BASKETBALL
Lin out with foot injury
Jeremy Lin yesterday did not play in the New Taipei Kings’ 94-83 victory over the Kaohsiung 17LIVE Steelers due to a lingering foot injury. The P.League+ team on Saturday said he would also miss the team’s two other regular season games next month before the Lunar New Year holiday or their East Asia Super League (EASL) match against the Seoul SK Knights on Wednesday in the South Korean capital. Lin wrote on Instagram that an MRI scan showed he had a plantar fascia injury. “I know the best thing I can do right now is to fully recover. I’ll give my 100% during this rehab process and do my best to fully trust God with the timeline and surrender to the results.” This would be the first time the 35-year-old veteran would be sidelined for an EASL game this season.
CYCLING
Pithie claims 1st Tour win
New Zealand’s Laurence Pithie yesterday powered home to nudge out Eritrea’s Natnael Tesfatsion in a split finish to claim his first World Tour victory in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Geelong, Australia. The Groupama-FDJ rider lunged at the finish line to pip Tesfatsion (Lidl-Trek) by a half-wheel in the tightest finish in the eighth running of the 176km race along the southern coastline of Victoria. Pithie had to wait for the photo-finish confirmation before he could celebrate his first World Tour victory with his teammates.
SOCCER
Xavi says he is quitting
Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez on Saturday said he would quit his “cruel and unpleasant” job at the end of the season after his struggling team were beaten 5-3 by Villarreal in La Liga. “On June 30, I will leave the club, it’s a decision I have taken with the president, with the staff,” Xavi told reporters. Champions Barcelona, third in the top flight, are 10 points behind leaders Real Madrid with their title defense virtually over. “The feeling of being Barca coach is cruel, unpleasant, it feels like people lack respect for you a lot of the time,” Xavi said. “It’s terrible on a mental health level, your morale ... to the point where you think there is no sense in continuing.” After elimination in the Copa del Rey by Athletic Bilbao this week and a thrashing by Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup final earlier in January, Xavi said he made the decision for the good of the club. “I’ve thought about the club ... and above all the players,” he said. “I have the feeling that I am doing the right thing, that I am acting with common sense.”
GOLF
Frenchman bags PGA win
Matthieu Pavon on Saturday became the first player to win a PGA Tour event under the French flag since World War II when he made an eight-foot putt on No. 18 at Torrey Pines South for a dramatic birdie and a one-shot victory in the Farmers Insurance Open. He raised his arms in celebration and shouted before hugging caddie Mark Sherwood after the putt rolled in as the municipal gem high above the Pacific Ocean glowed under the late-afternoon sun. Pavon glowed, too. He said he almost quit golf 10 years ago because of the yips. “It is big for our country,” the 31-year-old PGA Tour rookie said. “I hope it will inspire a lot of people, because coming from an amateur player which is 800 in the world to a PGA Tour winner is pretty big.”
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
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
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
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