BASKETBALL
Damon Jones pleads guilty
Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones on Tuesday pleaded guilty to gambling-related charges, the first conviction in a betting scandal that has engulfed elite basketball. Jones, 49, admitted to two counts of wire fraud conspiracy in two separate cases: one in which he provided insider information to bettors, and another that involved illegal rigged poker games. “As shown by his guilty pleas today, Damon Jones converted his fame and ties to professional basketball into a multifaceted criminal betting operation,” US Attorney Joseph Nocella said. The first case centered on Jones using information on injuries and game absences between December 2022 and March 2024 to profit from illegal betting activity. He is the first of six defendants to plead guilty in that case, which includes Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier.
Photo: AFP
SOCCER
FIFA issues new rules
World Cup players who cover their mouths during confrontations with opponents would face a red card as part of a new initiative aimed at combating racism, FIFA said in a statement on Tuesday. Following a meeting of the International Football Association Board in Vancouver, FIFA confirmed that the rule was one of two changes that would be introduced at this year’s World Cup. “At the discretion of the competition organizer, any player covering their mouth in a confrontational situation with an opponent may be sanctioned with a red card,” it said. The new rule follows controversy earlier this year when SL Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni was accused of racially abusing Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior during a UEFA Champions League game in February.
GOLF
Golfer eyes return after fall
Italian golfer Andrea Pavan said he hopes to be able to make a full swing within a year as he continues his recovery from serious back and shoulder injuries sustained when he fell three stories down an open elevator shaft in South Africa. The incident happened when Pavan, a two-time winner on Europe’s DP World Tour, called an elevator at his accommodation near the near Stellenbosch Golf Club in February and the door opened without the elevator in the shaft. Apart from broken bones in his back, the 37-year-old sustained a shoulder injury that required surgery. “Around three months we’ll see how well the bone has healed. Around six months it’s about where complete bone healing happens and we’ll see how the joint is moving by then,” Pavan told the BBC.
ATHLETICS
Man sets croc-filled record
Ultramarathon swimmer Andy Donaldson on Tuesday swam 55km across the crocodile-filled Ord River in Australia to finish the Dam to Dam Challenge from Lake Argyle to Kununurra in a record 11 hours, 51 minutes, beating the record of 16 hours, 13 minutes set in 2024 by Simone Blaser, who was the first person to complete the swim. The freshwater crocodile population in the river numbers 5,500 — one for every 10m of Donaldson’s swim. “It was a bit nerve-racking doing a swim in the open water,” the 35-year-old said. “There’s always a risk of wildlife, but in the same breath, people use that river every day recreationally. They say ‘fear is a mile wide and an inch deep’ — the perceived fear is a lot bigger than it actually turns out to be.”
Jannik Sinner continued his quest to become the first man in history to win five Masters 1000 tournaments in a row with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danish qualifier Elmer Moller at the Madrid Open on Sunday. The world leader extended his winning streak to 19 matches, a run that began early March in Indian Wells, and he has captured 24 consecutive victories at the Masters 1000 level, dating back to the Paris Masters last October. Searching for a maiden title at this level on clay, Sinner advanced to the round of 16 at the Caja Magica with a 77-minute performance against
When Paddy Dwyer arrived in China in 1976, crowds jostled to catch a glimpse of him and his companions — the first Western soccer team to play in the country. China was emerging from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and on the brink of market reforms that would take the country from economic stagnation to explosive growth. “All we could see was lines of people running beside our bus, trying to look in the windows, to see their first visual of a white person,” he said. “It was all bicycles,” he said. “There were very few cars to be seen.” Dwyer,
Tennis players are facing an unexpected opponent at the Madrid Open. A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and others, raising concerns. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she is trying to avoid illness by sticking to a diet of chicken breasts, rice and salad. The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame. Sabalenka knocked on wood for luck and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos,” she laughed, adding “I stick to the
Some of Clearlake Capital Group’s largest investors are growing increasingly concerned about how much time the company’s co-founders are spending on sports investments as they have struggled to complete the fundraising for the private equity firm’s latest flagship fund. One of Clearlake’s co-founders, Behdad Eghbali, has been spending what some investors described as a disproportionate amount of time on the firm’s investment in Chelsea Football Club in recent months. Now, co-founder Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, are nearing a record US$3.9 billion deal to acquire the San Diego Padres. That personal investment by Feliciano has set off the latest
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