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.
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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