Top Sports News

Sources — Ben Simmons won’t meet Philadelphia 76ers doctors to talk mental readiness

Basketball

topsportsnews

-

November 5, 2021

0

Sources — Ben Simmons won’t meet Philadelphia 76ers doctors to talk mental readiness

Nov 2, 2021

Ramona Shelburne
Close

ESPN Senior Writer
- Senior writer for ESPN.com
- Spent seven years at the Los Angeles Daily News
Adrian Wojnarowski
Close

Senior NBA Insider
- Host of The Woj Pod
- Joined ESPN in 2017

The Philadelphia 76ers are increasingly frustrated with Ben Simmons‘ refusal to accept organizational assistance to address his mental readiness to play, sources told ESPN.

While Simmons has been working with team doctors to treat a back ailment, he has been unwilling to meet with team doctors to discuss his mental readiness, sources said.

Instead, sources said, Simmons has worked with mental health professionals via the National Basketball Players Association since the summer. So far Simmons has yet to provide details of those meetings to the team, sources said.

On a regular basis at the team’s Camden, New Jersey practice facility, Simmons has engaged with teammates and members of the coaching staff in one-on-one scenarios but has not advanced to rejoin full team activities and it’s unclear when or if he will.

The Sixers remain eager to help Simmons address his mental readiness so he can return to the team. There’s uncertainty whether he’s progressing with that same objective, sources said.

Sources close to Simmons told ESPN they expect to provide the team with updates on his progress once he is comfortable doing so.

The Sixers fined Simmons nearly $2 million for missing games, practices and meetings earlier this season. But sources said the team stopped fining him once he told them on Oct. 22, that he wasn’t mentally ready to play.

Oklahoma State’s Bo Jin leads Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship

Golf

topsportsnews

-

November 4, 2021

0

Oklahoma State’s Bo Jin leads Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Oklahoma State sophomore Bo Jin took a big step toward following in his brother’s footsteps by making five birdies over his last eight holes on Thursday for a 7-under 64, giving him a 1-shot lead in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.

Jin, a 19-year-old from Beijing, led at the halfway point by one shot over five players, including top-ranked amateur Keita Nakajima of Japan.

Defending champion Yuxin Lin of China was right in the mix until a double bogey on the closing hole at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club. He was 4 shots behind in his bid to become the first three-time winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur since it began in 2009.

Jin is well-connected to the tournament and the golf course. His older brother, Cheng Jin, won the Asia-Pacific Amateur in 2015 when it was held in Hong Kong. He also is close friends with Oklahoma State junior Rayhan Thomas, who shot a 61 at Dubai Creek when he won a MENA Tour event at age 16.

“I have learned a lot from Cheng, but when we get to the golf course, I definitely want to beat him,” Jin said. “When he won the championship, I was so excited because it meant that I could go to the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club along with him.”

The winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur earns an invitation to the Masters in April and the British Open in July.

“Obviously, he hasn’t told me much about this golf course, but I get plenty of good insight into life and golf from him and yes, I want to win the championship like he did,” Jin said.

Jin was at 8-under 134 with 36 holes remaining and plenty of traffic to navigate.

Nakajima, who already has won a Japan Golf Tour event this year, kept a clean card but managed only three birdies for a 68.

Also at 7-under 135 were Baekjun Kim (66), Sam Choi (68) and Wooyoung Cho (68) of South Korea, along with Connor McKinney (65) of Australia.

Fifty players made the 36-hole cut at 2-over 144.

As much as Jin tries to learn from his older brother, his teammate at Oklahoma State is proving valuable to him this week. Thomas was born and raised in Dubai.

“We sat down before coming here, and he gave me a lot of good advice, like how grainy the greens become and how to putt on them,” Jin said. “And how the course is rather short and why I should practice my wedges more than my long irons, and things like that.

“It definitely played a role in my round today.”

Singles events hold today as Nigeria rules mixed doubles | The Guardian Nigeria News

Tennis

topsportsnews

-

November 4, 2021

0

Singles events hold today as Nigeria rules mixed doubles | The Guardian Nigeria News

With the conclusion of the team and doubles events, all eyes will now be on the singles events as players are aiming to depose Oba Kizito of Cote d’Ivoire and Fatimo Bello of Nigeria at the second ITTF Africa Western Africa Region Championships holding at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.

Also yesterday, the hosts showed its class in the mixed doubles, as four Nigerian pairs made it to the semifinal of the event, while the duo of Azeez Solanke and Fatimo Bello emerged as champions.

To be crowned the champion, Solanke and Fatimo ruled over Orok Etim and Vivian Oku with a commanding 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-5) win.

In the third place match another Nigerian pair of Rilwan Akanbi and Bose Odusanya defeated Amadi Umeh and Hope Uduak 3-2.

