BASKETBALL
Cousins tossed in civvies
NBA bad boy DeMarcus Cousins was ejected on Friday from the Golden State Warriors’ game while wearing his street clothes. Cousins has yet to suit up for the Warriors in a game this season, but that is not stopping him from causing problems for NBA game officials. He was ejected in the first quarter against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden for arguing with referee Scott Foster. It was announced that Cousins had been slapped with a technical foul while sitting near the end of the Warriors’ bench. He was then thrown out of the game.
SOCCER
Wembley shelters Spurs
Tottenham Hotspur are to play their remaining home games this season at Wembley Stadium, the Premier League club announced on Friday. Spurs had been hoping to move into a new 62,000-seat stadium near their old White Hart Lane home in north London last month, but chairman Daniel Levy said that “factors completely outside of our control” meant that Spurs would not play at their new ground until next year at the earliest. “There isn’t an hour that goes by when I am not asked when we will be able to stage our first game at our new home,” Levy said.
SOCCER
Clasico fraudsters arrested
Spanish police on Friday announced the arrest of seven suspects in a fake tickets scam that cost the Barcelona soccer club 1.5 million euros (US$1.7 million). Fraudsters sold more than 2,800 fake tickets for a match between Barcelona and Real Madrid last May at Barcelona’s Camp Nou. At least eight businesses were involved in the fraud, a statement from the Guardia Civil police said. They got hold of Barcelona club supporters’ Quick Response codes to create the fake tickets and sell them at inflated prices, the statement said. Barcelona suspended the accounts of the subscribers involved and 33 of them found to have used this practice in the past had their subscription canceled.
GYMNASTICS
Biles in ER before worlds
Simone Biles was in an emergency room in Doha with kidney stone problems less than 24 hours before she was to compete to qualify for the world gymnastics championships, the Olympic champion said on Twitter on Friday. However, the problem was not going to keep her out of the championships, she said. “Nothing like a late night ER visit less than 24 hrs before world championships,” Biles tweeted, adding pictures of her in the emergency room. “This kidney stone can wait ... doing it for my team!... I’ll be gucci girls!” USA Gymnastics was not immediately available for comment, but an hour after Biles’ comments, the federation said in a tweet of its own that “@Simone_Biles and the rest of the team are amped to get things rolling.”
TENNIS
Nadal healed, set for Paris
Rafael Nadal on Friday arrived in France ahead of his expected return at the Paris Masters next week from the knee injury that flared up at the US Open. The 17-time Grand Slam champion was forced to withdraw from his US Open semi-final against Juan Martin del Potro early last month. The injury sidelined him for Spain’s Davis Cup semi-final against France, and also from the tournaments in Beijing and Shanghai. Nadal “has arrived in Paris,” Paris Masters director Guy Forget confirmed at Friday’s draw. In his absence, Novak Djokovic has moved to within 215 points of world No. 1 Nadal in the ATP rankings.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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