FORMULA ONE
Ricciardo lap stuns rivals
Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton said they were stunned by the unexpected speed of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in Thursday’s practice for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix. The Australian clocked the quickest lap by six-tenths of a second ahead of defending three-time champion Briton Hamilton, with Rosberg third ahead of Dutch teenager Max Verstappen in the second Red Bull. “It is definitely surprising how quick they were,” Rosberg said. “We expected them to be there, or thereabouts, but not that quick. We have some homework to do.” Hamilton was slightly more upbeat. He said: “I don’t feel like I got a great lap so there’s still time in me — not six-tenths, but still time... The gap is definitely closer than it looks. You’ll see us within tenths of a second. They are very much a threat — they’re very, very fast. I’m not surprised because the power doesn’t make a difference here and I’ve always known they have a good car.”
SOCCER
Brazil add Kaka for Copa
Brazil have called on Kaka as a late addition for next month’s Copa America Centenario in the US, the Brazilian Football Confederation said on Thursday. The Orlando City midfielder will replace Bayern Munich’s Douglas Costa, who was cut from the squad because of an injury to his left thigh. Former AC Milan and Real Madrid player Kaka has been a regular in coach Dunga’s squads without getting much game time. The 34-year old has not played a full match for the national side since 2012. He is the second player to be added to the squad because of injury, with SL Benfica’s Jonas replacing striker Ricardo Oliveira, who also dropped out. Brazil are in the Copa Group B with Ecuador, Haiti and Peru. They will face Panama in a warm-up friendly on Sunday in Denver.
BASKETBALL
Curry named to first team
Stephen Curry has knocked down another honor. The dead-eye point guard who led the Golden State Warriors to a record 73 wins in the regular season was named in the All-NBA first team on Thursday. The league’s MVP was the only player named on all 129 ballots in voting by a panel of writers and broadcasters. Curry was joined on the first team by Cleveland’s LeBron James, Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook, San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan. James is a first-team choice for the 10th time in 13 seasons. Curry is on the first team for the second straight year, while Westbrook, Leonard and Jordan are among the top five for the first time. On the second team are: Thunder forward Kevin Durant, Warriors forward Draymond Green, Sacramento center DeMarcus Cousins, Clippers guard Chris Paul and Portland guard Damian Lillard. Indiana’s Paul George leads the third-team selections with San Antonio’s LaMarcus Aldridge, Detroit’s Andre Drummond, Golden State’s Klay Thompson and Toronto’s Kyle Lowry.
NASCAR
Martin Truex Jr takes pole
Martin Truex Jr won the pole on Thursday night for the Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR’s longest race of the year. Truex turned a lap of 192.328 to take the top spot from Joey Logano. Logano, who had the top qualifying time in the first two rounds and won the All-Star race last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway, will start alongside Truex on the front row. It is the fifth time this year Logano has started on the front row.
BOXING
Bute tests positive
Lucien Bute failed a doping test after his super middleweight title bout against Badou Jack, the WBC said on Thursday. The WBC said that it was contacted by the DC Boxing and Wrestling Commission, which revealed it found the banned substance ostarine. Bute and Jack fought to a majority draw in the April 30 bout in Washington. The 36-year-old Romanian-born Bute is a former 76kg champion. He is based in Montreal. “I do not understand what could have led to a positive test,’’ Bute said in a statement in French. “I never took anything and I never used banned substances. I have complete confidence in my team. The B sample will be tested and I am sure the result will be negative.” Promoter Yvon Michel also said in the statement that he was surprised by the positive test. “We hope that the test on the B sample shows it was a mistake,” Michel said.
SOCCER
Allen concentrates on Wales
Wales midfielder Joe Allen said that he would only hold talks to discuss his future at Liverpool after the Euro 2016 campaign is over, despite mounting media speculation he would return to his former club Swansea City. The 26-year-old has had a mixed time on Merseyside since arriving from Swansea in 2012, initially struggling to break into the first team under Brendan Rodgers. He has impressed since Juergen Klopp replaced Rodgers and enjoyed more game time last season as Liverpool reached the finals of the League Cup and the Europa League. Allen, who has one year left on his contract, said he had held talks with Klopp over his role at the club in January, but was determined to concentrate only on Wales for the next couple of months.
BASEBALL
Braves’ Olivera suspended
The Atlanta Braves’ dismal season took another turn for the worse on Thursday when outfielder Hector Olivera was suspended through Aug. 1 for his arrest on domestic violence charges. The suspension, announced by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, is without pay and covers 82 games, retroactive to April 30. Olivera was arrested on April 13 at a hotel outside Washington, charged with assault and battery of a woman and he was immediately placed on leave. Agreeing with the police report filed in Arlington, Virginia, Manfred’s office finished an investigation that concluded Olivera was responsible for visible bruises on the woman’s body. A police spokeswoman at the time said that Olivera and the woman were acquainted. Losing the 31-year-old Olivera was a big blow to the Braves, who have the second-worst record in the majors and rank last in homers, RBIs and runs scored.
CRICKET
Butler signs new contract
England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler has signed a new contract with Lancashire that will see him stay at Old Trafford for at least the next three years, the county announced yesterday. The 25-year-old is England’s first-choice gloveman in one-day cricket, but has lost his Test place to Jonny Bairstow. A dynamic limited-overs batsman, Buttler has just returned from his maiden Indian Premier League campaign with the Mumbai Indians. He holds the record of scoring the three fastest one-day international centuries by an England player, the quickest a 46-ball ton against Pakistan in Dubai last year. Red Rose coach Ashley Giles was delighted to see him commit his club future to the Manchester-based side. “Jos is one of the most talented cricketers in the game,” Giles said.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
An amateur soccer league organized by farmers, students and factory workers in rural China has unexpectedly drawn millions of fans and inspired big cities to form their own, raising hopes China can grow talent from the ground up and finally become a global force. The nation of 1.4 billion people has about 200 million soccer fans, more than any other country, but it has failed to build world-class teams, partly due to a top-down approach where clubs pick players from a very small pool of prescreened candidates. The professional game is marred by a history of fixed matches, corruption, and dismal performances,
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