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Orioles' tempers again flare in dugout incident

Published in Baseball
Thursday, 29 August 2019 01:45

The Baltimore Orioles' emotions boiled to the surface again Wednesday night, as reliever Richard Bleier and third-base coach Jose David Flores became embroiled in an obscenity-filled shouting match in the dugout and clubhouse tunnel.

In a fifth-inning incident shown live on the local broadcast of Baltimore's 8-4 loss to the host Washington Nationals, Bleier and Flores can be seen heatedly arguing about what was said to be the positioning of fielders.

"I think I just let frustration kind of boil over," Bleier said, according to The Baltimore Sun. "Some stuff about some balls that I thought maybe … defensive positioning, I guess. I probably could have done better for myself to keep my mouth shut, and unfortunately, I may have said something. You guys saw the rest."

Before being pulled, Bleier allowed three runs on four hits while recording one out.

"We're all adults," Bleier said. "It's not like I'm mad at anybody."

It was as Bleier exited that tempers then flared.

"I guess there was some disagreement about some positioning during his inning," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said, according to The Sun. "On the mound, he just left it a little bit too early for me, but I haven't talked to him, honestly since."

The incident followed two weeks after Chris Davis had a dugout confrontation with Hyde during a loss to the New York Yankees in which teammates and coaches had to restrain the first baseman.

That was also attributed to the frustrations of a struggling season.

"Right now, we're not thrilled with each other maybe," Bleier said. "But I'm sure we can move past this and get back to a healthy relationship."

In his latest BBC Sport column, Jamie Murray talks about his US Open hopes alongside Neal Skupski, recently playing with - and against - his younger brother Andy, who wins the British putting competitions on tour and why he has no plans to retire for a long time yet.

The US Open will be the second Grand Slam where I have played with Neal Skupski and we feel we have a good base to work from now as we look to go far in the draw.

We had a tough loss at Wimbledon in the first round and the way we lost - in a match stretching over two days because of bad light and five sets - was difficult to get over.

Then we didn't see each other for about a month because Neal went to play in the World Team Tennis competition and when we met up again in Montreal we only had one practice and played the match, where we lost without much preparation.

We had a few days on the practice court together leading up to Cincinnati where we had a good tournament and reached the semi-finals, then went to Winston Salem to get more matches if we could.

We also managed to reach the semi-finals there, so we played seven matches in the last couple of weeks which has been great for us.

We needed that time on court together at this stage of our partnership and we both feel a lot better going into the US Open having had those matches under our belt.

You spend time with each other and learn about their personalities, and learn tennis-wise what works for them, how they might deal with certain situations in a match and what they might need in terms of communication at these points.

I'm not sure what he has learned about me so far in our partnership - you'll have to ask him!

But you try to be yourself and you find a way to deal with each other, that's what a partnership is about.

Off court, Neal is an easy going and relaxed guy. The only downside is that he supports a dodgy football team - he supports Liverpool and I support Manchester United - but we all have our weaknesses!

We're getting on well and we're confident the results will come, hopefully starting here at Flushing Meadows.

'People have been asking about the Great Wall of Noob'

I played with my brother Andy at the Washington Open last month, our first tournament together for a few years, so that was cool.

What made it particularly special is that we didn't know if we would ever play on court together again because of everything he has gone through in the past couple of years with his hip injury.

We earned a decent win against Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, played some good stuff and there was one particularly memorable point which we won with both of us at the net that led to Andy describing us as the 'Great Wall of Noob' on Instagram.

That had a lot of people asking what a noob is! So… if someone said to me 'you're a noob' it would mean you're a bit of a numpty, a bit of an idiot. It's a negative connotation but we don't use it that way - it's just a funny thing between us that we've used since we were kids.

Back to a more serious note… I don't know if I will play doubles with Andy again in the future.

I haven't spoken to him about us playing together in the Davis Cup but I'm sure he would love to play in Madrid if he is able to.

We always love playing for our countries and some of the most memorable matches of our careers have been playing Davis Cup for our country because of the atmosphere and energy created by some amazing support.

But for now his focus is playing singles again.

Hopefully he can have a good run until the end of the season and play a lot of matches, regardless of what level that is, then be ready to start again in January feeling fit, strong and ready to compete in the biggest events there are.

As well as playing with Andy in Washington, I played against him in the doubles in Cincinnati a couple of weeks later - that was pretty weird!

