BASKETBALL
Lin craves night market time
Jeremy Lin, the first NBA player of Taiwanese descent, on Monday said that he hopes to spend more time at Taiwan’s night markets — his favorite places in the nation. Visiting Taiwan for the fourth consecutive year as part of an Asian tour, Lin said at a news briefing in Taipei that he had spent only 10 to 15 minutes at the nation’s night markets on his previous trips. “So I hoped that there would be a year when I could stay longer and look around at night markets, which have been my favorite places since my childhood,” said Lin, whose contract with the Los Angeles Lakers expires today.
SOCCER
Guangzhou sign Paulinho
Brazil midfielder Paulinho has signed for Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande for 14 million euros (US$15.6 million), the club said, the latest big-money transfer for the cash-rich Chinese Super League. The 26-year-old signed from Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur in his former national team manager Luiz Felipe Scolari’s first deal at the Guangdong outfit after taking over earlier this month. Guangzhou are aiming to clinch a fifth successive league title this year, but sit third in the league behind leaders Beijing Guoan, following a run in which they have won just once in four games.
OLYMPICS
Group issues Boston details
The group trying to bring the 2024 Olympics to Boston has released the most detailed look yet at its bid for the Summer Games. It said its US$4.6 billion plan would create jobs and housing, expand the tax base and leave behind an improved city with a US$210 million surplus. The announcement is designed to answer critics who say the privately funded Boston 2024 has withheld details of the bid to prevent the public from assessing whether the games could be staged without taxpayer money. Bid chairman Steve Pagliuca, a co-owner of the Boston Celtics, said the new plan goes deeper than the proposal that convinced the US Olympic Committee to pick Boston in January over Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington.
CRICKET
ICC fines Sri Lanka for pace
Sri Lanka have been fined for maintaining a slow over-rate during the second Test against Pakistan in Colombo, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said yesterday. ICC match referee Chris Broad of England imposed the fines after the hosts were found to be one over short of the target during the Test, which they won by seven wickets on Monday. Skipper Angelo Mathews was fined 20 percent of his undisclosed match fees and the rest of the team 10 percent according to regulations governing Test cricket, the ICC said in a statement. “Mathews pleaded guilty to the offense and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing,” Broad was quoted as saying in the statement.
CRICKET
World Cup surpasses record
The Cricket World Cup generated more than A$1 billion (US$767.6 million) for the economies of host countries Australia and New Zealand when it was held in February and March. An economic impact study released yesterday by the ICC also said the tournament created the equivalent of 8,320 full-time jobs and attracted 145,000 visitors to the countries solely to watch cricket. It said total attendance at tournament matches was 1,016,420, including 93,013 for the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a world record for the largest attendance at a cricket game.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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