SOCCER
Messi clause key issue
Lionel Messi’s shock announcement that he wants to leave Barcelona looks like the opening salvo in negotiations around the fine detail of his contract and the all-important get-out clause, a Spanish sports lawyer said on Wednesday. Messi’s lawyers have referred to a clause in the four-year contract he signed in 2017 that would have allowed him to leave for free if he requested it by June 10. They are to argue that because of the season’s extension due to COVID-19 delays, that date is irrelevant. The club is to argue that an earlier date is the relevant one and so his departure triggers a 700 million euros (US$827.64 million) release payment from any interested club. “I think Barcelona is in a stronger position, but Messi has certainly showed the weakness Barcelona might have,” said sports and business lawyer Santiago Nebot, who has acted as general counsel for the Association of Spanish Footballers. “If he says to Barcelona I want to go, give me a free transfer and Barcelona says no, there is absolutely nothing he can do,” said Nebot, who has not seen Messi’s contract and based his assessment on media reports.
CYCLING
Niv to be first Israeli of Tour
Guy Niv says he would have goosebumps when he pedals off from the start in Nice tomorrow to become the first Israeli rider to compete in the Tour de France. The 26-year-old is part of the ambitious Israel Start-Up Nation team that would also be debuting in the world’s greatest cycle race, joining the likes of experienced team mates Dan Martin and Andre Greipel. “I am honored and privileged to represent my country and team in the biggest race in cycling and one of the greatest sporting events in the world,” said Niv, a former mountain biker who only took up road racing three years ago. “And to be the first Israeli to do so? It might sound like a cliche, but it’s a dream come true. I have goosebumps just thinking about it. It’s huge. I cannot wait.” The Israel Start-Up Nation team were only formed five years ago, but are thinking big and have signed four-times Tour de France winner Chris Froome for next season.
BASKETBALL
Pacers can McMillan
Nate McMillan was fired as coach of the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, two days after the club was swept out of the first round of the NBA playoffs by Miami. McMillan, who took over as coach of the Pacers before the 2016-2017 season, went 183-136 in four seasons with Indiana, but only 3-16 in the playoffs, including three sweep outs in the first round. The Pacers have not won a playoff series since 2014. The move came two weeks after the team gave McMillan a one-year contract extension.
TENNIS
Nishikori skipping US Open
Japan’s Kei Nishikori on Wednesday said he had tested negative for COVID-19, after testing positive twice this month, but has decided to skip the US Open anyway. The 30-year-old, a finalist at Flushing Meadows in 2014, withdrew from the Western & Southern Open hardcourt event in New York after his first positive test, casting doubt over his participation in the Grand Slam tournament which starts on Monday next week. “After such a long break I feel that returning in a best of five long-match setting is not smart until I am fully ready to do so,” said Nishikori, the world No. 31.
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
Shin Oebori coaches the Fukagawa Hawks youth baseball team in Tokyo, and he is very aware how Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani touches his players. “With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible,” Oebori said, wrapping up practice yesterday on an all-dirt field set alongside a local Buddhist temple, below an elevated highway, and in the shadow of tall apartment blocks in central Tokyo. “Nothing is impossible with him. A dream is not a dream,” Oebori said, stepping out of the fenced practice field that keeps balls from landing on the temple grounds. None of the players hitting sponge-soft baseball has reached
CRICKET Azhar’s 59 leads Stallions Aashir Azhar’s blazing half-century guided the Taipei Stallions to victory over Taipei Super 11 in the Taiwan Premier League’s Group A at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei yesterday. The Stallions were 102-3 and into the 12th over of 20 when Azhar came to the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in the 25 deliveries he faced to push his side to 171-5. Gokul Kumar was the star with the ball for Super 11, taking 3-17. In the reply, Deepak Vishnu outscored Azhar with 77 from 50 balls, but nobody else got past 20 as
‘GLOBAL PRESSURE’: LA’s Dave Roberts said that it was difficult to appreciate the ‘pressure on a global scale’ his starter was under ‘pitching for his country’ The Los Angeles Dodgers shelled out US$1 billion for Japanese talent in the off-season and it is paying off in the MLB playoffs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Friday outdueled Yu Darvish in a historic post-season matchup of Japanese-born starters, while the Dodgers got home runs from Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez to beat the San Diego Padres 2-0 and advance to the National League Championship Series. “It’s pretty sweet,” a smiling Freddie Freeman said. Yamamoto allowed two hits over five innings for the win, getting pulled after 63 pitches in a decisive Game 5 between heated NL West rivals who were meeting in a
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