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Shane Tucker Sitting Out Western Swing

Published in Racing
Tuesday, 09 July 2019 19:07

DALLAS – Pro Stock driver Shane Tucker will not be competing during the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series three-race western swing due to business commitments with this Dallas-based company, Auzmet Architectural.

“From the very beginning my first priorities have been my business and my family,” said Tucker. “Success in both allowed me to go racing, but sometimes you have to make some tough decisions. This by far was one of the toughest and easiest decisions I have had to make. Auzmet Architectural in Dallas needs my attention over the next 30 days we have some exciting developments on the business side that will make us a stronger race team.”

Since the Gatornationals in March, Tucker and his Auzmet Camaro have qualified at every NHRA national event where Pro Stock was contested. The 33-year-old has committed to making a serious run at qualifying for the NHRA Countdown in arguably the most competitive class on the NHRA tour.

Working with his father, Rob, and engine builder, Nick Ferri, Tucker is investing both time and money in making his Chevrolet Camaro a competitive entry every race.

“We have every intention of being in Brainerd (Aug. 15-18) and finishing out the season strong,” added Tucker. “We are making improvements at every race with Nick Ferri and my dad. I am committed to Pro Stock and the NHRA. I’ll miss racing at some of the best tracks in the country in July but we’ll be back.”

Fighting cancer, Carrasco saluted in 5th at ASG

Published in Baseball
Tuesday, 09 July 2019 20:33

CLEVELAND -- Carlos Carrasco hopes to strike out cancer.

The Indians right-hander, who was recently diagnosed with a form of leukemia, was saluted in the fifth inning of the All-Star Game on Tuesday as part of Major League Baseball's "Stand Up to Cancer" campaign.

The 32-year-old stood in the third-base coach's box, flanked by four All-Star teammates and Indians manager Terry Francona. Carrasco held a sign that read "I Stand" while Lindor's said: "Cookie," which is the pitcher's nickname.

Carrasco had been feeling fatigued in May, and was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia following an exam at the Cleveland Clinic.

He has been cleared to resume conditioning and throwing activities to the extent he can tolerate them. Carrasco could pitch a bullpen session later this week and believes he'll return to the team at some point this season.

He had been scheduled to start against Minnesota on June 5, when the Indians issued a statement saying he was stepping away to get treatment for a "blood condition." Carrasco had been struggling on the mound before his diagnosis.

Late comeback denied

The mixed association combination of Wales’ Charlotte Carey and Australia’s Stephanie Xu Sang came close to pulling off a comeback victory in their preliminary round meeting with Lin Ye and Yu Mengyu, but narrowly missed out as the Singapore pair squeezed through by the skin of their teeth (11-8, 11-4, 4-11, 9-11, 11-9).

Another tie that went the full distance saw France’s Laura Gasnier and Audrey Zarif get the better of Hong Kong’s Mak Tze Wing and Zhu Chengzhu (5-11, 11-5, 11-9, 4-11, 11-8).

Australian duo turn up the heat

The sole mixed doubles encounter across the two-day qualification tournament has produced a moment of delight for the host nation with Australia’s Kane Townsend and Jee Minhyung outclassing French opponents Alexandre Robinot and Audrey Zarif in straight games (11-7, 12-10, 11-6).

Action begins!

Here’s the schedule for day two of the qualification tournament in Geelong:

Sussex 263 & 120 lead Australia A 373 (Burns 133, Harris 109) by 10 runs

Joe Burns provided Australia's selectors with a conundrum after matching Marcus Harris with a century for Australia A before the bowlers ripped through Sussex to put the tourists on the brink of victory on day three at Arundel.

Burns was a late inclusion in the Australia A squad, after suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, and the team for this match after Matthew Wade was called up to Australia's World Cup squad.

Burns and Harris added just 11 to the 203-run opening stand they produced on day two before Harris fell caught behind for 109 but Burns kicked on to reach his century. Kurtis Patterson fell cheaply before Burns and Travis Head shared a 61-run stand until Head was given out lbw sweeping Luke Wells for 34.

Burns was eventually dismissed by a beauty from Mir Hamza, edging him to slip for 133 from 241 balls.

"My goal coming into the game was just to try and face as many balls as possible, so I'm satisfied with the performance," Burns said.

He added he benefitted from a more relaxed approach to his preparation following his time out with post viral fatigue issues.

"I've probably listened to my body a lot more," Burns said. "During the summer I was really pushing hard all the time trying to prepare as best as you can and every time I felt fatigued I just thought I had to work harder and do more. I probably just have a better understanding of where my body is at. I'm listening to it a little bit more now.

"Coming into the game, I was just trying to focus on being as fresh as possible. It's actually quite relaxing mentally coming into the game, again getting called in at the last minute probably helped with that and it just makes you relax when you get out into the middle."

