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GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday May 31, 2014
Donald Sterling to sue NBA after wife’s Clippers deal By Eric Kelsey LOS ANGELES ,(Reuters) - Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, under fire for racist remarks, will sue the National Basketball Association (NBA) for $1 billion in damages for terminating his ownership of the team, his attorney said on Friday. Attorney Maxwell Blecher told Reuters that Sterling would file the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The move came a day after Sterling’s estranged wife, Shelly, struck a record $2 billion deal with former Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer to sell the franchise under orders from the league. The NBA said earlier on
Friday that it would go ahead with a vote on Tuesday on terminating Donald Sterling’s ownership of the Clippers, although it signaled that his wife’s proposal to sell the team was its preferred outcome. A source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters that Shelly Sterling is now sole trustee of the family trust that controls the Clippers after her 80-year-old husband was deemed by physicians this month as having Alzheimer’s disease. Blecher did not respond to phone calls or emails seeking comment on Donald Sterling’s health. But in a statement to CNN, he called reports that Sterling was mentally incapacitated a “vast overstatement” and said
Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling (C), his wife Shelly (L) and actor George Segal attend a NBA basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Sterling had a diagnosis of a “modest mental impairment.” The NBA said it was still awaiting necessary documentation from Shelly Sterling on the deal with Ballmer and that it planned to proceed with Tuesday’s hearing before its Board of Governors
on whether to strip Donald Sterling of ownership for his racist remarks. “Commissioner (Adam) Silver has consistently said the preferred outcome to the Clippers proceeding would be a voluntary sale of the team,” the NBA said in a
Tonight is final night for preliminary round action knockout basis. He warned the regular teams in Georgetown to expect some strong challenges from their out-of-town-based opponents. “This year, I have decided to include teams such as Victoria, Vryheid’s Lust, Plaisance, Beterverwagting, Melanie and La Parfaite Harmonie, just to name a few, in the lineup and as you are aware some of the East Coast-based teams are coming off the back of a similar tournament. “This means they are coming fit and have already presented a strong challenge to the other teams, so I am calling on the teams to be fit in order to ‘Keep Your Five Alive’,” said Adonis, who emphasised on winning as there will be no second opportunities. Teams are asked to note carefully, that only those who have been registered on the registration form provided will be allowed to compete, with no alterations being allowed during the course of the tournament, only in the case of injury which must occur during the playing of the competition. “In addition to the tournament, there will be an Axe halftime show compliments of that product’s main distributor in Guyana, DeSinco Trading, which is being dubbed the ‘Take and Shoot’ competition, for which fabulous prizes will be up for grabs, along with the regular Mackeson giveaways,” said Adonis. Apart from Ansa McAl and DeSinco Trading, some other sponsors of the tournament, which has three playing days remaining after tonight, are: Colours Boutique, Clairan’s Boutique, Clear Water, Star Party Rentals, White Castle Fish Shop, and HJTV and its 94.1 Boom FM, just to name a few. (Calvin Roberts)
“I am delighted that we are selling the team to Steve, who will be a terrific owner,” Shelly Sterling said in a statement announcing the sale early yesterday. The source said language in the Sterling trust indicated that if Donald Sterling was unable to handle business, then the controlling stake would be given to his wife. Ballmer, 58, who retired as Microsoft CEO in February, outbid a group led by media mogul David Geffen that included Oprah Winfrey and Oracle Corp Chief Executive Larry Ellison, as well as a group of Los Angeles investors. Blecher has said that Donald Sterling would have to approve any sale of the franchise.
DCB Inter-Association U-17 second round action bowls off today
4TH MACKESON ‘KEEP YOUR 5 ALIVE’
PRELIMINARY round action in this year’s fourth annual Mackeson ‘Keep Your Five Alive’ Futsal tournament, which is being played under the theme ‘Your Five, Your Style, Your Stout, Mackeson Keep Your Five Alive’, will kick off tonight at the Albouystown hard court at 20:00hrs. Five more matches will be contested tonight, from which the winners will move into next Saturday’s round of 16 clashes scheduled for the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) tarmac. Tonight’s opening action will pit the hardworking Alexander Village against Vryheid’s Lust Champs in the opening encounter, followed by Upsetters of West Ruimveldt taking on King Street Ballers. The third game will be an East Coast versus Georgetown affair, when Melanie who had a creditable showing in the East Coast Guinness ‘Greatest of de Streets’ competition in which one of their teams took home the top prize and another place third, will face Rasville, who will be coming to upstage their more illustrious opponents. Charlestown and North East La Penitence will square off in the fourth fixture for the night, before Albouystown and Laing Avenue renew their rivalry in the final fixture. Already, defending champions Sparta Boss, Sophia, Albouystown ‘B’, Broad Street, La Parfaite Harmonie, Back Circle, Tiger Bay ‘A’, Leopold Street, Texas and West Front Road, have all booked their spots in the next round. The tournament’s coordinator Kevin Adonis is charging all teams, including defending champions Sparta Boss, to keep fit since the tournament will be played on a
statement. In his first major test since becoming NBA commissioner in February, Silver has taken a strong position on punishing Sterling by banning him for life from the league. But Silver has also signaled that the NBA wants to avoid a prolonged fight in a case that has brought shame on the league. The NBA also fined Sterling, the controlling owner of the Clippers for 33 years, $2.5 million after TMZ.com posted an audio recording of him criticizing a female friend for publicly associating with black people. A sale of the team, as well as the termination of Sterling’s ownership, must be approved by NBA team owners.
