Wed, Jan 15, 2025 page6

• SPORTS BRIEFS

  • Agencies
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  BASEBALL

  Sasaki rules out Yankees

  Roki Sasaki’s window to sign with a major league team opens today, but the coveted Japanese right-hander has already closed the door on a few clubs, including the New York Yankees, according to multiple media reports. The New York Mets and Texas Rangers are also out of the running before talks begin, the reports said. On Monday, the San Francisco Giants announced that they also would not be a part of the negotiations. The Toronto Blue Jays and San Diego Padres met with Sasaki a second time, The Athletic reported on Monday, while the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs have also met with the 23-year-old hurler. If Sasaki signs, that team would have him under club control for six years before he would be eligible to test unrestricted free agency.

  BASKETBALL

  Alleged Clark stalker charged

  Authorities in Indianapolis have charged a 55-year-old Texas man with felony stalking of Indiana Fever star and WNBA rookie of the year Caitlin Clark. Michael Thomas Lewis is accused of repeated and continued harassment of the 22-year-old Clark beginning on Dec. 16 last year, the Marion County prosecutor’s office wrote in a court filing on Saturday. Jail records show Lewis was due in court yesterday. He posted numerous messages on Clark’s X account, according to an affidavit from a Marion County sheriff’s lieutenant. In one, he said he had been driving by the Gainbridge Fieldhouse — one of the arenas where the Fever plays home games — three times a day, and in another he said he had “one foot on a banana peel and the other on a stalking charge.” Other messages directed at Clark were sexually explicit.

  BOXING

  Tyson Fury retires again

  Former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury on Monday said he had retired from boxing just weeks after suffering a second straight defeat at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk. “I’m going to make this short and sweet,” the British fighter wrote in a social media post. “I’d like to announce my retirement from boxing.” “It’s been a blast, I’ve loved every single minute of it,” added Fury, who has previously quit only to return to the ring. The “Gypsy King,” 36, last fought on Dec. 21 last year when he lost his rematch against WBA, WBC and WBO champion Usyk in Riyadh.

  SOCCER

  Havertz’s wife calls out abuse

  The wife of Arsenal forward Kai Havertz has shared screenshots of abuse she received on social media, including threats to the couple’s fetus, after the Gunners’ FA Cup defeat by Manchester United. Havertz on Sunday missed a penalty in Arsenal’s shoot-out loss at the Emirates before Sophia Havertz — who is expecting her first child with the Germany international — reposted two messages she had received on Instagram. Arsenal have reported the abuse to the police and are working with a specialist data firm to try to identify the culprits. “For anyone to think it’s okay to write something like this is so shocking to me. I hope you are so ashamed of yourself,” she wrote as she shared one of the direct messages. Turning to another highly abusive message, she added: “I’m not sure what to even say but please guys, be more respectful. We are better than this.”
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