MAY 5TH, 2018 – MAY 12TH, 2018
TURKS & CAICOS SUN
Page 45
WORLD SPORTS
Charles Barkley on Draymond Green comment: ‘I wasn’t literally going to fight an NBA player’ TNT analyst Charles “A lot of guys talk on Barkley apologized Wednesday TV,” Green said after the game, for his comments regarding when he learned of Barkley’s Golden State Warriors forward comments. “If you feel that strongly about something, he’s Draymond Green. “I said something that even seen me a million times, I shouldn’t have said,” Barkley then punch me in my face when said on Waddle & Silvy on ESPN you see me. If you’re not going to 1000 in Chicago. “I want to be punch me in my face when you man enough to apologize. I was see me, then shut up.” Barkley clarified his comments 100 percent wrong.” During the Game 2 Wednesday. telecast on TNT on Tuesday “I wasn’t literally going night, Barkley said, “I just want to fight an NBA player,” he said. somebody to punch him in the “If he took it like that, I apologize.” He went on to say that face,” as the broadcast crew watched highlights of Green he “probably said the same thing and Pelicans point guard Rajon about Dennis Rodman, but I Rondo get in each other’s face at thought I actually did punch him the close of the first half. when he played.”
Barkley, who called Green “annoying,” connected him with players such as Rodman and Bill Laimbeer, who were teammates with the Detroit Pistons for seven seasons in the late 1980s and early ‘90s. “Those guys who are irritants who are all good players, but they can be annoying at times,” Barkley said. “But like I said, I was wrong when I said it, and I shouldn’t have said it.” Barkley said he found Green, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, annoying because teams don’t guard him, and then when Green makes a 3, he yells at the opposing coach.
Charles Barkley (left) and Draymond Green
England’s FA in negotiations to sell Wembley Stadium to U.S. billionaire LONDON England’s Football Association is in negotiations to sell Wembley Stadium, the home of the national soccer team, to U.S. billionaire Shahid Khan, owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. A spokesman for the FA confirmed on Thursday it had received an offer to buy the stadium and British media said the deal could be worth up to 1 billion pounds ($1.40 billion). Under the plan, the FA would keep Wembley as the main venue for major matches, including England internationals and the FA Cup Final, but the national soccer team could play elsewhere in October and November due to clashes with the U.S. National Football League (NFL) season. In a statement Khan said his bid was not a precursor to moving the Jaguars, who have played one home NFL game per season at Wembley since 2013, to London permanently. “For the Jaguars, it would deliver another - and very significant - asset and local revenue source that would further strengthen our investment in London,” Khan who is also the owner of English second tier
An aerial view of Wembley Stadium is seen on its opening day in London, March 17, 2007 soccer team Fulham, said. “Today’s news changes none of what we envision for the long-term promise for the Jaguars here in Jax, and it changes nothing as to the goals we have for your downtown.” British media reported that Khan, who is worth $7.2 billion according to Forbes, is ready to pay more than 500 million pounds. He would also allow the FA
to keep the Club Wembley debenture and hospitality business that is valued at a further 300 million pounds. The 90,000-seater stadium was rebuilt at a cost of 757 million pounds on the site of the original ground where England won the World Cup in 1966. The new stadium opened in 2007 and the FA said last January it would repay its debt, which was
reported by the Evening Standard to be 142 million pounds, by 2024. The money from the sale of Wembley would allow the governing body to reinvest in the English game’s grassroots, particularly pitches, and stage more England games way from the capital, a plan to which it is already committed. Alfie Crow, Jaguars fan and editor of Big Cat Country, a blog covering the Jaguars, downplayed suggestions that the deal could herald a permanent move to London for the NFL team. “I think the signals of the Jaguars relocating to London are premature and very assumptive at this point,” he told Reuters. “Khan has invested a lot in the areas around the NFL stadium in Jacksonville with plans to develop even more around it, so it would be millions of dollars down the drain if the ultimate plan was simply to rip the team away as all of that comes to fruition. For now, I view it as just a value investment with a lot of potential return for Khan.”
Justin Langer confirmed as new Australia head cricket coach Looking to move on from one of the darkest periods in its 140-year history, Cricket Australia has chosen Justin Langer as its new head coach, hoping the 105-test veteran will lead the national team out of the fallout from the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. Langer takes over for Darren Lehmann, who resigned after the embarrassing ball-tampering episode in March that saw Australia’s two leading players —captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner — banned by Cricket Australia for 12 months. The new coach inherits a team that sits third on the International Cricket Council test rankings, fifth in
Cameron Bancroft, a player the ball-tampering episode. one-day internationals, but one that has lost much of the support it had who tried to use sandpaper to alter the “There will be some surface of the ball, was given a nine- significant challenges ahead for our from the Australian public. group, but there is a wealth of talent The 47-year-old Langer month ban. played for Australia for nearly 20 Langer will coach Australia in Australian cricket,” Langer said in years, scoring 7,500 runs, including in all three formats of the game and a statement. “I’m thoroughly looking 23 centuries. Langer had been head will start on May 22 for a four-year forward to working with all players coach of Western Australia state and term that includes two Ashes series, a ... with the support and respect of the the Perth Scorchers Twenty20 team World Cup and World T20 tournament. Australian public.” TV cameras detected since November 2012, during which Langer was endorsed as Lehmann’s clumsy attempt at time he was lauded for his player replacement by the Cricket Australia Bancroft’s development skills. board of directors on Wednesday night. scratching the surface of the ball with Lehmann quit as coach in “Justin was the clear standout, a small piece of sandpaper with the the days after the March 24 ball- particularly based on his recent aim of giving his bowlers an advantage tampering incident during the third coaching and player development over the batters. A CA investigation test in Cape Town, which resulted in achievements,” Cricket Australia found that Warner was the instigator Smith and Warner handed the year- chief executive James Sutherland said of the plot, and Smith said he didn’t do enough to prevent the cheating long bans and being sent home from Thursday. the tour. Langer referred indirectly to attempt.