AMERICAN FOOTBALL
Elliott denies violence
Dallas Cowboys rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott has denied an accusation of domestic violence by a former girlfriend in Ohio. A woman who said she used to live with Elliott filed a report with the Columbus Police Department on Friday, accusing the former Ohio State University star of assaulting her. She told police that she had pain in her right wrist and a red mark, but had declined medical treatment, according to the report. Elliott, who turned 21 years old on Friday, denied the accusations as well as the accuser’s claim that they lived together. The player has not been arrested or charged with any crime. Elliott’s father, Stacy Elliott, released a statement on Friday, saying: “The reported allegations and internet postings regarding our son are completely false. Ezekiel has done nothing wrong. The police have investigated this matter and eyewitnesses have verified the lack of any wrongdoing.”
SPORTS SCIENCE
Banned biochemist shot at
A sports scientist banned from working in Australia’s top two professional leagues in the wake of a scandal over the use of peptides has suffered a minor injury after shots were fired at his home in Melbourne, Australia, local media reported yesterday. Stephen Dank, 52, was discharged from hospital early yesterday after being treated for a graze on his forehead caused by a fragment of a bullet fired at his house in Ascot Vale in the early hours of the morning, ABC reported. Biochemist Dank was at the center of scandals over supplements programs at Australian rules football club Essendon and rugby league team Cronulla Sharks, which resulted in bans for players and staff at both organizations. Victoria Police confirmed in a statement that they are investigating the firing of “several” shots at the house that injured a “52-year-old man” and that the “one other person” in the house had not been injured.
BASKETBALL
Boston not to host All-Stars
Boston is apparently out of the running for next year’s NBA All-Star game, which became available after the league decided to move the event out of Charlotte, North Carolina. A spokeswoman for the TD Garden told the Boston Globe on Friday that the arena where the Boston Celtics play would be unable to host the game in February next year because of a scheduling conflict. Democratic US House of Representatives Speaker Robert DeLeo on Thursday wrote a tweet urging the NBA to play the game in Massachusetts, where lawmakers recently approved a transgender rights law. The league pulled the game out of Charlotte because of its objections to a North Carolina law that limits anti-discrimination protections for gay, lesbian and transgender people.
SKIING
Austria faces lawsuit
The European Commission is taking Austria to the Court of Justice of the European Union for discriminating against foreign ski instructors. In the southern province of Tyrol, for example, foreign instructors are not allowed to accept clients who were already in Austria. The commission also criticized the Styria region for not accepting some foreign ski instructor qualifications. “Such requirements are contrary to EU law,” it said in a statement. Tyrol Governor Guenther Platter said he would first analyze the lawsuit before taking any further steps. “We will not accept that foreign ski schools will lower security and quality standards which we in Tyrol have built up over decades,” Platter said in a statement.
American rugby sevens star Ilona Maher is to join 15-a-side club Bristol next month in a bid to play in next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, the English club announced on Monday. Maher, 28, helped the US to a bronze medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris and is the seven-a-side sport’s most popular player on social media. “This is a huge coup to be able to bring Ilona Maher to Bristol Bears on a short-term deal,” Bristol head coach Dave Ward said. “She is one of the biggest names in women’s sport, let alone rugby, and we believe she will
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
LeBron James is in quite the shooting slump — especially from long distance, highlighted by his zero-for-four effort from three-point range for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 109-80 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. That return stretched the nearly-40-year-old’s skid to zero-for-19 from deep over his past four games. James’ birthday is on Dec. 30. After going four-for-16 from the floor overall with six of his team’s 20 turnovers for a season-low 10 points against the Timberwolves, James was asked to reflect on the Lakers reaching the quarter mark of their 2024-2025 schedule under rookie coach J.J. Redick at 12-9. “I
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
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