MARTIAL ARTS
Brazilian jujutsu champ shot
Brazilian jujutsu great Leandro Lo, an eight-time world champion, was fatally shot in a Sao Paulo club on Sunday, his family’s lawyer said. An off-duty police officer has been arrested for allegedly shooting the 33-year-old champ, after turning himself in to the authorities, local media reports said. Lo was out with friends for a concert at the Clube Siria when the attacker approached their table and began making threatening gestures with a bottle, lawyer Iva Siqueira Junior said. Lo, who won a record five International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation world titles, pinned the man to the ground, before Lo’s friends helped them both up and urged the attacker to leave, Siqueria said. “At that exact moment, the guy allegedly turned around, pulled out a gun and shot Leandro in the head,” he said. Lo was rushed to a hospital, but was pronounced brain dead, he added. A Sao Paulo court ordered the 30-year-old suspect detained for 30 days pending further investigation, newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported.
BASEBALL
Rose dismisses questions
Pete Rose on Sunday dismissed questions about his first appearance on the Philadelphia Phillies’ field since the franchise scrapped 2017 plans to honor him because of a woman’s claim she had a sexual relationship with MLB’s hit king when she was a minor. “It was 55 years ago, babe,” Rose told a female baseball writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Rose had no trouble reminiscing about the 1980 World Series champion Phillies team that was honored before Sunday’s game. After initially getting booed lightly, the 81-year-old received a standing ovation from fans when he walked onto the Citizens Bank Park field for the first time since he received a lifetime ban from the MLB in August 1989. Rose’s already stained reputation suffered another blow in 2017 when the Phillies called off a planned induction into the team’s Wall of Fame because of the sexual misconduct accusations. The woman, identified as Jane Doe in 2017, said Rose called her in 1973, when she was 14 or 15, and they began a sexual relationship in Cincinnati, Ohio, that lasted several years. Rose brusquely responded to the reporter’s question before the game — and later apologized to her following Sunday’s ceremony after initially saying: “Will you forgive me if I sign 1,000 baseballs for you?”
BASKETBALL
Bird says goodbye to Seattle
The day set aside to honor Sue Bird and her career with the Seattle Storm was on Sunday slightly soured when the Las Vegas Aces pulled away late for an 89-81 win, but nearly all of the sold out crowd stayed to hear her speech commemorating her 20 years in the city. “I don’t really have that ‘Mamba Out’ moment,” Bird said, referencing Kobe Bryant’s retirement speech. “I just want to say I love you, thank you so much and I’ll see you in the playoffs.” The result of the game did not take away from the three hours where Storm fans, WNBA fans and the city of Seattle said thank you to Bird for her career as the face of the franchise. The largest crowd in Storm history packed Climate Pledge Arena to honor Bird for her career as one of the best female basketball players. “I’m not going to lie, it kind of sucks to lose my last game. But you know what, I lost my first game too. So it’s OK,” Bird joked with the crowd after the final buzzer.
American rugby sevens star Ilona Maher is to join 15-a-side club Bristol next month in a bid to play in next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, the English club announced on Monday. Maher, 28, helped the US to a bronze medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris and is the seven-a-side sport’s most popular player on social media. “This is a huge coup to be able to bring Ilona Maher to Bristol Bears on a short-term deal,” Bristol head coach Dave Ward said. “She is one of the biggest names in women’s sport, let alone rugby, and we believe she will
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
LeBron James is in quite the shooting slump — especially from long distance, highlighted by his zero-for-four effort from three-point range for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 109-80 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. That return stretched the nearly-40-year-old’s skid to zero-for-19 from deep over his past four games. James’ birthday is on Dec. 30. After going four-for-16 from the floor overall with six of his team’s 20 turnovers for a season-low 10 points against the Timberwolves, James was asked to reflect on the Lakers reaching the quarter mark of their 2024-2025 schedule under rookie coach J.J. Redick at 12-9. “I
TSG (Taiwan Steel Group) Tainan won the Taiwan Football Premier League (TFPL) title for a fifth straight season on Sunday, while the Kaohsiung Attackers a week earlier emerged as champions for the first time in the women’s league. In the final round of the TFPL, TSG rested most of their important players for the home match at Yonghua Stadium in Tainan. They had 46 points prior to the game and were already guaranteed to finish in first place. Their opponent, Hang Yuan FC, were led by midfielder Chen Po-ying, who scored two goals, first with a curving shot just inside
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