BASKETBALL
Spurs coach gets top honor
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was named NBA coach of the year on Tuesday, making him just the third coach in league history to win the Red Auerbach trophy three times in his career. Popovich has received the league’s top coaching honor in two of the past three seasons, joining Don Nelson and Pat Riley as the only coaches to win the award three times. In a career full of masterful coaching performances, Popovich may have delivered his best in season No. 18. The Spurs entered the season still thinking about the devastating loss to the Miami Heat in last summer’s classic NBA Finals. Once again thought to be too old to challenge LeBron James and the mighty Heat, the Spurs took the defending champions to seven games, but could not quite close it out for the franchise’s fifth NBA title. Popovich led the Spurs to a league-best 62-20 record, which gives them home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. And he did it while deftly navigating a season filled with nagging injuries to several key players. Tim Duncan was the only starter to play in at least 70 games. No Spur averaged 30 minutes per game and Tony Parker led the team with a modest 16.7 points per game.
SOCCER
Leicester win title
Leicester City celebrated winning the English Championship title on Tuesday with a 1-0 victory at Bolton Wanderers that opened an unassailable seven-point lead at the top of the second tier with two matches remaining. Leicester, who secured a return to the Premier League for the first time since 2004 earlier this month, took the lead in the 62nd minute through Lloyd Dyer’s shot into the top corner and held on to celebrate in front of 2,000 traveling fans. They have 96 points from 44 games, ahead of Burnley, who clinched an automatic promotion spot on Monday with a 2-0 victory over Wigan Athletic. Reading moved back into the playoff places with a 2-0 home win over Middlesbrough.
SOCCER
Zagreb set league record
Dinamo Zagreb won a record-extending ninth successive Croatian league title and their 16th overall with four games to spare after a 5-0 home win over bottom team NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac on Tuesday. The result left Dinamo top of the 10-team first division with 77 points from 32 games, 14 ahead of closest rivals Rijeka, who lost 2-0 at eighth-placed Osijek on Saturday. Dinamo celebrated their success after Alen Halilovic, 17, who is to join Barcelona next season, capped a fine performance with the game’s outstanding goal. Domagoj Pavicic, Duje Cop, El Hilal Soudani and Said Husejinovic also netted.
CYCLING
Armstrong coach banned
Lance Armstrong’s longtime coach, Johan Bruyneel, was banned for 10 years on Tuesday for helping to organize massive doping on teams led by the disgraced cyclist. The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced the verdicts of an American Arbitration Association panel against Bruyneel and two medical staff, completing its lengthy investigation which saw Armstrong banished from cycling in 2012. Bruyneel “was at the apex of a conspiracy to commit widespread doping on the [US Postal Service] and Discovery Channel teams spanning many years and many riders,” USADA said in a statement. Team doctor Pedro Celaya and trainer Jose “Pepe” Marti are to serve eight-year bans.”
‘SU-PENKO’: Hsieh and Ostapenko face a rematch against their Australian Open final opponents, the same duo Hsieh played in last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday survived a near upset to the unseeded duo of Sorana Cirstea of Romania and Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya, setting up a semi-final showdown against last year’s winners. Despite losing a hard-fought opening set 7-6 (7/4) on a tiebreak, the fourth seeds turned up the heat, losing just five games in the final two sets to handily put down Cirstea and Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-2. Nicknamed “Su-Penko,” the pair are next to face top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in a reversal of last
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko finished runners-up in the Wimbledon women's doubles final yesterday, losing 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. The three-set match against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The loss denied 39-year-old Hsieh a chance to claim her 10th Grand Slam title. Although the Taiwanese-Latvian duo trailed 1-3 in the opening set, they rallied with two service breaks to take it 6-3. In the second set, Mertens and Kudermetova raced to a 5-1 lead and wrapped it up 6-2 to even the match. In the final set, Hsieh and
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei and her Latvian partner, Jelena Ostapenko, advanced to the Wimbledon women’s doubles final on Friday, defeating top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in straight sets. The fourth-seeded duo bounced back quickly after losing their opening service game, capitalizing on frequent unforced errors by their opponents to take the first set 7-5. Maintaining their momentum in the second set, Hsieh and Ostapenko broke serve early and held their lead to close out the match 6-4. They are set to face the eighth-seeded pair of Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens
Outside Anfield, the red sea of tributes to Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, has continued to grow this week, along with questions over whether Liverpool could play at Preston today, their first game since the brothers’ tragic loss. Inside Anfield, and specifically a grieving Liverpool dressing room, there was no major debate over the pre-season friendly. The English Premier League champions intend to honor their teammate in the best way they know how. It would be only 10 days since the deaths of Jota and Silva when Liverpool appear at Deepdale Stadium for what is certain to be a hugely
RSS