BASKETBALL
Curry not hurt in crash
Two-time MVP Stephen Curry on Friday escaped serious injury after being involved in a multicar accident while en route to the Golden State Warriors’ practice facility. Curry was westbound on Highway 24 near Oakland at about 9am when his Porsche Panamera collided with two other vehicles, damaging both the front and back end of his vehicle, US media reported. An Oakland TV station reported a California Highway Patrol spokesman as saying a Lexus car spun out on the freeway and collided with the front of the Porsche before a second car rear-ended it. “Don’t need any reminders but All the Time God is Great and God is Great all the time! Appreciate all the texts,” Curry wrote on Twitter. Police said the wet weather was likely a factor and that no charges have been laid.
RUGBY UNION
Two dropped for hotel visit
Australia backs Kurtley Beale and Adam Ashley-Cooper were dropped for yesterday’s match against England at Twickenham after bringing women into their hotel room earlier on tour, coach Michael Cheika said on Friday. The incident took place following Australia’s 9-6 defeat by Wales on Nov. 10. Australian media reported that three women, one of whom was said to be Ashley-Cooper’s sister-in-law, were out of the hotel by 10:30pm GMT. Team rules state guests are not allowed in players’ rooms. The Wallabies were already reeling from knowing that David Pocock would miss the England game with a neck injury sustained against Italy.
RUGBY UNION
Rainbow laces ‘ill-fitting’
Several international teams planned to wear rainbow laces in support of former Wales captain Gareth Thomas this weekend, but England might avoid a similar gesture because they do not fit into their boots. Thomas on Sunday last week posted a video on Twitter saying he had been a victim of a homophobic assault in Cardiff. Wales and France have already said their players would be wearing rainbow laces this weekend, but England’s Sam Underhill, facing Australia yesterday, said: “I won’t be wearing them personally. That is more to do with — it sounds a bit ridiculous given the size of the issue they are representing — the thickness of the laces, they are actually really uncomfortable in my boots.” He added: “But it is an incredibly worthy cause, an incredibly important cause.”
ATHLETICS
Bett given four-year ban
Kenyan world 800m bronze medalist Kipyegon Bett has been handed a four-year ban for doping, the International Association of Athletics Federations Athletics Integrity Unit said in a statement on Friday. Bett, 20, refused to allow a urine sample to be taken in February and then in July, when a sample was taken, he tested positive for the prohibited substance erythropoeitin, an endurance-boosting hormone, the unit said. Unless he appeals, Bett is to be suspended until August 2022.
SOCCER
Alaves miss out on lead
Deportivo Alaves on Friday lost to relegation-threatened CD Leganes 1-0, missing an opportunity to take the Spanish league lead. Alaves could have passed Barcelona for the lead with a victory, but the hosts secured the three points with a goal by Youssef En-Nesyri shortly before halftime at Butarque Stadium. It was the first win in six matches for Leganes, allowing them to move out of the relegation zone ahead of the weekend matches.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
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