We just had to get through it. I thought to myself 'It is an hour and a half of my life, get your head down, compete and that's the end of it'.

The match was a little flat because no-one is getting too fired up and in each other's grills - but, of course, I'm glad I was on the winning side.

Mini-golf and eating steaks helped build British camaraderie

With Andy being in the States just for the doubles it meant we could spend more time together and do brother stuff.

We spent a lot of time practising together in Washington and hanging out off the court because we were on the same schedule. That is not normally the case at these events because he is playing singles and has a different schedule.

So I'm sure that will change now he's back on the singles tour.

In Cincinnati, there was a group of us British players and coaches all hanging out together, which was fun.

There are more Brits playing in these events so there is more camaraderie and we all get on well.

In Mason, Cincinnati, we were all in the same hotel and there is not a lot going on so we would go to Whole Foods - which says it is 'America's healthiest grocery store', apparently - and there was a butchers and fish market inside where you chose your food and they would cook it for you.

You could get a steak for $15, cooked unbelievably well by the chef in the back - in New York that would cost you about $70. We were filling our boots!

We would sit around the table for dinner and then go back to the hotel to play mini-golf.

Our hotel had an artificial putting green so we were playing there every night.

We played alternate shots in pairs with a random draw for partners and I only managed to win once. But it was great fun.

'I want to play as long as I can because you can't replace that buzz'

You might have seen I launched my own YouTube channel earlier this year which aims to give a behind the scenes look at the life of a Tour player.

Earlier this week I posted a video about my fitness workouts and recovery, which are vital in prolonging my career for as long as possible.

Every former player I talk to says play for as long as you can because nothing compares to that feeling of winning matches.

If I look after myself and continue to have a ranking at the top of the game then why would I stop playing?

It's a great life and nothing can compare to going out to play on centre court at a big tournament in front of a lot of people.

That buzz you get, that adrenaline, I feel like it would be tough for me to recreate that in something else I would do in life.

As I get older you start to think about more that you will do after playing because you realise you can't go on forever.

I guess there are a lot of things I could potentially get involved in.

I was on the ATP player council for a few years until recently and you learn a lot more about how the tour and the tournaments works.

I'm also involved in the Murray Trophy - the new challenger event in Glasgow - so that is a new experience for me as well.

I'd like to coach, but not necessarily coaching on the tour, especially after travelling around the world for so long as a player.

But I'd like to help the development of the younger kids in our country because I think there are so few people who have done what Andy, myself and a few other Brits have done.

That is in terms of getting to the top of the game, knowing what commitment that entails, the sacrifices that are required and the levels you have to be aspiring to at certain times of your development.

You never know when you are going to stop and what opportunities are available at that time so timing can be a huge factor.

I may be 33 now - but I'm not planning to stop for a good while yet.

Konta & Evans matches delayed until Thursday by rain

Published in Tennis
Wednesday, 28 August 2019 17:11

Britons Johanna Konta and Dan Evans will play their US Open second-round matches on Thursday after rain forced the cancellation of Wednesday's schedule on the outside courts.

After a six-and-a-half-hour delay, British number one Konta and Margarita Gasparyan began their warm-up at 22:30 BST but the rain then came down again.

They will now play on court five on Thursday from approximately 18:00 BST.

Evans will play world number 27 Lucas Pouille first on court 12 from 16:00.

The winner of that match would then have to face third seed and five-time champion Roger Federer in the third round on Friday.

All Wednesday's day matches on the covered show courts were completed with Federer coming from a set down to beat Bosnian Damir Dzumhur 3-6 6-2 6-3 6-4.

The night matches involving defending men's champion Novak Djokovic, six-time women's champion Serena Williams and French Open winner Ashleigh Barty were due to be played from 00:00 BST.

Halep, Osaka, Nadal & Gauff feature on day four

In Thursday's show court schedule, German sixth seed Alexander Zverev opens play on Arthur Ashe Stadium at 17:00 BST against American Frances Tiafoe, before Wimbledon champion Simona Halep takes on another American, Taylor Townsend.

On Louis Armstrong Stadium, Czech sixth seed Petra Kvitova faces Germany's Andrea Petkovic from 16:00, followed by defending champion and top seed Naomi Osaka who plays Poland's Magda Linette.

In the Arthur Ashe night session, Spanish second seed Rafael Nadal takes on Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis after Danish 19th seed Caroline Wozniacki, twice a finalist at the US Open, plays Australian Open semi-finalist Danielle Collins.

