CYCLING
Landis starting own team
Floyd Landis is using money he earned by taking down Lance Armstrong to start his own team. The man whose own doping saga cost him the 2006 Tour de France title and helped expose Armstrong’s cheating said he is building a developmental team for next year that would be based out of Canada. He said this is his way of trying to rebuild trust in a community that has viewed him skeptically since he lied about taking performance enhancers in a 2007 hearing. Landis and his legal team split about US$2.75 million off the Armstrong settlement because he brought a whistle-blower lawsuit that triggered the case. Landis now runs a business in the Colorado mountains that specializes in marijuana and hemp-based products designed to relieve chronic pain. His company is to sponsor the new team.
SOCCER
Facebook buys Copa rights
Facebook on Friday bought the television rights for the Copa Libertadores from next year to 2022, adding South America’s premier club competition to a growing list of tournaments in its broadcast portfolio. The social media network bought exclusive rights to transmit Thursday night games, as well as shared rights to broadcast games played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the South American Football Confederation said. The Thursday agreement covers all of the confederation’s 10 member nations, with the other days including all games except in Brazil. Under the deal, 46 matches a year — 27 of them exclusively — would be broadcast online in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
SOCCER
Sierra Leone suspended
FIFA on Friday suspended Sierra Leone because of government interference in how its national federation is run. FIFA acted six days before Sierra Leone is scheduled to play an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying game in Ghana. The intervention aims to protect elected Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) president Isha Johansen, a rare example of a woman heading a FIFA member federation, and her general secretary. FIFA asked that both officials “be allowed to access the SLFA premises without further delay to ensure that the operations of the SLFA, including FIFA-funded projects, are not jeopardized.”
TENNIS
Attacker facing 12 years
The man who attacked two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova with a knife at her Czech home in December 2016 is facing up to 12 years in prison, a prosecutor’s office said on Friday. The 33-year-old culprit was charged with blackmail, among other things, the office said in a statement. World No. 4 Kvitova suffered career-threatening injuries to her playing left hand as she fought off the intruder at her home in Prostejov.
E-SPORTS
EPL launches ‘FIFA’ league
The English Premier League (EPL) is launching an e-sports spinoff competition. Gamers are to represent the competition’s 20 teams in playoffs, feeding into the televised “ePL” final in London in March 28 and 29 next year. They are to play the Electronic Arts Sports FIFA game. Unlike the annual FIFA eWorld Cup, the ePL is to initially offer no cash prizes. The ePL kicks off in January next year with British residents aged at least 16 eligible to enter the online qualification on either PlayStation or Xbox One. The top 16 players per club on each platform are to then take part in the playoffs in February and March.
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
LIVERPOOL WIN: The 50th Champions League goal by Mohamed Salah helped the leaders of the Premier League to keep their perfect record intact Real Madrid’s big stars on Tuesday turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering UEFA Champions League title defense. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win against Serie A leaders Atalanta BC. However, Madrid still had to ride their luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage-time when handed a golden chance to level the game. It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champions in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. “It’s a very important win. Not everyone wins
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
Taiwan’s Lin Cheng-jing won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk in the women’s under-49 kg division at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Saturday. Lin won her first medal at a World Weightlifting Championships for lifting 107kg in the clean and jerk in her weight class, 2kg more than Rosegie Ramos of the Philippines. However, Ramos won bronze for the combined lift after topping Lin by 5kg in the snatch. Ri Song-gum of North Korea won gold in the division’s combined lift with a total of 213kg, while Xiang Linxiang of China took silver with
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