SOCCER
Guardiola charged over ribbon
The English Football Association has charged Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola for promoting a political message by wearing a ribbon in support of imprisoned and ousted pro-independence Catalan politicians. Guardiola was born in Catalonia and is revered in the region because of his links with Barcelona’s soccer team, as both a player and coach. Guardiola has been wearing the yellow ribbon at matches and news conferences since Catalonia’s failed secession bid in October last year when a banned independence referendum was held. The association said the ribbon is a “political message” which requires him to be charged with being in breach of uniform and advertising regulations.
TENNIS
Bouchard reaches settlement
Eugenie Bouchard said she feels relieved and happy about a settlement in her liability lawsuit against the US Tennis Association. The Canadian tennis player made the remark to reporters on Friday after the deal on damages was struck at a New York City court. It came a day after a jury found the association mostly liable for when Bouchard slipped on a wet locker room floor at the 2015 US Open and hit the back of her head. Bouchard claimed she suffered what she said was a “serious head injury” that has harmed a once-promising career. Lawyers met for several hours before reaching the settlement. They declined to disclose the terms.
TENNIS
Top-seed Thiem out of Rio
Top-seeded defending champion Dominic Thiem of Austria on Friday tumbled out of the Rio Open in Brazil, falling 6-4, 6-0 to Spain’s Fernando Verdasco in the quarter-finals of the clay-court event. Thiem won the Argentina Open on Sunday last week for his ninth career title. Verdasco was yesterday to play fifth-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy, who was victorious over Alijaz Bedene of Slovenia. Bedene lost to Thiem in the Argentina Open final. In the other semi-final at Jockey Club Brasileiro, sixth-seeded Diego Schwartzman of Argentina was to face Chile’s Nicolas Jarry. Schwartzman beat France’s Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-4, and Jarry topped Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas 7-5, 6-3.
OLYMPICS
Sergeyeva fails drugs test
Russian bobsledder Nadezhda Sergeyeva has been banned from the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea after failing a doping test, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said yesterday. The court said that she had tested positive for the heart medication trimetazidine and had admitted the offense, the fourth doping case to hit this year’s Games. Sergeyeva, who finished 12th in the two-woman bobsleigh, “is excluded from the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018,” the court said in a statement.
BASKETBALL
Butler out with injury
Minnesota All-Star Jimmy Butler on Friday left the Timberwolves’ game against the Houston Rockets with an apparent injury to his right knee. After grabbing a rebound late in the third quarter, Butler pivoted and planted hard on his right foot before collapsing and grabbing his right knee. He was on the floor for at least three minutes before he was carried off the court by two teammates. He appeared to avoid putting weight on his right leg when heading to the locker room. Butler leads the Timberwolves with 22.4 points and 1.9 steals per game, adding 5.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game in his first season with Minnesota after being traded from Chicago in the off-season.
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
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