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.”
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
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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