BASKETBALL
Brickman wins T1 award
Filipino-American playmaker Jason Brickman was named the Most Valuable Import player for his phenomenal performance in the inaugural season of the T1 League, including having the highest assists average, the basketball league said on Monday. Brickman led the league with an average of 10.3 dimes per game during the regular season, helping his club, the Kaohsiung Aquas, win the championship title. The 30-year-old, 1.79m point guard also posted an average of 13.6 points and 5.3 rebounds over 38 minutes and 13 seconds per game during the regular season, and was named Import of the Month for December last year. Brickman thanked the T1 League for the honor, and his coaches, teammates and everyone in the Aquas’ organization. “This year was just a special year and I had a lot of fun playing. I also want to thank all the fans that came out in Taiwan and supported us all year,” Brickman said.
SOCCER
PSG ditch Pochettino
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have parted ways with manager Mauricio Pochettino, the Ligue 1 club said yesterday, ending the Argentine’s 18-month stint with the French champions even though he had a year left on his contract. Pochettino, who was appointed in January last year, won the Ligue 1 title in the 2021-2022 season and the French Cup in the 2020-2021 season, but failed to deliver in the UEFA Champions League, the only major trophy that has eluded PSG since Qatar Sports Investment took over in 2011. Christophe Galtier is set to replace Pochettino, with club president Nasser al-Khelaifi saying last month that they were in talks with OGC Nice, who also moved quickly to appoint former Borussia Dortmund coach Lucien Favre to succeed Galtier.
BASKETBALL
Griner appeals to Biden
Brittney Griner, a US WNBA star who was detained in Russia in February, has made an appeal to US President Joe Biden in a letter passed to the White House through her representatives, saying she feared she might never return home and asking that he not “forget about me and the other American Detainees.” Griner’s agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, said the letter was delivered on Monday. Most of the letter’s contents to Biden remain private, although Griner’s representatives shared a few lines from the hand-written note. “As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts ... I’m terrified I might be here forever,” Griner wrote. “On the 4th of July, our family normally honors the service of those who fought for our freedom, including my father who is a Vietnam War Veteran,” the Phoenix Mercury center added. “It hurts thinking about how I usually celebrate this day because freedom means something completely different to me this year.” The two-time Olympic gold medalist is in the midst of a trial that began last week after she was arrested on charges of possessing cannabis oil while returning to play for her Russian team. The trial resumes tomorrow. “We believe the Russian Federation is wrongfully detaining Brittney Griner,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said on Monday. “President Biden has been clear about the need to see all US nationals who are held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad released, including Brittney Griner.”
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
Naomi Osaka is braced for a “battle” after yesterday setting up a clash with Coco Gauff in the round-of-16 of the China Open, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka also marched on. Osaka defeated 60th-ranked American Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 and next faces Gauff in a showdown of former US Open champions in Beijing. World No. 2 Sabalenka swatted aside Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-2 for her 14th consecutive victory and plays another American in 24th-ranked Madison Keys. Looking ahead to the Gauff meeting, four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka said: “She’s very athletic, obviously.” “For me, my strongest traits are being aggressive and also my serve,
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