BASKETBALL
Thompson joins practice
The Golden State Warriors were given a welcome boost on Monday when their All-Star shooting guard Klay Thompson returned to team practice five days after suffering a concussion. Although Thompson still needs medical clearance to play in the best-of-seven NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers starting tomorrow, he is now just one step away from being given the green light. “I expect to be [cleared],” Thompson, 25, told reporters after taking a full part in practice with his teammates in Oakland, California. “I feel like I’m well on my way there.” Thompson, who is Golden State’s second-leading scorer behind point guard Stephen Curry, sustained a concussion during the team’s clinching Game Five win over the Rockets on Thursday last week after being kneed in the head by Houston’s Trevor Ariza.
RUGBY UNION
Tuipulotu out for hip surgery
New Zealand lock Patrick Tuipulotu is to be sidelined for the rest of the year due to surgery to correct a developmental defect in both hips. The 22-year-old Tuipulotu, who has played seven tests since his debut against England in June last year, was being treated for a groin injury when the problem was detected. After tests and consultation with the medical team of Auckland-based Blues Super Rugby team, Tuipulotu elected for corrective surgery. Blues doctor Stephen Kara said “all options were carefully considered, including on-going treatment for Patrick, but surgery is the best decision for the long-term career in such a young player.”
RUGBY UNION
McCalman to play in Japan
Wallabies No. 8 Ben McCalman has agreed to a three-year contract with the Australian Rugby Union and Super Rugby side the Western Force in a deal that will allow him to also play in Japan. The 27-year-old McCalman will be allowed to play one season in Japan’s Top League following this year’s Rugby World Cup in England. The flexible contract follows a similar three-year deal given to Wallabies and New South Wales Waratahs five eighth Bernard Foley, who was granted permission to play two seasons in Japan. McCalman has played 38 tests for Australia, including seven at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He played nine tests last year, including every minute of all four Europe tour matches against Wales, France, Ireland and England under new coach Michael Cheika.
CRICKET
Concussed Rogers benched
Australian opening batsman Chris Rogers has been ruled out of this week’s first Test against the West Indies with a concussion after being struck on the helmet in the nets. Rogers took the hit during a practice session in the West Indies on Sunday and showed signs of a mild concussion, Cricket Australia said on its Web site yesterday. In line with Cricket Australia’s guidelines, team doctor Peter Brukner made the call to rule the 37-year-old out of the Test, which starts in Dominica today, and informed captain Michael Clarke and coach Darren Lehmann of his decision. “I assured Michael if it was him or anyone else we would make exactly the same decision,” Brukner said. Brukner said he expects Rogers to recover in time for the second Test in Jamaica next week. It is the first time since Rogers was recalled to the Test team in 2013 that he has missed a match and opens the way for Shaun Marsh, who made a century as an opener in last week’s tour match in Antigua, to take his spot in the batting order.
INJURY TURMOIL: Despite stunning French Open champions Paolini and Errani to advance, Chan was forced to pull out after her partner’s tearful women’s singles defeat Last year’s mixed doubles champions Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Poland’s Jan Zielinski on Monday crashed out of the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, leaving the Taiwanese star focused on pursuing a fifth women’s doubles title in London, while a partner injury forced compatriot Chan Hao-ching to give up on her doubles campaign. Hsieh and Zielinksi, who last year also won the Australia Open title, narrowly lost their opening set 7-6 (9/7), before Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani stunned the former champions 6-3 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The Taiwanese-Polish duo had been dominant in the first two
‘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
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has overturned French Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus’ four-year suspension for doping, ruling that her positive test for a banned substance was caused by kissing her then-boyfriend, American fencer Race Imboden. Thibus, a silver medalist in team foil at the Tokyo Games, had tested positive for ostarine, a prohibited muscle-building substance, during a competition in Paris in January last year. However, CAS concluded there was no intentional wrongdoing, finding it scientifically plausible that repeated kissing over several days with Olympic medalist Imboden — who was taking ostarine at the time — led to accidental contamination. The court
Switzerland’s Riola Xhemaili on Thursday scored a last-gasp goal to salvage a dramatic 1-1 draw with Finland that sent the joyous hosts through to the quarter-finals at Euro 2025, and heartbroken Finland home. Switzerland, who needed only a draw to advance based on goal-difference, finished second in Group A behind Norway to go through to the knockout round for the first time and are to face the winners of Group B, which would be world champions Spain as things stand. “I think we set ourselves a goal on the pitch, to write history, to go into the knockout stages, which we’ve never
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