deliberate attack and suspended Etzebeth for two weeks. Etzebeth will be able to play again from Sept. 25, making him available for South Africa’s home Tests against the Wallabies and the All Blacks. Meanwhile, the Springboks faced front row problems as well in their buildup to Saturday’s Test in Dunedin, with both tighthead props injured. Jannie du Plessis has a hamstring problem and Pat Cilliers has ligament damage to an elbow. A decision would be made yesterday whether a replacement would be flown to New Zealand.
FOOTBALL
Jackson, Nelson injured
Buffalo Bills running back Fred Jackson is out indefinitely and wide receiver David Nelson is to miss the rest of the National Football League (NFL) season with knee injuries, the team said on Monday. The loss of the two players, who were injured in Buffalo’s 48-28 season-opening blowout loss to their division rival New York Jets on Sunday, is a major blow to a Bills team that started the campaign with hopes of snapping a 12-year playoff drought. Jackson, who was injured early in the second quarter on a hard hit by New York’s LaRon Landry, had an MRI on Monday that was inconclusive, according to a report on the team’s Web site. He is to be sidelined for at least a week to 10 days before being re-evaluated to determine a timetable for his return. Nelson, the team’s second-leading receiver in last year’s NFL season with 658 yards and five touchdowns, was injured when he went down to the ground away from the play during the fourth quarter.
FOOTBALL
Vilma out with injury
New Orleans linebacker Jonathan Vilma, recently reinstated after being banned over the Saints’ “bounty” scandal, is to miss at least six weeks after being placed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list on Monday. Vilma is recovering from off-season knee surgery. Although he will be eligible to return in the NFL’s week six, that’s when the Saints will have their bye week. League rules allow Vilma to take part in team meetings and use the Saints’ training and medical facilities, but he cannot practice with the team while on the PUP list. On Friday, Vilma had a season-long suspension overturned by a three-member appeals panel, which ruled that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell does not have authority to punish players for any salary-cap violations committed in the bounty scheme, in which the league says Saints players were paid cash bonuses for injuring opponents.
FOOTBALL
Browns’ Haden suspended
Cleveland Browns cornerback Joe Haden has been suspended for four games for violating NFL policy on performance enhancing substances, the team said on Monday. No specific detail was given as to which element of the NFL’s policy was breached by Haden, a first-round draft pick by Cleveland in 2010. Haden, whose ban begins immediately, made six tackles and one interception in Cleveland’s 17-16 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the team’s season-opening game on Sunday.
TENNIS
Del Potro an injury doubt
World No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro is a doubt with a left-wrist injury for Argentina’s Davis Cup semi-final at home to the Czech Republic this week, captain Martin Jaite said on Monday. “The doctor has told us that Juan Martin has pains in his wrist. He’s going to try it out, and between tomorrow and the day after we’ll decide whether he plays,” Jaite told a press conference. “I’m worried, his doctor recommended him to stop [playing] for a fortnight, but he wants to play.” Argentina are already without injured David Nalbandian, a veteran of three finals, for the tie at Parque Roca on the outskirts of Buenos Aires from Friday to Sunday. Juan Monaco, Carlos Berlocq and Eduardo Schwank are the other members of the team chosen by Jaite, who is lining up Leonardo Mayer, beaten by Del Potro in the third round of the US Open, as a replacement. World No. 11 Monaco would be Argentina’s No. 1 singles player in the event of a forfeit by Del Potro, who had surgery on his right wrist in 2010 a few months after winning the US Open in 2009.
GOLF
No Rio decision: McIlroy
World No. 1 Rory McIlroy, in a bid to dampen mounting speculation over whether he will represent Britain or Ireland at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, says he is no rush to make a decision. The 23-year-old Northern Irishman eased to a third win in four USPGA Tour starts at the BMW Championship in Carmel, Indiana, on Sunday and, for the moment, wants to devote his entire focus to tournament play. “I wish to clarify that I have absolutely not made a decision regarding my participation in the next Olympics,” McIlroy wrote on Monday in an open letter on his Twitter account. “On a personal level, playing in the Olympics would be a huge honour. However, the Games in Rio are still four years away and I certainly won’t be making any decisions with regards to participating any time soon.” In 2009, the Northern Irishman said he would “probably play for Great Britain,” a sentiment he repeated in a recent interview with the Daily Mail newspaper.
SOCCER
Argentina team bus stoned
A bus carrying Argentina’s national team was pelted by stones in Lima on Monday on the eve of their 2014 World Cup qualifier against Peru, according to media reports. Windows of the bus were broken, but none of the players or coaching staff were hurt in the incident outside the Estadio Nacional where the South American group leaders were due to play Peru yesterday. “They threw bricks at us,” Argentine Football Association official Juan Carlos Crespi was quoted as saying in sports daily Ole. The Peruvian daily El Comercio said that after the incident police reinforced their security operation around the Argentina team’s hotel in Lima’s San Isidro district.
SOCCER
Defeat sparks unrest
Armed security forces have formed a tight cordon around the Cameroon Football Federation offices in Yaounde after disappointed fans threatened to ransack them following an embarrassing defeat for the national team. Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions are in danger of missing out on a place at the next finals in South Africa after losing 2-0 to Cape Verde Islands in Praia on Saturday. Angry fans demonstrated outside the offices after the defeat, leading to the deployment of police and military personnel. “A new visitor to this country may have thought we were at war or facing an invasion,” said Martin Ndzinga, who lives next to the offices in the Tsinga neighborhood.
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
GUNNING FOR A WIN: The victory sending Arsenal to the final for the first time in six years was cathartic for a team who had lost their previous four semi-finals Arsenal on Tuesday reached the League Cup final for the first time in eight years as Kai Havertz sealed a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg. Mikel Arteta’s side had put themselves in pole position in the first leg and Havertz came off the bench to finish the 4-2 aggregate victory in the closing moments at the Emirates Stadium. It was a cathartic triumph for the Gunners, who had lost their previous four semi-finals in last year’s UEFA Champions League and League Cup, the 2022 League Cup and the 2021 UEFA Europa League. In their first final for six years,
SUPERSTAR DELIVERS: Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to propel the Spurs to a 135-123 victory over the Dallas Mavericks The Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday shook off the early exit of injured star Luka Doncic, rallying without him in the second half for a 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Austin Reaves, again coming off the bench in his second game back from a 19-game injury absence, scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, drilling a pair of back-to-back three-pointers to give the Lakers their first lead of the game early in the final frame. “Losing Luka, you know nothing’s going to be easy after that because he does so much for us, but we bonded together,” said
France head coach Fabien Galthie on Thursday lauded his team’s attacking performance after their dazzling 36-14 victory over Ireland in their Six Nations opener. A brace of tries from Louis Bielley-Biarrey and one from mercurial flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert helped France storm into a 29-0 lead before taking their foot off the gas and allowing Ireland back into the match, before winger Theo Attissogbe put some gloss on the victory late on. “In an attacking sense, with the ball, the team played with great accuracy,” Galthie said. “It was one of the most accurate attacking performances in a long time, despite the weather
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