Coco Gauff, the American 15-year-old who reached the second week at Wimbledon, plays Hungary's Timea Babos from 00:00 on Louis Armstrong Stadium.

In the men's doubles, Jamie Murray and fellow Briton Neal Skupski open their campaign against Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Robert Galloway, third on court 12.

Britons Ken Skupski, Dom Inglot, Joe Salisbury and Luke Bambridge are also due to feature in the men's doubles on Thursday.

John Peters, four decades of service

Published in Table Tennis
Wednesday, 28 August 2019 14:54

A statistics graduate from the University of Ibadan, he launched his umpiring career in 1973 as part of the technical team at the initial African Games in Lagos.

“I can remember vividly that my first contact with table tennis was in 1958 when I saw my schoolmates using our teacher’s table to play the game. I quickly fell in love with the sport. Soon, I started beating everybody in my class. Unfortunately, we never had any organised tournament.

Even in the university I was still involved in the sport having joined the then Nigeria Electric Power Authority (NEPA) as a member of staff. My involvement in the sport at NEPA really helped me. In 1972, the then President of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation, Dr Adegboyega Efunkoya, wanted to train a select group of people in umpiring and I was part of the team trained in administering the sport. That was when I got my initial formal education in table tennis umpiring.

I made my international debut as an umpire in 1973 and I have been officiating table tennis since then. I must admit that table tennis has taken me around the whole world. Even where I could not afford to go, table tennis has opened doors for me to go. So for me, table tennis is life and that is why I cannot stop my romance with the sport.” John Peters

After making his umpiring debut, at the African Games in 1973, John Peters officiated in Nairobi 1987, Abuja 2003, Algiers 2007, Maputo 2011, Congo Brazzaville 2015 and now in Rabat 2019.

Apart from his continental duties, Peters handled matches at the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and Glasgow. He was also at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

The only male Nigerian blue badge umpire, Peters is not ready to quit the sport.

“I don’t know whether I can be separated from table tennis. It is in my blood and my passion. Fortunately, there is no retirement age in umpiring. That is why I will continue to officiate as long as I am alive.” John Peters

Omotayo Olajide caused the biggest upset, after beating South Africa’s Kurt Lingeveldt (11-4, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10), he accounted for Egypt’s Ahmed Ali Saleh, the no.2 seed (11-7, 10-12, 10-12, 11-6, 11-7, 7-11, 11-6), another player of venerable years but very much junior to Segun Toriola. In November he will celebrate his 40th birthday.

“I am so excited that in my first African Games I made it to the semi-final. I knew that it was going to be a tough match against one of the most experienced African players. I just ensured that I did not get angry on table because he did everything to upset me but I was determined. I was calm and I am happy that this is a good outing for me in the singles.” Olajide Omotayo

More dramatic

A dramatic win for Omotayo Olajide, life was even more dramatic for Segun Toriola. Like Olajide Omatayo he caused Egypt heartaches. Following success in opposition to Mahmoud Helmy (11-5, 11-6, 11-6, 11-9), he ended the hopes of Khalid Assar by the very narrowest of decisions (11-6, 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, 11-5, 14-16, 13-11).

“I am very happy because I knew it was going to be a very difficult match. I made a lot of mistakes playing to his backhand and I was also in a hurry to attack; this cost me a lot of points. It was hard for him to return my service and this really helped me a lot. I am so happy that we have three Nigerians in the semi-finals” Segun Toriola

Furthermore, one of them will be in the final; they meet in the penultimate round. In the opposite half of the draw, as predicted, Quadri Aruna and Omar Assar progressed in some style.

Quadri Aruna accounted for Tunisia’s Adam Hmam (11-6, 11-1, 8-11, 11-4, 11-9) and Congo Brazzaville’s Saheed Idowu (11-5, 17-15, 11-6, 11-2); similarly Omar Assar beat the host nation’s Mounaim Tirselt, who withdrew injured after the second game (11-7, 12-10, 11-0, 11-0), followed by success when facing Senegal’s Ibrahima Diaw (11-5, 11-6, 11-8, 11-9).

Egypt guaranteed final place

Nigeria guaranteed a place in the men’s singles semi-finals; in the counterpart women’s singles event; that honour belongs to Egypt.