… Final round set for tomorrow Darren Sammy
Sammy takes Glamorgan to last-ball victory CARDIFF, Wales (CMC) – Deposed West Indies Test captain Darren Sammy made a winning start to life at Glamorgan when he helped the Welsh county to an exciting five-wicket victory over Sussex in the English Twenty20 Blast here yesterday. Set 179 for victory, Glamorgan levelled the scores with three balls left in the game, with Sammy on strike. However, fast bowler Yasir Arafat kept the Windward Islands all-rounder scoreless off the next two balls with brilliant yorkers to bring the game down to the last ball. Sammy then kept his composure, skying the last ball into the offside and scrambling two runs with Chris Cooke, to take Glamorgan over the line. He finished on nine not out from as many balls while Cooke secured manof-the-match honours for his superb unbeaten 65 off 31 deliveries, with 11 fours and a six. The pair added 37 from 21 balls for the fifth wicket. South African opener Jacques Rudolph had earlier stroked 50 from 44 balls to set the tone for the run chase. Sent in at the SWALEC Stadium, Sussex got joint top scores of 39 from captain Ed Joyce and England wicketkeeper Matt Prior, to boost their innings. Sammy produced a tight three-over spell, conceding just 18 runs. At Headingly in Leeds, Leeward Islands left-hander Chesney Hughes failed with 11 as his Derbyshire side went down by eight wickets to Yorkshire.
SECOND-round action in this year’s Demerara Cricket Board (DCB)organised and sponsored Inter-Association Under-17 competition will commence today with two matches being played simultaneously at the Demerara and Everest Cricket Club grounds. At DCC, East Bank, who will have in their lineup players of the calibre of Sagar Hetheramani, Ronaldo Singh, Dextroy Williams and Ershad Alli, will face a strong Georgetown unit comprising such players as skipper Raymond Perez, Shurfane Rutherford, Xaviee Smith, Ronaldo Ali Mohammed and Timothy McAlmont, just to name a few. At Everest, Travis Persaud, who will lead Richie Looknauth, Nicoli Reddy, Ewart Samuels and Malcolm Hubbard and others in the West Demerara unit, will seek to further underline their status as champions when they go up against East Coast, for whom national Under-15 skipper Bhaskar Yadram, Suresh Jainarine and Motilall Chatura will be making an appearance. The third and final round will be played tomorrow, with Georgetown taking on West Demerara at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground, while East Bank will meet East Coast at DCC and the final 11 for all teams for both games will be chosen from: East Bank: Devon Singh, Akeem Hopkinson, Stephan December, Dextroy Williams, Sagar Hetheramani, Daniel
Scott, Abdel Bacchus, Ronaldo Singh, Joel Ganesh, Mark Ramsammy, Bhojnarine Singh, Christopher McLennan, Ershad Alli, Anthony Antonio, and Navindra Persaud. The coach is Mr. Edwards and the manager is Mohamed Khan. West Demerara: Travis Persaud, Richie Looknauth, Kelvin Sewpersaud, Nicoli Reddy, Malcolm Hubbard, Ewart Samuels, Looknauth Chinkoo, Neal Mclean, Keshram Seyhodan, Ronaldo Renee, Mark Jeffers, Vickram Talmakund, Ganesh Jitlall, and Mahesh Persaud. Mohamed Khan is the manager and coach. East Coast: Vishwanauth Ramlakhan, Ramnarine Chatura, Gavin Boodwah, Kedar Amsterdam, Bhaskar Yadram, Stephen Mangal, Shanerick DaSilva, Motilall Chatura, Akeem Hiles, Shaquille King, Madan Mohan, Kevinash Kumar, Suresh Jainarine, Afzal Rahaman, Rajpaul Gopaul. The coach is Gavin Latchman Yadram and the manager is Gavin Moriah. Georgetown: Raymond Perez, Sherfane Rutherford, Darshan Persaud, Timothy McAlmont, Ronaldo Mohamed, Jaddel McAlister, Samuel McKenzie, Xaviee Smith, Andrew Clifford, Stephon Campbell, Ashmead Nedd, Romaine Muniram, Shamar DeSouza, and Christopher Naipaul. The manager is Gavin Nedd and the coach is Clive Grimmond. (Calvin Roberts)