■BASKETBALL
Barkley takes TV time out
Retired NBA star Charles Barkley is taking a leave of absence from his TV commentator job in the wake of a suspected drunken driving incident. Turner Sports announced the move on Friday, hours after test results released by police in Arizona showed Barkley had a blood-alcohol level of .149, nearly twice the legal limit of .08, when he was stopped by officers just outside Phoenix, Arizona, on Dec. 31. Barkley, 45, was stopped for running a stop sign at about 1:30am on Dec. 31. He was cited by police and released.
■BASKETBALL
Boozer to rest four weeks
Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and faces at least four weeks of rehabilitation, the National Basketball Association club said on Saturday. Boozer first suffered a strained left quadriceps tendon and a bone bruise on the knee in a victory in November over Milwaukee. The veteran had missed 24-straight games before having the surgery on Friday in Los Angeles. Loose cartilage around his knee joint was removed and the knee was cleaned up.
■HOCKEY
All-star coaches named
Todd McLellan of the San Jose Sharks and Claude Julien of the Boston Bruins were named as coaches for their respective conferences in the 57th National Hockey League all-star game in Montreal. Julien, who guided Montreal for three seasons from 2002-2006, has led the Bruins to their best start since 1929-1930 as the club posted 64 points in its first 41 games. Boston increased that total to 66 (31-7-4) with its 5-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. Named San Jose’s coach on June 12 following a three-year stint as an assistant with the Detroit Red Wings, McLellan is just the second first-year coach to lead an all-star team. The 41-year-old McLellan, who has guided the Sharks to a 30-5-5 record, is the first coach in franchise history to win his first four games and lead the club to a 4-0-0 record to start a campaign. The all-star game takes place on Jan. 25 at the Bell Center Arena in Calgary, Canada.
■FOOTBALL
Freeney fined for cursing
Indianapolis Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney has been slapped with a US$20,000 fine for a post-game tirade against the officials of his team’s Jan. 3 playoff game. The league’s disciplinary officials said they fined Freeney for “inappropriate comments on officiating” following the Colts’ 23-17 loss to the San Diego Chargers, US media reported on Saturday. Indianapolis was whistled for three defensive penalties during the Chargers’ winning drive. In a postgame interview with Yahoo! Sports, Freeney blasted the officials, saying: “Those were the worst [expletive] calls I’ve seen in a long time.”
■BASEBALL
Red Sox sign Takashi Saito
Takashi Saito agreed to a one-year deal with Boston on Saturday, giving the Red Sox another veteran arm in their bullpen. Saito, who had 18 saves and a 2.49 ERA last season despite being limited by an elbow injury, became a free agent when the Los Angeles Dodgers failed to offer him a contract by the Dec. 12 deadline. The Japanese right-hander would have been eligible for salary arbitration and a raise from US$2 million if he was tendered a contract. The 38-year-old Saito is 12-7 with 81 saves and a 1.95 ERA in three major league seasons, all with Los Angeles. “He’s done an amazing job since coming over from Japan three years ago,” Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said.
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
LIVERPOOL WIN: The 50th Champions League goal by Mohamed Salah helped the leaders of the Premier League to keep their perfect record intact Real Madrid’s big stars on Tuesday turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering UEFA Champions League title defense. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win against Serie A leaders Atalanta BC. However, Madrid still had to ride their luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage-time when handed a golden chance to level the game. It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champions in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. “It’s a very important win. Not everyone wins
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
Taiwan’s Lin Cheng-jing won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk in the women’s under-49 kg division at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Saturday. Lin won her first medal at a World Weightlifting Championships for lifting 107kg in the clean and jerk in her weight class, 2kg more than Rosegie Ramos of the Philippines. However, Ramos won bronze for the combined lift after topping Lin by 5kg in the snatch. Ri Song-gum of North Korea won gold in the division’s combined lift with a total of 213kg, while Xiang Linxiang of China took silver with
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