Burns and Harris appear to be in a battle to partner David Warner in the opening Ashes Test but Burns said they were not worried about that against Sussex.

"As openers you're always working as a partnership, trying to get through the partnership and helping each other out in the middle," Burns said. "[Harris] has had a tremendous season and done extremely well and made plenty of runs. You saw in this game he walks out there, whacks them from ball one.

"There's a lot of players making a lot of runs. It's great signs for Australian cricket and honestly, as players, you just get out there in the middle and work with your partner to try and overcome the opposition. You don't really look at each other competing for spots. I've always thought that if everyone's making runs, there's a spot for everyone."

Usman Khawaja's hamstring injury may provide another spot in the Australia Test top order although Steve Smith is also set to return. Burns said he was bitterly disappointed to see his Queensland team-mate get injured, but would bat anywhere if required.

"I was shattered for him," Burns said. "Hopefully it's not too bad. It's a cruel game sometimes. I feel comfortable anywhere. I've batted in a lot of different positions in the order in the past. Hopefully Uzzie [Khawaja] is there though. He's made that No.3 spot his own and is a really integral part of the Test team. As a team-mate you don't really want to think like that, you just hope he can get back playing and recover as quickly as possible."

Australia A collapsed against the second new ball following Burns' dismissal falling from 313 for 3 to 373 all out, but their bowlers tore through Sussex's batting line-up in the afternoon.

Jackson Bird, James Pattinson and Jon Holland each took three wickets as Sussex were bundled out for 120 right on stumps.

Bird got the ball to swing and nip as he claimed three top-order scalps in two overs before Holland found some purchase to give Patterson two catches at slip. Pattinson blasted out the tail with pace to leave Australia A with just 11 runs to win on the final day.

NBA approves use of coach's challenge in '19-20

Published in Basketball
Tuesday, 09 July 2019 18:57

LAS VEGAS -- At its annual meeting here during NBA summer league, the league's board of governors approved a pair of changes for next season: the use of a coach's challenge and the league's replay center initiating replay proceedings for certain types of plays.

The NBA's competition committee proposed both changes, and they earned unanimous support from the league's 30 teams.

The coach's challenge, which has been used in the NBA's G League for each of the past two seasons and has been in place for this year's version of the summer league, will be used next season by the NBA on a one-year trial basis.

Teams can use one challenge per game regardless of whether it is successful, and it can be utilized to question a variety of instances, including a called personal foul on the coach's own team, an out-of-bounds call, goaltending or basket interference. The challenge can be used at any point during the game. However, in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime, any out of bounds, goaltending or basket-interference calls will be automatically triggered for review and are not challengeable.

To challenge a play, a team must have a timeout and call one after the play, and then its coach must twirl his finger toward the referees to signal for the challenge. If a team doesn't have a timeout and attempts to challenge a play, it will be charged a technical foul and no challenge will occur. There must be clear and conclusive visual evidence to overturn a call.

Meanwhile, the league's replay center in Secaucus, New Jersey, is now able to instantly call for the review of two types of plays: whether a shot is a 2- or 3-pointer (both for made baskets to determine which it is, as well as when a player is fouled while shooting, to determine whether he gets two or three free throws), and for a potential shot-clock violation.

The league will now have a "courtside administrator," a new position hired and supervised by the NBA's league office, positioned at the scorer's table to speed up the communication between the replay center and the on-court referees.

Sources: Warriors waive 3-time champ Livingston

Published in Basketball
Tuesday, 09 July 2019 19:36

As the Golden State Warriors waive three-time championship guard Shaun Livingston, his intention remains to return for a 16th season in the NBA, league sources told ESPN.

Livingston, who'll be 34 before the start of next season, joins a free-agent market that is full of contending teams searching for savvy, championship-hardened veterans to fortify benches.

Livingston, a versatile 6-foot-7, has shown himself to be one of the league's savviest players and strong locker room presences.

The Warriors will use the waive and stretch provision to spread the $2 million guarantee on Livingston's $7.7 million salary for 2019-20 over three seasons, sources tell ESPN's Bobby Marks.

The waive and stretch -- spreading $666,000 over three years -- keeps Golden State slightly under the $138.9 million tax apron.

The Warriors have made a push this offseason to get younger and more fit financially, trading Andre Iguodala and waiving Livingston now, after the loss of Kevin Durant to Brooklyn in free agency.

Livingston averaged 15 minutes a game over the past two seasons with the Warriors, where he spent the past five seasons.

Manfred says Wahoo ban, All-Star bid not linked

Published in Baseball
Tuesday, 09 July 2019 15:39

CLEVELAND -- Commissioner Rob Manfred insists Major League Baseball did not make a deal with the Cleveland Indians about banning their contentious logo, Chief Wahoo.