Dina Meshref, the top seed, asserted her authority on proceedings; she accounted for Tunisia’s Safa Saidani (7-11, 11-4, 11-2, 11-4, 11-6) and Algeria’s Lynda Loghraibi (11-3, 11-9, 11-4, 11-4); she now faces Farah Abdel-Aziz in the penultimate round, a young lady very much in form.

After beating Widad Nouari, like Lynda Loghraibi from Algeria (11-8, 11-2, 11-6, 11-6), she ended the hopes of Nigeria’s Olufunke Oshonaike, the no.3 seed (11-4, 11-6, 5-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8).

Sarah Hanffou lays down the law

A surprise semi-finalist, it was the same in the opposite half of the draw; the player to raise the eyebrows being Cameroon’s Parisian lawyer Sarah Hanffou. Following success in opposition to Nigeria’s Cecilia Akpan (8-11, 8-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 14-12, 11-8), she ended the hopes of Egypt’s Yousra Helmy, the no.4 seed (12-10, 15-13, 12-10, 10-12,11-13, 5-11, 11-5).

In the semi-final round, Sarah Hanffou meets Nigeria’s Offiong Edem, the no.2 seed. She claimed her last four place courtesy of success against Algeria’s Katia Kessaci 911-6, 11-3, 11-7, 11-4) and Egypt’s Reem El-Eraky (11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7).

Play in Rabat concludes on Thursday 29th August.

Geoff Turk Named COO For Holley Products

Published in Racing
Wednesday, 28 August 2019 13:00

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Holley Performance Products has announced that Geoff M. Turk has joined its executive management team as Chief Operating Officer.

Turk has extensive senior level experience in operations, R&D and acquisitions with U.S. Steel, Caterpillar and General Motors.

In addition to his track record in the business world, Turk also has a record of success on the race track with both the NHRA and NMCA drag racing series. He is a perennial winner in the Factory Super Cars class where he became the 2018 NMCA champion in his 2015 Dodge Challenger.

He also became the first Stock Eliminator competitor to run a seven-second ET and the first member of the NMCA Holley EFI 7-Second Club.

For 2019, Geoff switched to a Ford Cobra Jet where he won NMCA Memphis, the first event he raced in with his new car. His program has gone on to contribute to Cobra Jet teams winning eight of the nine Factory Showdown/Factory Supercar races so far in 2019.

Geoff is a 1987 graduate of General Motors Institute (now the Kettering Institute), where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He completed additional training at Bradley University, as well as the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Hearn Primed To Defend Vermont 200 Crown

Published in Racing
Wednesday, 28 August 2019 14:00

WEST HAVEN, Vt. – Brett “The Jet” Hearn is coming back to Devil’s Bowl Speedway.

The dirt track racing legend has confirmed that he will attempt to defend his victory in the Interstate All Battery Center Vermont 200 on Sunday, Sept. 1.

The Kinnelon, N.J., superstar just notched the 918th win of his career and will try to raise that total as he returns to Devil’s Bowl for the biggest race in the country for Crate Sportsman Modified cars.

Hearn pocketed $10,000 plus bonuses in last year’s 200-lap race and will try for the same this weekend. Hearn has momentum on his side at Devil’s Bowl this year, too, as he scored a trifecta during the Battle at the Bowl big block/small block modified challenge event.

He finished first, second and third in his three feature races on Aug. 11, telling the crowd, “I love this place!” in victory lane and reporting that he’ll be ready for Sunday’s big event with the car that he used to win the Battle at the Bowl small-block feature.

Should a regular weekly sportsman competitor from Devil’s Bowl or any other track win the race, promoter Mike Bruno has promised an extra $2,000 bonus to bring the winner’s minimum purse to $12,000.

Adding in more than $5,000 in lap leader bonuses, the race is the richest and longest sportsman event anywhere in North America.

The competition at Devil’s Bowl will be very tough when Hearn arrives on Sunday, and he’ll have his work cut out for him.

Hearn’s longtime rival, Kenny Tremont Jr., leads the weekly Pepsi Sportsman Modified title chase at Devil’s Bowl and has six victories in 2019, including a pair of 100-lap scores.

Young gun Jack Speshock has been hot as well, with wins in each of the last two weeks.

Among the Vermonters expected put up a fight are Joey Scarborough, Frank Hoard III, Adam Pierson, Jimmy Ryan, and Justin Comes, and dozens of other Devil’s Bowl regulars from New Hampshire and New York are also expected to defend their home turf.

