■BASKETBALL
Woeful Sixers fire coach
The Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday fired coach Eddie Jordan after one season. Team president and general manager Ed Stefanski announced the move, saying the Sixers took an “unacceptable” step backwards after two straight seasons in the NBA playoffs. Jordan was finished after a woefully underachieving season that had the Sixers near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. He was hired last summer on a three-year deal. The players were unhappy with his system almost from the start and the Sixers struggled to put together any kind of winning streaks. The Sixers finished with a 27-55 win-loss record and missed the playoffs for the first time in three years. The Sixers will look for their fourth coach in three seasons. Jordan, who was fired last season by the Washington Wizards, is owed US$6 million for the two years left on his contract.
■BASKETBALL
Lakers’ coach fined again
Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson has been slapped with his second US$35,000 fine in two weeks after suggesting Oklahoma Thunder forward Kevin Durant had been receiving preferential treatment from referees. Jackson, who was fined last week for publicly criticizing game officials after the Lakers’ 100-81 defeat to the San Antonio Spurs, received another for comments made to the media on Tuesday, the NBA said in a release. The 10-time NBA championship coach, who is preparing the Lakers to face Oklahoma tomorrow for the opener of their first-round playoff series, was quoted by local media as saying: “I think a lot of the referees are treating [Durant] like a superstar. He gets to the line easily and often. He’s got the ability to create fouls. That’s a big part of scoring, to get to the foul line.” Jackson drew his first fine this month after criticizing referees for their treatment of Lakers forward Ron Artest, who was whistled for critical fouls during his battle against the San Antonio Spurs.
■BASKETBALL
Clippers fire interim coach
The Los Angeles Clippers have fired interim head coach Kim Hughes. The team said on Thursday on its Web site that Hughes has been dismissed and the search for a new coach is already under way. Hughes took over as interim coach for Mike Dunleavy on Feb. 4 and went 8-25 the rest of the way. The Clippers ended another losing season on Wednesday with a 107-91 victory over the playoff-bound LA Lakers. The Clippers finished with a 29-53 record, missing the playoffs for the 15th time in 17 years. The team said the rest of the coaching staff would stay on. Clippers president Andy Roeser said the season was an overall disappointment and fell short of both the team’s expectations and those of its fans.
■ICE HOCKEY
Michalek out of playoffs
Ottawa Senators forward Milan Michalek has been ruled out for the rest of the playoffs because of a torn knee ligament that requires surgery, the NHL team said on Thursday. Czech Michalek, the franchise’s third-leading goal scorer in the regular season, initially injured his left knee in a March 18 game against the Atlanta Thrashers. Although he returned for Ottawa’s last two games of the regular season, Michalek limped off the ice in the second period of Wednesday’s 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the opening game of their first round Eastern Conference series. “We knew he had issues and a problem,” Senators general manager Bryan Murray was quoted as saying on the team’s official Web site.
■SOCCER
Velez, Libertad win to qualify
Velez Sarsfield of Argentina and Paraguay’s Libertad claimed places in the last 16 of the Copa Libertadores on Thursday after winning their final group games. Cruzeiro of Brazil also qualified, while Universitario of Peru face a wait to see whether they will progress. Rodolfo Gamarra scored the winning goal as Libertad rallied to beat Blooming of Bolivia 2-1, while Rodrigo Lopez scored twice as Velez beat Venezuela’s Deportivo Italia 4-0. Cruzeiro drew 1-1 with Colo Colo of Chile to finish on 11 points, two behind Velez in Group 7. That result guaranteed Cruzeiro one of the best six runners-up positions in the round of 16. Peruvian club Universitario held Lanus of Argentina to a scoreless draw to secure second place in Group 4 with 10 points, two behind Libertad. Universitario will have to wait for the other groups to finish before finding out whether it will be good enough to qualify. The eight group winners and six best placed runners-up progress to the knockout round of 16, starting next month. Libertad, Velez and Cruzeiro join Alianza Lima, Corinthians and Universidad de Chile on the list of teams definitely progressing.
■SOCCER
Advocaat quits Belgium job
Dick Advocaat unexpectedly quit as Belgium coach on Thursday, almost five months before the start of the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign for which the Dutchman was hired. His resignation opens the way for the successful coach to join Russia, another nation that failed to reach the World Cup finals. The Belgian federation said in a statement on Thursday it was taken aback by the decision and has to start its rebuilding campaign from scratch. The federation said it would not comment further until it had decided on what action to take. There was no clear candidate to take over as Belgian head coach. Advocaat is now widely expected to sign a contract with the Russian federation after Guus Hiddink failed to get the team to the World Cup finals in South Africa. “The Russian Football Union can’t say anything about this yet,” spokesman Andrei Malosolov told the state news agency RIA Novosti.
■BADMINTON
Hsueh knocks out Hidayat
Top-seeded Indonesian Taufik Hidayat lost in the third round of the Asian badminton championships to Taiwan’s Hsueh Hsuan-yi 22-20, 21-16 on Thursday. World and Olympic champion Lin Dan of China took a quarter-final spot with a 21-8, 21-17 win over Taiwan’s Tien Chen Chou. World No. 4 Lin is a strong favorite for the title in the absence of Malaysian world No. 1 and All England champion Lee Chong Wei. Women’s top-seed Saina Nehwal of India moved to the quarter-finals with a 21-14, 21-16 victory over Malaysia’s Julia Pei Xian Wong. More than 300 players from 20 Asian countries are taking part in the competition.
■CYCLING
Bos grabs second stage win
Theo Bos of the Netherlands timed his final sprint perfectly for a second day running to win the Vuelta a Castilla and Leon second stage and remain overall leader on Thursday. The 210km trek from Burgos to Carrion de los Condes in Palencia, Spain, took Bos 4 hours, 45 minutes, 55 seconds. The Cervelo sprinter again pipped Rabobank’s Australian rider Graeme Brown, who finished second, and third-placed Oscar Grau of Spain, who all had the same time. Alberto Contador of Spain finished sixth, with Denis Menchov of Russia eighth, also on the same time. “We had a bit of everything this stage, we’ve ridden with lots of rain, fog and wind,” Contador said.
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu of China yesterday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, while Naomi Osaka retired from the women’s singles final with an abdominal injury. Second seeds Wu and Jiang defeated Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US 6-3, 6-4 on ASB Tennis Centre’s Stadium Court in 1 hour, 5 minutes. The WTA 250 victory was 25-year-old Wu’s second WTA Tour title, after winning the 2023 Hua Hin Championships in Thailand with Taiwanese partner Chan Hao-ching. Later that year, Wu and Taiwan’s Hsu Yu-hsiou won the mixed doubles gold at the World
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