BASKETBALL
Jones out with lung injury
Houston Rockets forward Terrence Jones will miss at least three NBA games with a partially collapsed lung, the team said on Friday. Jones sustained the injury when he took a hard shot to the ribs in the first quarter of the Rockets’ 118-108 victory over Denver on Thursday night. Rockets coach Kevin McHale said Jones was in hospital overnight and even though none of his ribs appeared to be broken, he was having difficulty breathing. It is the second significant injury that Jones has endured this season. The third-year professional missed almost three months with nerve trouble in his left leg, returning to the court in late January. Jones had been playing well since his return, averaging 15.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and shooting 55.6 percent from the field over his past 11 games.
GOLF
Event suspended again
Bad weather disrupted the Madeira Islands Open for a second straight day on Friday as organizers were forced to again suspend the first round. Play was stopped after heavy rain flooded the greens on the Clube de Golf Santo da Serra course, with Denmark’s Joachim Hansen holding the clubhouse lead after a four-under 68. He was one shot ahead of England’s Andrew Marshall and French pair Adrien Saddier and Jean-Baptiste Gonnet. The four were among roughly half the field able to complete the first round. On Thursday, heavy winds sweeping the Portuguese archipelago kept play from starting and led to organizers reducing the event to 54 holes. Last year, heavy fog during the first three days of the event forced organizers to reduce it to 36 holes.
RUGBY UNION
Fijian player dies in sleep
The Fiji Rugby Union announced the death of prop Iosefo Bele Tabalala yesterday, saying the 32-year-old apparently died in his sleep in a Suva hotel. “While official medical results are yet to be released, the FRU can confirm that Iosefo failed to wake up this morning at his hotel camp,” it said in a statement. “His roommate and medical team in camp tried all efforts to revive him.” He was rushed to hospital but could not be revived. Tabalala was playing for the Fiji Warriors in the World Rugby Pacific Challenge, a tournament featuring reserve teams from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Japan, Argentina and Canada. The FRU said he was Australia-based and played for the Brothers club in Brisbane. It said the Fiji players were shocked at Tabalala’s death, but were determined to continue in the tournament in his memory.
ATHLETICS
Eiffel Tower race ‘winner’
Poland’s Piotr Lobodzinski won the inaugural race up the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Friday, known as the “Vertical.” It took two years, two months and five days to build the Eiffel Tower, but Lobodzinski leapt up its 1,665 steps to the third floor in just 7 minutes, 50 seconds, despite cold weather and high winds that made the final stages terrifying. In total, 57 people from 16 different countries — top-class athletes as well as a cancer survivor and an amputee — took part in the race. In total, competitors climbed 324 vertical meters to reach the top, where exhausted bodies gasped for oxygen and lay strewn on the metal. “It’s worse than a sprint, worse than a marathon and worse than giving birth,” said American Madeleine Fontillas-Ronk, 46, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013. “It’s 10-15 minutes of all-out effort. You feel your lungs, your throat, your brain is telling you to stop. But you want to finish. It’s between me and the tower. If she’s still standing, I’m still standing. We’re both winners.”
SOCCER
Valencia thrash Elche 4-0
Valencia moved to within five points of La Liga leaders Barcelona with a 4-0 rout of Elche on Friday. Andre Gomes pounced after Przemyslaw Tyton could only parry Sofiane Feghouli’s driven cross a minute before half-time to put the visitors in front. Paco Alcacer then responded to the disappointment of being left out of Vicente del Bosque’s Spain squad earlier in the day with a poacher’s finish from Gomes’s cross for his seventh goal of the season to put the result beyond doubt after the break. An Enzo Roco own goal and Nicolas Otamendi’s stoppage time header rounded off the scoring as Los Che moved four points clear of fourth-placed Atletico Madrid.
SOCCER
Hertha beat Hamburg 1-0
Sebastian Langkamp struck shortly after Hamburg SV was reduced to 10 men to give Hertha BSC an important 1-0 victory in the Bundesliga on Friday. Hamburg defender Cleber earned his second booking and was sent off in the 81st and Langkamp headed in three minutes later from a free-kick by Marvin Plattenhardt. The win lifted Hertha to 13th place and six points from the danger zone, while Hamburg stayed 15th, two points away from the drop. The defeat could threaten the job of Hamburg coach Joe Zinnbauer. Cleber got sent off after elbowing Fabian Lustenberg and Hertha quickly used the advantage in a match without many chances. Zinnbauer had playmaker Rafael van der Vaart back in the starting 11, but he had little impact.
MOTOR RACING
German GP axed
The German Grand Prix has been cut from this year’s Formula One calendar after neither of the country’s two circuits were able to make a deal with series promoter Bernie Ecclestone. The World Motor Sport Council said in a statement on Friday that the race was withdrawn because the commercial rights holder “and promoter did not reach agreement.” The German Grand Prix had been set for July 19. With the two circuits alternating annually, Nuerburgring was scheduled to stage the race. There will now be 19 races this season instead of 20. The German race has been losing spectators steadily since the days of seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, even though Germany is home to Mercedes, the car maker behind the top team last season, and driver Nico Rosberg. Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, who now drives for Ferrari, is also German.
SAILING
Iceberg blocks Volvo route
A 1km-wide iceberg, which is drifting straight into the path of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet in the Southern Ocean, has forced the organizers to make a unscheduled change to the route for the fifth leg. The six boats had already been delayed three extra days in Auckland before setting off for their destination, Itajai in Brazil, because of Cyclone Pam. After finally setting off for the 6,776-nautical mile (12,549km) stage on Wednesday, a huge iceberg was spotted within 48 hours via satellite pictures. Organizers have imposed ice limits that will force the boats to sail clear of the iceberg’s path. The boats have been cruising through the South Pacific and out into the Southern Ocean at a consistent 20 knots thanks to the effect from the aftermath of Cyclone Pam. Team Brunel (Netherlands) led as of 6:40am GMT yesterday, from Team Alvimedica (Turkey/US) with overall race leaders, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Team SCA (Sweden), MAPFRE (Spain) and Dongfeng Race Team (China) closely bunched behind them, all within 63 nautical miles.
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
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