All indications point to a field approaching last year’s 56 race day entries, with interest also shown from drivers in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

Rory McIlroy isn't dismissing his 2019 achievements just because he failed to win a major.

He also isn't sure he's happy with golf's revamped schedule and order of events.

Speaking ahead of the Omega European Masters in Switzerland, McIlroy defended a three-win season that saw him walk away from East Lake with $15 million, the FedExCup and the Vardon Trophy.

"I feel that if I keep doing the things I’m doing, sooner or later I’ll get another [major] and all this noise will then go away," McIlroy said, per The Telegraph.

"However, if the narrative becomes that the majors are the only important thing in golf, then that’s dangerous because are fans not going to care for the other 48 weeks of the year?”

McIlroy won four major championships in four years from 2011-14 but now finds himself in the midst of a five-year drought. 

The PGA Championship's move from August to May produced a golf calendar that included a major each month from the Masters in April to The Open in July, but McIlroy – one green jacket short of the career grand slam – would like to put a bit more distance between the game's biggest events.

“If they are spaced so closely together will fans only care from the second week of April to the third week in July?” he added to the BBC. “I’d like to see them spaced out like tennis does. With the Australian Open in January and the US Open going on now, they’ve a nice nine-month window of relevancy.”

In separate scheduling news, the Travelers Championship announced Wednesday that McIlroy has already committed to next season's event, which follows the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Assuming McIlroy plays the Memorial – as he has every year, barring injury, since 2010 – and defends at the RBC Canadian Open, then the Ulsterman is looking at playing four events in a row in June. An additional start at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude in Memphis would make The Open Championship at Royal St. George's his sixth start in eight weeks.

Then come the Olympics in Tokyo and the FedExCup Playoffs.

As for this week, McIlroy is grouped with Lee Westwood and Matt Wallace for the first two rounds in Switzerland.

Rory's goal for the rest of 2019: Close the gap on Koepka

Published in Golf
Wednesday, 28 August 2019 11:04

Rory McIlroy or Brooks Koepka? That's the question for PGA Tour pros about to submit their Player of the Year ballots.

But there's no question who's the No. 1 player in the world – and it's not particularly close.

No. 1 Koepka leads No. 2 McIlroy by three full points in the Official World Golf Ranking. 

That's why McIlroy says his goal for the remainder of the year is to close the gap.

"It's a goal to get closer, to keep playing well," he told reporters ahead of the Omega European Masters. "I think I saw somewhere that there [are] more world-ranking points on offer here than there [have] been for eight years. Wentworth (BMW PGA) is obviously big for world-ranking points. There's a WGC coming up. There's still a lot to play for."

McIlroy has spent 95 total weeks at No. 1 in the world during his career but hasn't occupied the top spot since September of 2015.

After this week, he is scheduled to play the BMW PGA Championship (Sept. 19-22), Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (Sept. 26-29), Zozo Championship (Oct. 24-27) and WGC-HSBC Champions (Oct. 31-Nov. 3). 

The final three events on the European Tour calendar follow in November. 

"That's my focus for the rest of the year," he said, "getting closer to that No. 1 spot."

Sources: Madrid may send Navas to PSG for Areola

Published in Soccer
Wednesday, 28 August 2019 16:21

Real Madrid are in talks to send goalkeeper Keylor Navas to Paris Saint-Germain before the European transfer market closes on Sept. 2, sources have told ESPN.

The La Liga giants were initially asking for €20 million for the Costa Rica international, but sources have told ESPN that the deal could include PSG goalkeeper Alphonse Areola going to Madrid.

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It was last week that Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane said Navas' future was at the Bernabeu despite Thibaut Courtois taking the No. 1 spot.

"[Navas] is a Real Madrid player, that is important, he has always been and he will continue to be," Zidane said in a news conference last week. "I'm not thinking of his exit, I know he will contribute a lot and will be very competitive. He has not told he wanted to leave. He is here, he wants to play and stay for us and show how good he is, like everyone else."

ESPN had previously reported that Navas had wanted to find more playing time and that agent Jorge Mendes had already started the process to get to PSG.

Madrid has been scouring the market for a suitable replacement that would serve as Courtois' understudy. The initial idea was to bring in a veteran goalkeeper for one season due to the rise of youngster Andriy Lunin, who is currently on loan at Valladolid.

Nonetheless, Los Blancos have not ruled out the possibility of bringing in Areola, who has La Liga experience with Villarreal, to serve behind the Belgian.

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