Paolo Banchero headlines field for All-Star Rising Stars event

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer

PAOLO Banchero’s rookie season will include a trip to NBA All-Star weekend.

The Orlando Magic forward and No. 1 pick in last year’s draft was announced yesterday as a participant in this year’s Rising Stars Game, to be held in Salt Lake City on February 17, two nights before the AllStar Game.

Banchero — who leads all rookies with a 20.7 points-per-game average — may still be selected as an All-Star reserve. Those players will be revealed Thursday.

“Anytime you can get a chance to be a part of AllStar weekend, you can’t say no,” Banchero said. “Especially me, being a rookie, first year, never experienced it before, it’s always been the dream to just be a part of that whether it was Rising Stars or as a reserve. I’m definitely excited to get there and just see what it’s like.”

Banchero is on pace to be the first rookie to average 20 points per game since Luka Doncic in 2018-19. He also is fourth among rookies in rebounds per game entering yesterday and third among them in steals per game.

Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said the All-Star experience — whether just for Rising Stars or not — will have an impact on Banchero.

“Just being around other young players that have found themselves in that position, it does so much because it’s your peers,”

Mosley said. “You’re around a group of young men who are the elite of the league in that class. I think it says something to the work that you’ve put in, the work that he’s put in. It’s going to do wonders for

THE Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the CARIFTA Games Bahamas 2023 is set and ready to host an exciting championship April 8-10.

The event is expected to be highly viewed globally. The LOC is inviting local and international media partners onboard to lend coverage.

Although the CARIFTA track and field championships is a junior level competition, media covering this event will be treated to similar facilities and services as accustomed to at professional competitions like the World Athletics Relays.

Tonique Williams, director of event media services, has indicated that four of

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‘OSSIE THE SPORTS INSIDER’ TOP 10 HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL RANKINGS

Jacintha Goffe, the school’s principal, said they are proud of Dean and his parents, who are assisting him because while they are very proud of his initiative, he has always been an exemplary student at Xavier’s Lower School.

“When Adrian put his portfolio forth to us, along with other students of grade six, we just thought that his portfolio was an excellent one,” she stated.

“Yes, he made the grades, which is very important, but when we looked at what he did in community service, working with his father to earn funds to help others in need, we just thought it was an awesome initiative for such a young child.

“So, we agreed with his mom that we will partner with him and make this event even greater so that

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OSWALD Simmons, better known as “Ossie the Sports Insider,” released his latest standings for the senior boys and girls High School Basketball Top 10 Rankings.

The list is as follows:

Boys Top 10 Ranking

1. Sunland Baptist Academy

2. CI Gibson

3. Tabernacle Baptist

4. St Augustine’s College

5. Doris Johnson

6. Anatol

7. Jordan Prince Williams

8. St Georgie’s

9. CW Saunders

10. Agape (Abaco)

Girls Top 10 Ranking

1. St. Augustine’s College

2. CV Bethel

3. CR Walker

4. Bishop Michael Eldon

5. CI Gibson

6. Tabernacle Baptist

7. St John’s

8. RM Bailey

9. Kingsway Academy

10. St George’s

Boxer Klitschko joins fight against Olympic path for Russia

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer

GENEVA (AP) —

Olympic gold medallist

Wladimir Klitschko has joined Ukraine’s fight against IOC plans to let some Russians compete at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

The former heavyweight champion suggested in a video message published Monday that sports leaders will be accomplices to the war if athletes from Russia and its military ally Belarus can compete at the next Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee set out its preferred path last week for Russians and

Belarusians who have not openly supported the war to qualify for Paris and compete in 18 months’ time as neutral athletes with no flag or anthem. Qualifying events would likely be in Asia.

That softening of the IOC advice given last February — that sports bodies should exclude Russia and Belarus from international events — provoked anger in Ukraine, which warned it could boycott Paris. Klitschko’s one-minute statement filmed beside bomb-damaged buildings started “Dear Thomas Bach” in a direct challenge to the IOC