The club agreed to remove the hotly debated, smiling caricature from its caps and jerseys starting this season, a decision that came after Cleveland was awarded the 2019 All-Star Game.

The timing was curious, but Manfred said there was no link between the two.

"The All-Star Game was awarded to Cleveland by Commissioner [Bud] Selig before I even had one conversation about Chief Wahoo,'' Manfred said. "You can write that as fact.''

Although the Wahoo logo, which has been around since the 1940s, is no longer on the field, the mascot is as popular as ever as fans continue to wear all kinds of merchandise bearing his image.

Two-city solution seen as way to preserve MLB in Tampa

Giving the Rays permission to explore playing part of their home schedule in Montreal is seen by baseball owners as "a way to preserve baseball in Tampa,'' according to Manfred.

Major League Baseball's executive council last month told Rays owner Stuart Sternberg he could explore the two-city possibility but did not specify a time frame. The Rays have been unsuccessful in gaining approval and financing in place for the new stadium they want in the Tampa Bay area.

"I think that it's just too early to make a judgment as to how likely it is to be successful,'' Manfred told the Baseball Writers' Association of America on Tuesday. "I think that the approval from the June owners meeting was reflective of the fact that Stu has worked really hard over a long period of time on the Tampa side and the St. Pete side to try to get something done from a stadium perspective. And then it was sold to the owners, or to the executive council, as a way to preserve baseball in Tampa.''

Tampa Bay has played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg since the franchise took the field in 1998 and has a lease through 2027. The Rays are averaging about 15,500 fans per home game, 29th in the major leagues and ahead of only the Miami Marlins.

"To address what has been an ongoing issue, I think the owners are prepared to live with the idea that they would operate in two markets,'' Manfred said. "We have an issue in Tampa. It needs to get resolved somehow. If it means we give up a potential expansion site to solidify where we are, so be it."

Manfred said there had not been any discussion of a full movwe by the Rays. He also said MLB will remain at 30 teams for the foreseeable future.

"No way that we're biting into expansion until I get Tampa and Oakland resolved one way or the other,'' he said.

Extended protective netting ballpark-by-ballpark decision

Extending protective netting down foul lines is a ballpark-to-ballpark decision because of differing configurations, Manfred said.

Following a series of foul balls that injured fans, Major League Baseball mandated ahead of the 2018 season that netting extend to the far end of each dugout. Still, several fans have been hurt by foul balls this season.

"We recognized early in this process that it was very difficult to set an individual rule, one rule that applied to 30 different ballparks given their structural differences, and instead we have opted to work with the individual clubs over a period of time to extend netting,'' Manfred said Tuesday.

"We've made extensive progress on that and I believe that that progress will continue, and I think one of the reasons that we have had progress is that we have not put clubs in an impossible position by adopting a one size fits all rule.''

Manfred said changes during the midst of a season are hard to put in place.

"I don't think it's unreasonable to think that clubs are going to take a period of time [to] figure out what they can and can't do structurally before they announce what their plans are going to be,'' he said. "One injury is too many, but the fact of the matter is that we know because of the number of balls that hit into those nets, we had less incidents than we used to have. We are better off than we were, and I do believe we will continue to make progress on it.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow live: MLB's best square off in All-Star Game

Published in Baseball
Tuesday, 09 July 2019 13:39

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Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will try to tee up their first Wimbledon meeting since the epic 2008 final when they headline the men's quarter-finals.

Eight-time champion Federer plays Japan's eighth seed Kei Nishikori second on Centre Court on Wednesday.

Top seed Novak Djokovic opens on the main show court against Belgium's 21st seed David Goffin at 13:00 BST.

Nadal faces American Sam Querrey on Court One after fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut takes on Guido Pella.

In the mixed doubles, Andy Murray and Serena Williams will be third on Court Two for their last-16 match against top seeds Bruno Soares and Nicole Melichar.

Federer, who turns 38 next month, is the oldest player in a last-eight line-up featuring five players aged over 30, while Nishikori and Goffin are the youngest men left in the draw at the age of 28.

The Swiss great is the oldest men's quarter-finalist at the All England Club since American Jimmy Connors in 1991.

The old guard continue to lead the way

How the men's game will look when the power of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic eventually diminishes is something which has been discussed at length for a number of years now - and we are still no closer to knowing when that day will arrive.

The 'big three' have won the past 10 Grand Slams between them - Stan Wawrinka at the 2016 US Open was the last winner not from the trio - and few are looking past one of them lifting the Wimbledon trophy again on Sunday.

All three have sailed through the SW19 draw so far, dropping just one set apiece in reaching the quarter-finals.

Second seed Federer dropped just five games against young Italian Matteo Berretini, who was playing his first last-16 match at a Grand Slam.

