SOCCER
Help sought for journalist
The family of a French sports journalist who has been sentenced to seven years in prison in Algeria is calling for help from the sporting world and soccer great Zinedine Zidane. Christophe Gleizes, a 36-year-old freelance sportswriter, was sentenced last week over an interview with a soccer official accused of ties to a banned separatist movement. Gleizes was arrested and placed under judicial supervision more than a year ago for entering Algeria without a proper visa, “glorifying terrorism” and “possessing propaganda publications harmful to the national interest,” Reporters Without Borders said last week. Gleizes’ relatives on French television on Thursday called on sports personalities to support his case. “It would be great if Zinedine Zidane were to get involved in this fight,” Gleizes’ father in law, Francis Godard, told France 2 channel. “After all, it’s a fight for both freedom of the press and the world of football. Journalists are mobilized, as we know, but we would like the sporting world to be just as mobilized. Christophe is a sports journalist and is therefore interested in the business of sport. This concerns the world of sport very directly.”
Photo: AFP / SO Press-RSF / Courtesy of the Gleizes family
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
Trump touts UFC plans
The Octagon likely is coming to the White House next year after US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he plans to have the UFC hold a fight card at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as part of the US’ 250th birthday celebrations. The president, who is close with UFC president Dana White, made the announcement at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. “Does anybody watch UFC? The great Dana White? We’re going to have a UFC fight. We’re going to have a UFC fight — think of this — on the grounds of the White House,” Trump said. “We have a lot of land there. We’re going to build a little — we’re not, Dana is going to do it. Dana is great, one of a kind — going to be UFC fight, championship fight, full fight, like 20,000 to 25,000 people, and we’re going to do that as part of ‘250’ also.”
BOXING
Chavez Jr faces deportation
US immigration officials have arrested Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr — days after his loss in a fight against Jake Paul — for overstaying his visa and lying on a green card application, officials said on Thursday. Chavez was detained in front of his home on Wednesday and faced deportation to Mexico, where he faces organized crime charges, authorities said. The 39-year-old boxer is a former middleweight champion. His father, Julio Cesar Chavez, is one of the most beloved athletes in Mexican history and a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. However, his son has battled drug addiction for much of his lengthy boxing career, failing drug tests, serving suspensions and egregiously missing weight while being widely criticized for his intermittent dedication to the sport. The younger Chavez still rose to the heights, winning the WBC middleweight title in 2011 and defending it three times.
‘DEVASTATED’: Argentina’s win was a reversal of their 28-24 defeat last week, with Australian forward Fraser McReight adding that ‘we did the same thing last week’ Argentina flyhalf Santiago Carreras punished an undisciplined Australia with 23 points off the tee as the Pumas held on grimly for a 28-26 win in Sydney yesterday to breathe new life into their Rugby Championship campaign. A try-fest beckoned in afternoon sunshine at Sydney Football Stadium, but Argentina needed only one through captain Julian Montoya, with Carreras doing the damage with seven penalties and a conversion in front of a sell-out crowd. A week after letting a 14-point lead slip in a 28-24 defeat to Australia in Townsville, Argentina saw most of a 21-point advantage erased in the final quarter as the
Captain Vijay Kumar led the way yesterday as the Hsinchu Titans claimed the Taiwan Premier League title at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), beating PCCT by 27 runs. The weather was a topic again, but not the rain that played a role in previous matches in the often-delayed tournament. Kumar, who made 80 not out from 63 deliveries, and teammate Vishwajit Kumar (58 from 43) rescued the Titans from a precarious state at the end of the power play in the T20 match. The visitors were put in to bat and struggled to 26-3 as PCCT
China’s state-run People’s Daily newspaper on Monday published an essay about Chinese basketball it said was written by LeBron James, but a representative for the NBA star said on Thursday that the article was based on a series of interviews. The paper, better known as the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, had said James authored the essay, “Basketball is a Bridge that Connects Us,” a tribute to Chinese players and fans of the sport written in the first person. “LeBron James Pens an Article in the People’s Daily,” read a post published on the newspaper’s official WeChat account. On Thursday, a representative
San Francisco Giants pitcher Teng Kai-wei impressed against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday despite an 8-1 loss in the opener of the team’s nine-game road trip. Teng, the only Taiwanese pitcher active in MLB, struck out five while allowing two hits and one walk over four innings at Chase Field to finish with a no decision, as the teams were tied 1-1 when he finished his outing. He surrendered the lone run of his outing in the bottom of the first, which began with a walk, a hit-by-pitch and two strikeouts. Diamondbacks leadoff hitter Geraldo Perdomo advanced to third on
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