■FORMULA ONE
Montreal courts F1
Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay says officials are completing a deal to bring Formula One back to the city next June. Tremblay said on Thursday the date of the Canadian Grand Prix and other details still had to be hammered out. He said it looked “very good” that Montreal would have its Grand Prix in June. Tremblay said he was confident he would be able to make the official announcement before next year’s F1 calendar is unveiled next month. His comments came after F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone recently told a European motor sport magazine that cars would be whizzing around the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal next year. Tremblay said the agreement respected the principles established by city, state and federal governments, notably that they would not only finance the event but would also share in the revenues.
■FOOTBALL
Cleveland drops Stallworth
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth, who pleaded guilty in a drunk-driving death, has been suspended for all of the this year’s National Football League season. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wrote to Stallworth outlining his reasons for imposing the ban — for violating the league’s policies on substances of abuse and personal conduct. Stallworth pleaded guilty in June to drunk-driving manslaughter, a charge stemming from an incident on March 14 when he struck and killed a pedestrian with his car in Miami. Stallworth had initially pleaded not guilty on June 4 and was facing a sentence of four to 15 years in jail if convicted. On June 16 he reached a plea agreement that included two years of house arrest and 1,000 hours of community service. He was released from jail on July 10.
■BASEBALL
Beer douser turns self in
A man turned himself in to police on Thursday, hours after Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino filed a police report about getting doused with beer at Wrigley Field. Police said the man was being questioned. The incident during Wednesday’s game was being investigated as “simple battery.” Victorino was hit by a cup of beer thrown from the stands while trying to catch a fly ball in the 12-5 win over the Chicago Cubs. The Major League Baseball All-Star outfielder managed to make the grab, and Cubs chairman Crane Kenney apologized to him in person before Thursday’s game. Victorino filed the police report on Thursday. Shortly after the game, police said a man turned himself in.
■SOCCER
Brunei players booted
A trio of Brunei soccer players have been kicked out of the S.League for an attack on a referee during a Singaporean league match earlier this month. Croatian defender Rene Komar was banned for 15 months for punching the match referee in the Aug. 2 clash between Brunei DPMM FC and Home United in Bandar Seri Begawan’s Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium. Komar’s teammates Pg Sallehuddin Damit and Yusof Salleh were also handed bans by the Football Association of Singapore Disciplinary Committee. All three admitted to charges of violent conduct against match referee K Kalimuthu. Skipper Pg Sallehuddin was banned for 12 months after admitting confronting Kalimuthu in “an aggressive and threatening manner,” manhandling and shoving him in the 39th minute of the match.
■CRICKET
Star banned over rampage
Australian cricket authorities on Friday banned Twenty20 star Luke Pomersbach from playing until at least January after he pleaded guilty to multiple charges including assaulting a police officer. The attacking middle-order batsman, who plays for Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League, apologized in court for a drunken rampage that led to him being arrested by police in Perth on Sunday. Pomersbach, 24, was fined A$3,500 (US$3,000) by the court, lost his driver’s license for six months and was ordered to pay more than A$20,000 for the damages he caused. Pomersbach pleaded guilty to a total of six charges that also included pushing a policeman into a window at his Perth home, breaking the glass and causing minor injuries, as he resisted arrest over a hit-and-run road incident. Following the court ruling, the Western Australian Cricket Association said he would be banned from representing Western Australia in any form of cricket until the end of the 2010-2011 season, but may be eligible to play state cricket from Jan. 1 next year if he fulfills counseling criteria.
■CRICKET
Windies sack coach Dyson
Australian coach John Dyson became the latest casualty of the West Indies’ bitter cricket turmoil on Thursday when he was sacked as coach. The West Indies Cricket Board WICB axed Dyson following the humiliating home Test and one-day series defeats to whipping boys Bangladesh, losses which coincided with a damaging players boycott. Dyson’s sacking comes less than six weeks before the start of the Champions Trophy in South Africa where assistant coach David Williams will take temporary charge. Dyson, 55, took over as coach in October, 2007, following on from another Australian, Bennett King, who stood down after the World Cup.
■RUGBY LEAGUE
TV show offers NRL dreams
Filming is about to start on a reality television series offering aspiring players the chance to earn a contract and play in Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) competition, reports said yesterday. The show, titled NRL Dream, will give budding stars aged between 17 and 25 the opportunity to vie for a A$100,000 (US$84,000) contract with either the St George Illawarra Dragons, Sydney Roosters, North Queensland Cowboys, Newcastle Knights or Gold Coast Titans, the Daily Telegraph said. Auditions will be held around Australia and Papua New Guinea and judged by leading NRL coaches Wayne Bennett, Brian Smith, Neil Henry and John Cartwright, with former State of Origin players Ben Ikin, Paul Harragon and Gorden Tallis also involved. The winner is expected to be announced at a gala dinner during a live broadcast in March next year.
■SOCCER
Kenyon backs collective sale
Maintaining the collective sale of TV rights is crucial to preventing further financial polarization and keeping the Premier League ahead of Spain’s Primera Liga, Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon said. While big clubs in Spain and Italy have profited from exploiting TV rights individually, a collective approach has given the Premier League a competitive edge, he said. “The collective sale of TV rights has served the Premier League extremely well since it was conceived and we’d be absolutely against breaking the current model,” Kenyon said in a telephone interview ahead of the new season.
Tallon Griekspoor on Friday stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in the second round at Indian Wells, avenging a devastating loss to the German at Roland Garros last year. Zverev, the world No. 2 who is heading the field of the prestigious ATP Masters event with No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month drugs ban, is the first Indian Wells men’s top seed to lose his opening match since Andy Murray in 2017. It was a cherished win for Griekspoor, who had lost five straight matches — including four last year — to the German. That included a five-setter
Donovan Mitchell on Wednesday scored 26 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers punched their ticket to the NBA playoffs with a hard-fought 112-107 victory over the Miami Heat. A seesaw battle in Cleveland saw the Heat threaten to end the Cavs’ 11-game unbeaten streak after opening up a seven-point lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Cavs clawed back the deficit in the closing minutes to seal their 12th straight victory and a place in the post-season. The Cavaliers improved to 52-10, maintaining their stranglehold on the Eastern Conference with 20 games of the regular season remaining. Mitchell was one of six Cleveland
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Steve Smith yesterday announced his retirement from one-day international (ODI) cricket after captaining Australia to a semi-final exit at the ICC Champions Trophy, bringing down the curtain on a career in the format that included two ICC World Cup wins. The 35-year-old batsman, who was his team’s top scorer with 73 as Australia lost to India by four wickets in Dubai on Tuesday, said he would still be available for selection for T20 internationals and Test matches. “It has been a great ride and I have loved every minute of it,” Smith said in a Cricket Australia statement. “There have been so
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