BASEBALL
Escobar banned for gay slur
Major League Baseball slapped Toronto Blue Jays player Yunel Escobar with a three-game ban on Tuesday after he appeared in a game with a homophobic slur written in eye black on his face. The gay slur was written in Spanish and appeared in the shortstop’s eye black during Saturday’s contest against the Boston Red Sox. “The salary lost by Escobar during his suspension will be directed by the Toronto Blue Jays to You Can Play and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD),” the Blue Jays said on Tuesday. “Yunel will participate in an outreach initiative to help educate society about sensitivity and tolerance to others based on their sexual orientation ... Escobar will also participate in a sensitivity training program in accordance with the Blue Jays and Major League Baseball. The Blue Jays want to reaffirm that discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated. The club looks forward to supporting the efforts of You Can Play and GLAAD to help promote education for players and fans alike and to help keep language like this out of the game and society.”
TENNIS
Venus to play in Hopman Cup
Venus Williams will make her Hopman Cup debut in Perth later this year, partnering John Isner to represent the US in the mixed international tournament, organizers said yesterday. Seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams will have a chance to match her sister Serena, who won the tournament in 2008 with Mardy Fish and five years earlier with James Blake. “I’ve never been to Perth — I’ve never played the Hopman Cup, so for me it’s going to be a wonderful experience,” Williams said in a press release. “I’ve watched it literally every year on TV so now I get to play, I’m very excited.” World No. 10 Isner won the title last year with Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic have already been confirmed as the Serbia pairing for the event, which will take place from Dec. 29 to Jan. 5.
SOCCER
Allawee cleared of fixing
Malaysia international goalkeeper Sharbinee Allawee has been cleared of match-fixing allegations leveled at him by his club manager after passing a lie-detector test, a government anti-corruption agency has said. Terengganu’s English coach Peter Butler substituted 25-year-old Sharbinee after the goalkeeper had clumsily palmed the ball into his own net to allow Kedah to equalize in a Malaysia Cup match earlier this month. An incensed Butler vowed Sharbinee would not play for his side again following the incident, but the director of the Terengganu office of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) said the player was found to have done nothing wrong. “As far as we are concerned, he is innocent,” Md Yusoff Md Zin told yesterday’s Malaysian Star.
PARALYMPICS
Coach accused of abuse
An investigation has been launched after a South Korean athlete with cerebral palsy accused his coach of abusing him at the London Paralympic Games earlier this month. The unnamed athlete also said the coach had taken money from him to pay for training sessions, Yonhap news agency said, adding that prosecutors in Incheon were investigating. “During the Paralympics, the coach one night returned home drunk and hammered the athlete’s head with a light stand,” the athlete’s aide told Yonhap. “He has been abusing him frequently since 2010. The athlete is ranked No. 1 in the world, but couldn’t win a medal because of injuries he sustained from the coach’s abuse.”
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
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