BASKETBALL
Howard to meet Warriors
Eight-time All-Star Dwight Howard is to meet with the Golden State Warriors next week, The Athletic Web site reported on Friday. The 37-year-old free agent center did not play in the NBA last season, competing professionally in Taiwan instead. The Warriors reportedly have been exploring the addition of a veteran big man for the 2023-2024 campaign. Howard is a three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year who led the league in rebounding five times and blocks two times earlier in his 18-year career.
SOCCER
Sancho’s future uncertain
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag on Friday said that he does not know whether Jadon Sancho would play for the club again amid the forward’s exile from the first team over a disciplinary issue. Sancho, 23, is training away from United’s first team after saying in a now-deleted statement on social media that he had been made a “scapegoat” following his omission from the squad for their 3-1 defeat against Arsenal on Sept. 3. Ten Hag said at the time that Sancho had been left out because of his poor performance in training. Speaking at a news conference before United hosted Brighton & Hove Albion, which was to start after press time last night, the Dutch coach did not confirm if Sancho remained a part of his long-term plans at the club. “I don’t know,” Ten Hag said when asked whether Sancho would play for United again. “He is not available, so in this moment, he is not important, because he can’t contribute.” The decision “is not about me. This is in favor of the team... I don’t think about that [Sancho’s social media post] and I don’t talk about that, because I have to win a game.”
GOLF
Bale added to video game
Gareth Bale’s love for golf has been well-documented and the former Real Madrid and Wales forward has swapped the pitch for the green after becoming a playable character in the PGA Tour 2K23 video game. Bale, 34, made his PGA Tour debut at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February after calling time on his soccer career at the start of the year. He also teed off alongside Rory McIlroy at this week’s BMW PGA Championship Celebrity Pro-Am. The former Wales captain, who featured on the cover of Electronic Arts’ FIFA 14 video game alongside Lionel Messi, has now been added to PGA Tour 2K23, which includes a course custom-designed by him.
There is a reverential hush from the respectful crowd as Pakistan’s Sadia Iqbal opens the bowling to Bangladesh’s Shathi Rani in the Asian Games women’s bronze medal match in Hangzhou, China. The sound of leather on willow echoes around the purpose-built cricket ground, which until recently was full of sunflowers. The atmosphere is more village green than the fever pitch of, say, Pakistan’s Gaddafi Stadium, but the few hundred spectators are fully engaged — even if many admit to never seeing the game before. Almost entirely Chinese, the crowd “oohs and aahs” and clap when a wicket falls, cheer every boundary and
With some players in their 70s and opponents young enough to be their grandchildren, age is just a number for bridge competitors engaged in a battle of wits at the Asian Games. Masood Mazhar was born in the final months of World War II and before the partition of India and Pakistan, while Taiwan’s Chen Kuan-hsuan is just 23. “My father used to play so I’ve been playing all my life,” said the 78-year-old Mazhar, competing for Pakistan. People have enjoyed variations of bridge for centuries, but the tactical card game is a relatively new discipline at the Asian Games, only becoming a
A rampant Nepal yesterday rewrote the T20 international cricket record books at the Asian Games, while China’s Zhang Yufei laid down another marker for the Paris Olympics in the swimming pool. Hosts China were leading the medals table with 74 golds as of press time last night, far ahead of South Korea (18) and Japan (14), after adding titles in artistic gymnastics, chess, sailing, shooting, wushu and beach volleyball. Taiwan has two golds, three silvers and three bronzes. In some of the first action on day four in Hangzhou, Nepal smashed a series of records to open the men’s cricket competition in a
Hangzhou stepped up security ahead of yesterday’s opening of the Asian Games in China, as organizers sought to get the sporting extravaganza off to a smooth start, with Chinese President Xi Jinping among the dignitaries in attendance. Roads in a sizeable “traffic control area” around the city’s Olympic stadium were blocked off, at least one metro station was shut and other Games centers were closed ahead of a ceremony organizers described as “mesmerizing.” Some of those making the trek toward the main stadium were left frustrated by the size of the sealed-off area. “I think it shows they’re too nervous, right?” said 45-year-old
RSS