BASKETBALL
Cavs fire Brown — again
Mike Brown was fired as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers for a second time on Monday after the team finished 10th in the Eastern Conference and missed the NBA playoffs. Brown rejoined the struggling Cavs at the start of the season after previously being released from the Los Angeles Lakers. It was his second stint in charge at Cleveland. He served as head coach between 2005 and 2010, when the Cavs made the playoffs each time and LeBron James was playing for the franchise. However, the Cavs have not qualified for the postseason since James left in 2010 and went 33-49 under Brown this season.
SOCCER
Liverpool’s Rodgers honored
Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers was named the League Managers Association’s (LMA) Manager of the Year on Monday after he helped lift the Merseyside club out of the doldrums and took them to the brink of the Premier League championship. The LMA also honored Crystal Palace boss Tony Pulis with the Premier League Manager of the Year award for an impressive six months in which he replaced Ian Holloway mid-season and pulled the club out of relegation danger. Liverpool, after finishing seventh a year ago in Rodgers’ first season in charge, had been in pole position to win the title before late slip-ups to Chelsea and Crystal Palace saw them finish second, two points behind Manchester City. “There can be no greater tribute to a manager and his work than a tribute awarded by his matchday foes and peers,” LMA chairman Howard Wilkinson said of the award, voted on by all coaches in England’s four professional leagues.
SOCCER
Atalanta fined for banana
Serie A club Atalanta BC were fined 40,000 euros (US$55,000) on Monday after a banana was thrown onto the pitch during Sunday’s 2-1 win at home to AC Milan. Serie A’s disciplinary tribunal also ordered that their Curva Nord stand be closed for one game, but suspended the sanction for one year. A statement said the sanction will only be implemented if a similar offense is committed during that period. The banana landed near Milan’s Guinean defender Kevin Constant who picked it up, showed it to the referee and handed it to teammate Nigel de Jong, who threw it off the field. Milan players sarcastically applauded the section of the Atalanta fans where the banana was thrown from. Atalanta said in a statement on their Web site that club president Antonio Percassi had telephoned Milan’s chief executive Adriano Galliani to personally apologize.
CRICKET
Ahmed leaves England
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) says Mushtaq Ahmed has been hired as the new spin-bowling coach of the national team, ending his six-year spell in the England coaching set-up. The PCB made the announcement on Monday, saying Mushtaq was preferred to another former Pakistan spinner — Saqlain Mushtaq. The move has yet to be confirmed by England. Mushtaq Ahmed played 52 Tests for Pakistan from 1990 to 2003, claiming 185 wickets. Since the 5-0 defeat to Australia in the Ashes series Down Under, Andy Flower has been replaced as England head coach by Peter Moores and batting coach Graham Gooch has also left. England has allowed Mushtaq to explore other possible employment opportunities in recent weeks. He was hired by England in 2008 after knee injuries forced him to end his playing career.
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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