FOOTBALL
Brothers hold coaching gigs
Jon Gruden’s decision to leave the television booth to return to the sideline for a second stint as coach of the Oakland Raiders has put his family in unusual territory. With Jay Gruden set to begin his fifth season with Washington, the Grudens will join the Harbaughs as the only sets of siblings to simultaneously hold jobs as NFL head coaches. The Grudens spent seven years together in the NFL when Jay was an assistant on Jon’s Tampa Bay staff, but now they are NFL competitors, even though the Redskins and Raiders are not slated to play each other until the 2021 regular season. If the Grudens remain in their current jobs, the only chance to match wits beforehand would come if their teams were to meet in the NFL Super Bowl.
GOLF
Tiger skirts Trump feud
Tiger Woods stayed out of US President Donald Trump’s feuds with NBA and NFL players after Sunday’s final round of the US PGA Northern Trust tournament. “I’ve known Donald for a number of years,” said Woods when asked whether his relationship with Trump, with whom he has played golf, was “professional or personal.” “We’ve played golf together. We’ve had dinner together... You have to respect the office — no matter who is in the office,” he added. Asked if he had anything to say on the state of US race relations, the 14-time major winner said: “No, I just finished 72 holes and I’m really hungry.” Woods fired a final-round one-under-par 70 to finish 72 holes on the four-under 280 at the Ridgewood Country Club.
MotoGP
Rain shuts Grand Prix
The British Grand Prix was canceled on Sunday after torrential rain caused “unsafe” track conditions at Silverstone. With heavy rain lashing down throughout the weekend, the MotoGP race had been brought forward from its original start time in a bid to beat the weather, but the rain continued to pour, forcing officials to cancel the event for safety reasons. MotoGP race director Mike Webb said the new surface at Silverstone, which was laid in February, was to blame. “This year, with the new surface, is the first time we’ve encountered quite so much standing water in critical places on the track. So, yes, it’s a direct result of the track surface,” he said. Four-time world champion Marc Marquez, who leads the standings, said: “We are very sorry for all the fans. We are the first ones that want to ride, but safety is the priority.”
TENNIS
Travel sidelines player
A Thai player ranked in the top 100 is to miss the US Open, because of travel complications. Luksika Kumkhum on Sunday pulled out of the year’s last Grand Slam tournament, before she was scheduled to face Sofia Kinen of the US today in a first-round match. The official reason offered by the US Tennis Association in a statement about the withdrawal was “travel difficulties.” The world No. 93 has been competing at the Asian Games in Indonesia, finishing with silver in mixed doubles on Saturday. She has been replaced in the draw at Flushing Meadows by Madison Brengle of the US, who lost in qualifying.
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
LIKE FINE WINE: Thirty-eight-year-old Djokovic won his 101st title of his career in Athens, becoming the oldest tournament winner since Ken Roswell, 44, in 1977 Elena Rybakina on Saturday clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy. Having gone 3-0 in round-robin play, Rybakina earned a record US$5.235 million and would finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world. “It’s been an incredible week, I honestly didn’t expect any result, and to go so far,
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,
EMPTY STANDS: Maccabi fans were banned from attending by police, who cited violence and hate crimes when the team played Ajax in Amsterdam last season Aston Villa beat Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0 on Thursday in a Europa League game played amid heightened security measures, with more than 700 police officers deployed to deal with possible protests. Morgan Rogers put through Ian Maatsen in first-half stoppage time for the defender to score from a tight angle and Villa doubled the lead on the hour with Donyell Malen hitting the bottom corner from the penalty spot. It was Villa’s third win from games in the competition. The game at Villa Park had become the center of a political debate after Maccabi fans were banned from attending, as
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