BASKETBALL
Tacko Fall had 18 points and 20 rebounds – his 15th double-double of the season – and also added five blocks as the Maine Red Claws rolled past the Capital City Go-Go 125-93 in a G League game on Tuesday afternoon in Washington, DC.
Jaysean Paige led the Red Claws (27-10) with 27 points, Bryce Brown added 24, while Trey Davis came off the bench to score 20.
Ike Iroegbu led Capital City ( 20-18) with 20 points.
Maine returns home to begin four-game stretch starting on Thursday against Lakeland.
NBA: Philadelphia guard Ben Simmons will miss at least two more weeks with nerve issues in his lower back. The All-Star played just a few minutes in Saturday’s loss to Milwaukee before leaving with the back injury. He will undergo daily treatment for his nerve impingement and be evaluated in two weeks.
The Sixers are 36-22 as they head down the stretch without one of their best players. They are 27-2 but just 9-20 at home – and leave this week for a four-game West Coast trip that starts Sunday.
The 23-year-old Simmons averaged 16.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists in 54 games.
WNBA: Sue Bird is returning to the Seattle Storm for a 19th season after re-signing with the team Tuesday.
Bird missed all last season after undergoing knee surgery. The last time she was on the court for Seattle, Bird was leading the franchise to its third WNBA title in 2018.
Bird, 39, is the franchise’s all-time leader in points, assists, field goals and steals. She was the No. 1 overall pick by Seattle in 2002 and has been a five-time all-WNBA first-team selection. The return of Bird, coupled with the return of 2018 league MVP Breanna Stewart, will be a huge boost for Seattle after the Storm went 18-16 last season and lost in the second round of the playoffs to Los Angeles without its two big stars.
TENNIS
QATAR OPEN: Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin lost her opening match for the second week in a row as Dayana Yastremska defeated the American 6-3, 7-6 (4) Tuesday in Doha, Qatar. Kenin has yet to win a WTA Tour match since earning her first Grand Slam title in Melbourne after going out in the opening round in Dubai last week. She was given a bye into the second round in Doha, but lost to an opponent that also beat her at Wimbledon last year.
“I just feel like I can’t find my game, I’m not playing the way I want to be playing, so it’s pretty frustrating right now,” Kenin said.
AUTO RACING
INDIANAPOLIS 500: Fernando Alonso will again attempt to complete motorsports’ Triple Crown with a return to the Indianapolis 500 in May with McLaren.
The team failed to qualify Alonso for the race last season in a spectacular comedy of errors, including not having its car properly prepared to put the two-time Formula One champion in the field. Alonso will attempt to qualify driving the No. 66 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP.
Alonso’s quest is to win Indianapolis and complete a prestigious Triple Crown that includes Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix and the 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car endurance race. Graham Hill is the only driver to have completed the triple.
SOCCER
FIFA: Former FIFA Council member Wilmar Valdez was banned from soccer for one year on Tuesday for breaking his duty of loyalty.
FIFA said its ethics committee judges also imposed a 10,000 Swiss francs ($10,200) fine on Valdez, the former president of Uruguay’s soccer federation.
The case related to Valdez’s involvement in “various projects and tenders” by the Uruguayan federation. Media reports of audio recordings from 2016 which linked Valdez to potential wrongdoing gave FIFA investigators evidence to open a case.
GREECE: President of UEFA Aleksander Ceferin says it has agreed to help Greece overhaul its professional leagues to curb violence and corruption.
Ceferin met with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday and signed a seven-page agreement to provide assistance to the Greek Football Federation.
“UEFA will produce within three months from signing this declaration of intent, a holistic study for the improvement and upgrade of Greek professional football,” the document, seen by The Associated Press, said.
The study, it said, will include “tailor-made proposals” to restructure the league organization, respond to violence and “defamatory statements,” and safeguard the “integrity of the game to combat the threat of match-fixing, corruption, and doping.”
Successive governments have struggled for decades to contain violence surrounding Greece’s game, caught between the powerful influence of club owners and UEFA rules that do not allow direct government interference in the sport.
TABLE TENNIS
POSTPONED: The team world championships in table tennis scheduled in Busan, South Korea is the latest sports event postponed because of the virus outbreak from China. The International Table Tennis Federation on Tuesday said it plans to reschedule the March 22-29 championships in Busan to June 21-28 – one month before the Tokyo Olympics.
The ITTF cited “the emerging situation in Korea Republic and to best preserve the health and safety of players, officials and fans” for the decision.
– Staff and news services
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