Top seed Djokovic showed the gulf in class as he beat inexperienced Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-3 6-2 6-3, while third seed Nadal breezed past Portugal's Joao Sousa in a 6-2 6-2 6-2 victory.

"I think the best guys now are fully engaged, they know exactly what to expect from the court and the conditions. That helps us to play better," said Federer, who is bidding to reach his 13th Wimbledon semi-final.

"We haven't dropped much energy in any way. It's not like we're coming in with an empty tank into the second week.

"All these little things help us to then really thrive in these conditions."

Federer is aiming to earn his 100th win at the All England Club against Nishikori, and in doing so, will become the first player in singles history to do so at a single Grand Slam.

'Playing Djokovic is like playing a spider'

Goffin has matched his best performance at a Grand Slam by reaching his first Wimbledon quarter-final, but trails 5-1 in his head-to-head record with four-time champion Djokovic.

The Belgian's coach Thomas Johansson, who famously earned a shock Australian Open title in 2002, said it is "almost impossible" to find any weaknesses in Djokovic's game.

"He doesn't have a big serve but it is very, very accurate. From the baseline he's a wall," the Swede said.

"I remember hitting with him many years ago - it's like hitting against a spider. It feels like everything is coming back.

"You really have to try to put him in uncomfortable positions on the court - otherwise he will kill you."

In reaching the semi-finals, Djokovic would join Boris Becker, Arthur Gore and Herbert Lawford in third place on the all-time list for last-four appearances at the All England Club.

Victory would also mark his 70th match win at Wimbledon, and would make him only the fourth man in the open era to achieve the feat after Federer, Becker and Connors.

Querrey's dangerous serve, Bautista Agut not dropped a set... don't rule out the rest

Querrey will be playing his third Wimbledon quarter-final in four years and looking to cause another upset after beating Britain's Andy Murray - who was injured and has not played in the singles at Wimbledon since - to reach his second semi-final in 2017.

The 32-year-old American is the only unseeded player in the men's singles quarter-finals and has thumped down 100 aces so far at this year's tournament, dropping just one service game and landing 86% of his first serves.

"My serve feels really good. I'm kind of locked in on it. I have got a good rhythm," he said.

"This is a tournament that rewards good servers. Everything feels right on my serve."

While Djokovic, Federer and Nadal take all the plaudits, 32-year-old Bautista Agut is actually the only man left who has not dropped a set yet.

His meeting with Pella marks their first on grass, and he would become only the sixth Spanish man in history to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals.

Pella, meanwhile, would become the third Argentine man to do so, with both yet to experience a last-four tie at a Grand Slam.

Stats fans, listen up

Grins all around as Australian Open commences

Published in Table Tennis
Tuesday, 09 July 2019 16:13

Yes, things could have gone better for Vladimir Samsonov, the 2017 Austrlian Open champion, whose bid for a second men’s singles title ended with a 4-1 loss to 21-year-old Cho Seungmin from Korea (9-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5). After the match, Cho paid homage to the 43-year-old icon of the game, saying he felt “honoured and nervous to play such a legendary European player.” 

“I have always admired my opponent so I was very nervous to play against someone I look up to. I was really nervous in the first set but I lost by 9:11 so I felt the match was doable. I was playing really well and there were some unforced errors from Samsonov, which was lucky for me.” Cho Seungmin

Then there was China’s Zhou Kai, who came away with a hard-fought 4-3 victory in his endurance race against Simon Gauzy (14-12, 4-11, 6-11, 11-9, 12-14, 11-9, 11-9). Zhou came to the table having done his homework against the 2016 French Olympian. 

“I tried my best to challenge my opponent because recently he’s been performing quite well I fought point by point and played some of my best table tennis. Tomorrow will be similar — the main focus is to perform my best and fight for every point and hopefully win some more matches.” Zhou Kai

For Japan’s Miyu Kato, being faced with Australian Jee Minhyung meant confronting an opponent who had racked up an impressive resume — not to mention adapting her game to meet a new challenge.

“I didn’t know much about her, but I found that she defeated several famous players when I was preparing for this match, so I’m glad that I won,” said Kato, who contained Jee 4-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-9, 11-4). How did she do it? The twenty-year-old. who shares a first and last name with a professional tennis player from Kyoto, employed the use of a stand-in for Jee when preparing for the match. 

“Minhyung mixes her shots with pips rubber and inverted rubber, but I practised with the same type of player beforehand and it helped me maximise my performance,” she commented.  

New Zealand’s Dean Shu, who defeated Australia’s Rohan Dhooria 4-1, underscored the camaraderie between players, who often exchange friendly greetings with familiar faces despite language barriers.

“I played Rohan a number of times in the past year so we know each other quite well,” he commented. Of course, competition remains competition, and kind words come after the fact. Looking across the table at Dhooria, “I tried to focus on myself,” Shu said. It worked, too: “I had a strong [match] that went well.”

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