Number one seed and defending champion in the men’s singles, Kizito is optimistic that he can weather the storm in Lagos to clinch his title.

Already, Kizito had tasted defeat in the team event but the Ivoirien is not ready to give up without a fight as he said: “I am here to retain my title and from the look of things, it might look tasking for me this year because we have some good players, especially from Nigeria. But having watched most of the players, I am sure I can repeat my performance again in Lagos.

According to the singles events’ format, the players have been drawn into groups with the top players advancing to the knockout stage holding later today.

Andy Ruiz Jr explains how he may have ‘ruined’ Anthony Joshua after Oleksandr Usyk loss | Boxing | Sport

Boxing

topsportsnews

-

November 4, 2021

0

He still believes, though, that he might have been able to retain those belts when Joshua came calling for them back had he prepared better for their second bout.

“He won the rematch against me because I didn’t do my part. That’s the only reason,” Ruiz said.

“If I had stuck to the game plan and did the same thing that I did in the first fight, trust me, I would have beat him. But I had to learn the hard way.”

The American, who still holds hope he will be able to meet Joshua again for a trilogy fight, added: “I had to get back on the ladders and get back on top, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

“I just hope Anthony Joshua overcomes this and he becomes champion again so I can take those belts back.”

Yorkshire racism crisis – Michael Vaughan admits involvement in Rafiq report, denies racist comments

Cricket

topsportsnews

-

November 4, 2021

0

Yorkshire racism crisis – Michael Vaughan admits involvement in Rafiq report, denies racist comments

News

Former England Ashes-winning captain denies he abused Rafiq during county match

Michael Vaughan, the captain of England’s 2005 Ashes-winning team, has admitted that he is the former player implicated in the investigation into Azeem Rafiq‘s allegations of institutional racism at Yorkshire.

Vaughan, who represented the county from 1991 until his retirement in 2009, used his column in The Telegraph to deny Rafiq’s claims that, in his final season with the club, he had told Rafiq and two other Asian players that there are “too many of you lot, we need to do something about it”.

The alleged incident occurred as Yorkshire were taking the field during a match against Nottinghamshire in 2009, Rafiq’s maiden season as a professional. In his column Vaughan told how he was approached 11 years later, in December 2020, to speak to the panel tasked with investigating the player’s claims of racism at the club.

“This hit me very hard,” Vaughan wrote. “It was like being struck over the head with a brick. I have been involved in cricket for 30 years and never once been accused of any remotely similar incident or disciplinary offence as a player or commentator.

“I completely and categorically deny that I ever said those words,” he added. “I responded to the panel by saying I was gobsmacked … It was 11 years after the alleged event. Nothing at all was raised or said at the time of the game in question, or at any stage over the next 11 years until the night before I was asked to speak to the inquiry.”

Vaughan’s revelation comes 24 hours after his former team-mate Gary Ballance admitted, via a statement issued by Yorkshire, that he had been the player who had used the racial slur “P**i” in conversations with Rafiq.

That detail, reported by ESPNcricinfo, triggered a wave of condemnaton, including from the government minister Sajid Javid, which has since culminated in Yorkshire’s hierarchy being called before a DCMS select committee hearing on November 16, and a tranche of club partners, including kit suppliers Nike and stadium sponsor Emerald, severing their ties with the club.

“As a lover of cricket and Yorkshire, and someone who has been a fan of Rafiq, it has been difficult to hear about the painful experiences he endured during his time at the club,” Vaughan added.

“But as difficult as that process has been, I recognise that it is equally necessary. At an individual level, it is clear that Azeem has endured a lot. It is not only right but essential that his experiences and his perspective are heard. There are unquestionably lessons to be learned.

“The statements made by Gary Ballance and others have laid bare awkward but necessary questions for cricket to answer regarding how dressing rooms, teams and individuals function in the modern era.”

Vaughan added that he had been aware for some time that he had been named in the report, and had divulged as much to his BBC colleagues in the summer.

“I felt uncomfortable that it could emerge and they would be asked some awkward questions,” he wrote. “Similarly, I am speaking now because it is right for people to hear my side and that I completely deny the allegations.

“I accept Yorkshire have dealt with this terribly. They will be honest enough to admit that. It is a good cricket club and it is close to my heart. I hope I can be part of the movement to rebrand the club and people will eventually look back on this time and say it changed for the better.

“I played professional cricket for 18 years between 1991 and 2009. All players in that period are now looking back on things that were said and admit they would not say them now. I never heard racist abuse but Yorkshire was a hard dressing room. As a second team player we had to knock on the dressing room door before entering. If you had a big nose, were bald or carried a bit of weight they would be commented on.

