BASKETBALL
UMass pays prize
The University of Massachusetts (UMass) said that it would pay a student the US$10,000 prize for a halftime promotion at a women’s game after a dispute with an insurance company over whether he stepped over the line when he made a half-court shot. Noah Lee was selected for the contest on Wednesday that required him to make a layup, a free throw, a three-pointer and a half-court shot in 25 seconds. He made them all, but the university said that the insurance company handling the promotion declined the payout. “After their review of the four camera angles we provided, they determined the half-court shot was disqualified, as it was not taken behind the half-court line,” the university said on Friday. “We weren’t satisfied with that outcome and arrived at the decision to provide Noah with both a [US]$10,000 award and a host of additional UMass athletics benefits.” Reno, Nevada-based prize indemnification insurance company Odds On Promotions said that the university went ahead with its decision without ever filing a claim. “Odds On was not involved in the initial invalidation of the contest win and only became aware of the university’s decision to not pay the contestant through media coverage,” it said.
Photo: AFP
BASKETBALL
NYU winning run hits 50
The New York University (NYU) women’s basketball team is on a run few teams have ever seen. The No. 1-ranked Violets have won 50 consecutive games, dating to last season’s undefeated National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III national championship season, to tie for the 15th-longest run in NCAA women’s basketball history for any division. It is the longest active streak in men’s or women’s NCAA basketball. NYU got No. 50 on Friday, 80-58 over the University of Chicago, to tie the Amherst Mammoths for the ninth-longest streak in Division III history.
BOXING
Paul criticizes Alvarez
Jake Paul on Friday punched back at Canelo Alvarez, a day after the Mexican passed up a speculated bout with the YouTube star and agreed to a four-fight deal with Riyadh Season. “The truth is, you could be bought,” Paul said to Alvarez on social media. “You’re a money-hungry squirrel chasing your next nut. The truth is, these sports-washing, shady characters are paying you hundreds of millions of dollars to stop our fight from happening because they couldn’t fathom the fact that they can’t create a bigger fight than me and you. You call me a YouTuber, but you’ve never had a boxing match as big as mine. I promise you one thing, Canelo. Any fight that you do this year, mine will be bigger.”
OLYMPICS
AOC head urges action
Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) chief executive officer Matt Carroll has warned that a final decision on the main venues for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics needs to be made before the end of June. Brisbane was awarded the Games in 2021, but political rows, particularly over the main stadium and the venue for the athletics, have meant that a final plan is not yet in place. “I think it is time to finalize any more reviews and settle on exactly what the ... [state] governments want to fund in terms of venues,” Carroll told an Australian Senate inquiry in Canberra. “I think [that needs to happen in] the first half of this year.”
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
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
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
The Taoyuan Pauian Pilots last night lost their East Asia Super League (EASL) championship game against Japan’s Hiroshima Dragonflies 72-68. They on Friday secured Taiwan’s first-ever spot in an EASL final with a 71-64 comeback victory over Japan’s Ryukyu Golden Kings. In what the EASL official Web site described as an “upset,” Pilots forward Lu Chun-hsiang on Friday asserted his stardom in Macau by scoring a game-high 24 points, with four players in both teams reaching double figures. The win was also the first time a Taiwanese franchise has defeated a Japanese team in the EASL Final Four. “I was moved
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