BASEBALL
Tokyo beat Taipei
Kengo Tomita hit two home runs and Tokyo beat Taipei 7-5 on Friday night in the Little League World Series opener for both teams in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Shingo Tomita led off the game with a home run to right-center for Japan, and Kengo Tomita made it 2-0 with his first homer. Kengo Tomita’s second home run, a solo shot in fifth, gave Japan a four-run lead. Kengo Tomita also singled in Japan’s four-run second inning.Yen Cheng-yu hit a two-run home run for Taiwan in the sixth. Japan are to play Mexico in a winners’ bracket game today. Taiwan were to face Canada yesterday.
BASKETBALL
Jordan awarded US$8.9m
NBA legend Michael Jordan was awarded US$8.9 million by a Chicago jury on Friday in a case against a supermarket chain which included his name in a promotion without his permission. “I’m pleased with today’s verdict,” Jordan said in a statement. “No one — whether or not they’re a public figure — should have to worry about their identity being used without their permission.” Dominick’s in 2009 used Jordan’s name in a commemorative ad in Sports Illustrated when the former Chicago Bulls superstar was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Lawyers for the now-closed grocery store chain — which was taken over by Safeway — had said Jordan should receive US$126,900 for the unauthorized use of his name. Jordan argued that he would not have accepted such a deal based on his endorsement history and his legal team determined with the help of a sports economist that using his name in the ad was worth US$10 million.
FOOTBALL
Griffin out with concussion
Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III faces a spell on the sidelines after being concussed in a pre-season victory over the Detroit Lions, it was confirmed on Friday. Griffin left the game in the second quarter of the Redskins’ 21-17 win on Thursday after suffering a torrid time at the hands of Detroit’s defense. Redskins head coach Jay Gruden said it was unclear how long Griffin would be out of action, or whether he would recover in time for next Saturday’s pre-season game against the Baltimore Ravens. “We’ll have to see,” Gruden said. “I would imagine, depending on how long he is out, he is still going to be our starter. We have to wait and go through the whole process and see how he recovers; see how fast he recovers. I have no idea as far as the third pre-season game, fourth one, right now.” A Redskins executive official told ESPN on Friday Griffin was “fine” and could be fit to face the Ravens next week. “But [we] still need to make sure he is right,” the official added.
OLYMPICS
Los Angeles grants powers
The president of the Los Angeles City Council has introduced a motion to give Mayor Eric Garcetti broad authority to negotiate a deal to host the 2024 Olympics. The Los Angeles Times reported that the motion would give Garcetti and council president Herb Wesson the authority to sign a legally binding agreement with the US Olympic Committee. The agreement would allow the city to enter into a contract with the International Olympic Committee in two years. The newspaper reports that the council could vote on the motion as soon as next week. If Los Angeles becomes the US candidate for the 2024 Olympics after Boston’s recent drop from contention, a mayor’s adviser says the organizers’ proposed budget for the Summer Games would be US$4.1 billion.
‘DEVASTATED’: Argentina’s win was a reversal of their 28-24 defeat last week, with Australian forward Fraser McReight adding that ‘we did the same thing last week’ Argentina flyhalf Santiago Carreras punished an undisciplined Australia with 23 points off the tee as the Pumas held on grimly for a 28-26 win in Sydney yesterday to breathe new life into their Rugby Championship campaign. A try-fest beckoned in afternoon sunshine at Sydney Football Stadium, but Argentina needed only one through captain Julian Montoya, with Carreras doing the damage with seven penalties and a conversion in front of a sell-out crowd. A week after letting a 14-point lead slip in a 28-24 defeat to Australia in Townsville, Argentina saw most of a 21-point advantage erased in the final quarter as the
ELEVEN STRIKEOUTS: Blake Snell allowed two singles and two walks against the Rockies as he ended a personal three-game skid with his first win since Aug. 16 Blake Snell on Wednesday struck out a season-high 11 in six innings, while Mookie Betts hit a grand slam in the eighth as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 9-0 for their fourth straight win. Helped by their third series sweep of the Rockies this MLB season, the Dodgers increased their National League West lead to three games over the San Diego Padres, who lost 2-1 at home to the Cincinnati Reds. Betts went four for five with five RBIs, capped by his seventh career slam on a 3-0 pitch from reliever Anthony Molina to make it 8-0. Andy Pages and
Captain Vijay Kumar led the way yesterday as the Hsinchu Titans claimed the Taiwan Premier League title at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), beating PCCT by 27 runs. The weather was a topic again, but not the rain that played a role in previous matches in the often-delayed tournament. Kumar, who made 80 not out from 63 deliveries, and teammate Vishwajit Kumar (58 from 43) rescued the Titans from a precarious state at the end of the power play in the T20 match. The visitors were put in to bat and struggled to 26-3 as PCCT
China’s state-run People’s Daily newspaper on Monday published an essay about Chinese basketball it said was written by LeBron James, but a representative for the NBA star said on Thursday that the article was based on a series of interviews. The paper, better known as the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, had said James authored the essay, “Basketball is a Bridge that Connects Us,” a tribute to Chinese players and fans of the sport written in the first person. “LeBron James Pens an Article in the People’s Daily,” read a post published on the newspaper’s official WeChat account. On Thursday, a representative
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