“I was the first non-Yorkshire born player to play for the county and that was commented on a lot. I am not comparing those examples with racism but they are examples of previously commonplace behaviour which is unacceptable now. We cannot change what was said or happened in dressing rooms 10-15 years ago but we can learn from it.”

Marko: It should actually be a double victory in Mexico and Brazil

F1

topsportsnews

-

November 4, 2021

0

Marko: It should actually be a double victory in Mexico and Brazil

Red Bull consultant Dr. Helmut Marko is feeling confident, claiming that his team should actually achieve a double victory, as Formula 1 heads to Mexico this weekend and Brazil the week after.

Marko was talking to Auto Motor und Sport ahead of the 2021 Mexican Grand Prix, an looked back at Max Verstappen’s win in Austin two weeks ago, where Sergio Perez also came third.

“The win was incredibly important from a moral point of view,” he said. “The last three races in general. We scored more points than calculated.

“We expected a tie at most, but more likely a deficit,” Marko revealed. “Now we have a lead of 12 points. We hope that the forecasts are correct. That we have a certain favorite position in Mexico and Brazil because of the engines.”

And whether he expected a win going forward, even in Brazil, Marko said: “Yes. It should actually be a double victory.

“The height is comparable to the Red Bull Ring,” the Austrian said of the Brazilian venue. “In Austin we saw that Mercedes’ superiority disappears if we put the car in the right window.

“In Sochi and Turkey it had a lot to do with the tyre temperature,” he pointed out and admitted: “In any case, we were not on an equal footing with Mercedes. In return, our points count turned out to be very satisfactory.”

Racing has been close this year, with no one able to predict how the title protagonists, and their teams, would compare going into each race, with Mercedes struggling in Austin while everyone thought it was their race to lose, being a prime example of the volatile pecking order.

“The current status is that we are just behind Mercedes in terms of engine performance,” Marko said in this regards.

“With their lowering of the rear suspension, they have an advantage on long straights,” hinting at Mercedes’ rear suspension lowering mechanism.

“In the case of the chassis, it depends on the shape of the day,” but insisted: “The superiority that we had from France is gone.”

The 78-year-old former racing driver went on to address the elephant in the room, namely the engine situation going forward, with Mercedes suffering reliability problems evident of Valtteri Bottas’ six consumed Internal Combustion Engines to date.

“In normal races and without accidents, we can get away with our engines,” Marko confidently claimed. “Our level of information, our hope, is that Hamilton will have to switch again.”

The man in charge of Red Bull’s Driver Program expressed faith in his team’s power unit partner Honda, who are leaving F1 at the end of this season.

“So far we have been absolutely reliable with the Honda engine,” he assured.

“You are never immune from a defect. But the engine situation is certainly more reassuring on the Honda side than on the Mercedes side,” Marko maintained.

(Follow me on Twitter @MallakJad)

VanVleet scores 33 as Raptors beat Wizards 109-100

Sport News

topsportsnews

-

November 4, 2021

0

VanVleet scores 33 as Raptors beat Wizards 109-100

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fred VanVleet scored a season-high 33 points, OG Anunoby added 21 and the Toronto Raptors beat the Washington Wizards 109-100 on Wednesday night for their fifth consecutive victory.

VanVleet hit 13 of 22 shots for the Raptors, who avenged a 15-point opening night loss at home to the Wizards two weeks ago.

Svi Mykhailiuk and Gary Trent Jr. each added 15 points for Toronto, which spent the final 34 minutes with a lead that reached 16 in the third quarter.

Bradley Beal scored 25 points to lead Washington, which suffered consecutive losses for the first time this season while shooting 8 of 32 (25%) from 3-point range.

Montrezl Harrell added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards, who lost despite leading 23-6 in second-chance points and 40-34 in points in the paint.

Story continues below advertisement

Eddie Hearn expresses Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury fear – ‘I’ve got a terrible feeling’ | Boxing | Sport

Boxing

topsportsnews

-

November 4, 2021

0

Eddie Hearn expresses Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury fear – ‘I’ve got a terrible feeling’ | Boxing | Sport

“If Tommy can’t splatter Jake Paul, I’ll retire him from boxing myself,” the Gypsy King said. “He’s got ambitions of being a world champion, never mind beating some YouTube guy.

“His name’s Fury. If he can’t beat Jake Paul, I’ll have to change his name.”

Both men are undefeated coming into the fight, with Fury fighting seven times to Paul’s four after the YouTuber turned professional last year. The Brit holds a record of 7-0 but has fought limited opposition since turning professional in 2018.

Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton tests positive for COVID-19, says Mike Budenholzer

Basketball

topsportsnews

-

November 4, 2021

0

Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton tests positive for COVID-19, says Mike Budenholzer

Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton has tested positive for COVID-19, coach Mike Budenholzer revealed before Tuesday night’s 117-89 win against the Detroit Pistons.

Middleton missed Sunday’s game against the Utah Jazz with what the team initially believed was a non-COVID illness, before he entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols ahead of Tuesday’s game.

“We thought he just had a head cold or some type of non-COVID illness,” Budenholzer said. “And then, [he] didn’t feel good again the next day. Got tested and has come back positive.”

Middleton joins 76ers forward Tobias Harris and Cavaliers forward Kevin Love as NBA players who have all tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of this week.

A player who tests positive has to sit out for a minimum of 10 days, which could knock Middleton out for potentially the next six games through next Friday’s matchup on the road against the Boston Celtics.

Middleton’s absence is the latest blow to an already depleted Bucks roster. Entering Tuesday’s game, only seven players had appeared in all seven of the team’s games, including two-way guard Justin Robinson. Milwaukee had already been missing two starters — Jrue Holiday (left ankle sprain) and Brook Lopez (back soreness) — from opening night. Donte Divincenzo, their projected starting shooting guard, has not played since he injured his left ankle during the playoffs last year.

Holiday is on track to be the first to return among the group. He returned to practice recently, but after an abbreviated offseason following the NBA Finals and playing for Team USA in the Olympics, the team will be cautious with his return from injury.

“We’ve been very, very fortunate, it feels like, for my three years here in Milwaukee to be very, very healthy,” Budenholzer said. “Yeah it’s a challenge to figure out who’s available, to get the best groupings out there and how we can get through a game. And not really wear down the guys that are healthy.”

Conte vows to revive Tottenham’s fortunes | The Guardian Nigeria News

Football

topsportsnews

-

November 4, 2021

0

Conte vows to revive Tottenham’s fortunes | The Guardian Nigeria News

Antonio Conte on Wednesday said managing Tottenham was an “honour” and vowed to “repay the trust” of chairman Daniel Levy by reviving the fortunes of the struggling Premier League club.

The Italian was appointed on Tuesday, a day after Spurs sacked Nuno Espirito Santo following last weekend’s limp 3-0 defeat at home to Manchester United.

Conte, who guided Chelsea to the 2016/17 Premier League title, had said Levy’s “contagious enthusiasm and determination” convinced him to join.

“It’s a great pleasure, a great honour to become the Tottenham manager. This is a great opportunity to come back to England in a club of top players,” he told Spurs TV.

“The club and Daniel Levy wanted me strongly and it has been an honour to accept. Now, for sure, I want to repay this trust.”

The 52-year-old led Inter Milan to their first Serie A title since 2010 last season to break Juventus’ nine-year stranglehold on the Italian league before leaving the Nerazzurri.

Conte began Juve’s period of dominance with three Serie A titles between 2011 and 2014 and managed Italy from 2014 to 2016 before his two-year stint at Chelsea.

His spell at Stamford Bridge saw the Blues accumulate 93 points and score 85 goals en route to the Premier League title before FA Cup success in 2018.

In stark contrast to Conte’s array of trophies, Spurs have not lifted any silverware since the 2008 League Cup.

After four consecutive seasons in the Champions League under Mauricio Pochettino between 2016 and 2019, Tottenham have failed to qualify for European club football’s premier competition for the past two years.

Conte knows he has a big task at hand, with the north London club languishing in ninth place following five defeats in seven league games.

“I arrive at a top club where the stadium, the training ground is wonderful. I will work to bring Tottenham on the pitch to the same level of the infrastructure,” said Conte.

“This type of situation pushes you and increases your desire to work and to do something important for the fans of this club.”

– ‘Very ambitious‘ –
Conte was one of Spurs’ top targets in the summer, but he revealed he did not feel ready after a draining spell at Inter.

“I had just finished two very tough seasons and it wasn’t the right time to start another experience with Tottenham,” he added.

“For this reason, I tell them, ‘thanks, but I prefer to wait and enjoy time with my family. Emotionally, I was still under the last experience with Inter.

“I must be convinced 110 per cent because when I start, I’m totally involved in the situation.”

Conte’s first game in charge of the Spurs will be their UEFA Conference League fixture against Vitesse Arnhem on Thursday.

Tottenham captain Hugo Lloris believes his team should relish a “great opportunity” to work with Conte.

Calling for Tottenham’s stars to back Conte and show their commitment, the France goalkeeper said: “He is very ambitious and he believes in all the players in the dressing room.

“Then as players, we need to demand more from each other. We need to show more responsibility for the clubs and fans.

“It is a great opportunity to work under one of the greatest managers of the last few years. Now is not the time for words. It is time to work.

“There is a lot of ambition for Tottenham and they try to provide the best towards the players. But the players need to show their responsibility and they need to show their commitment.”