In Brief
The Sunday Age
Sunday April 4, 2010
James 'no' to USBASKETBALL: NBA superstar LeBron James says he's "probably not playing" for the United States in the world championship. James, captain for the US team that won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, said he might be too busy to play for the national team. He is eligible to become a free agent after this season, and said "there are a lot of decisions I need to make this summer".Magic is still thereNETBALL: Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic remains the New Zealand team to beat in the trans-Tasman netball league. It underlined its position as New Zealand's top side with a composed 55-46 win over Northern Mystics in Auckland yesterday. There had been growing talk of the Magic losing its lustre after an off-season of player departures, among them internationals Maria Tutaia and Joline Henry to the Mystics. But while the personnel has changed, the performance showed they still have a break on the competition.Lee's shockerCRICKET: A horror 25-run over from Brett Lee has cost the Kings XI Punjab victory against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Indian Premier League action in Mohali yesterday. The Bangalore side battled to a six-wicket win with five balls remaining, scoring 184 runs to chase down the Kings' total of 181. Punjab was well in the contest until the 17th over when Lee, having recently made his comeback from injury, gave up 25 runs to put the Royal Challengers in the box seat.A-Rod meets officialsBASEBALL: Alex Rodriguez says he met Major League Baseball officials on Thursday to discuss his relationship with a Canadian doctor who is under federal investigation in a drug case. Rodriguez said he co-operated with the MLB officials and that they were happy with the meeting. The Yankees slugger was expected to first meet federal agents about Anthony Galea, who faces four charges in Canada relating to human growth hormone and Actovegin.Drug test negativeCYCLING: Italian cyclist Vania Rossi, the partner of Riccardo Ricco, thrown off the 2008 Tour de France for doping, has seen a B test for banned blood booster Cera, a form of EPO, come back negative, the Italian Olympic Committee said on Friday. It said in January that Rossi had tested positive following the Italian cyclo-cross championships on January 10, in which she finished second and was immediately suspended. But the second test did not show up "the minimum levels of Cera required to satisfy the criteria of the World Anti-Doping Agency," it said. "In both cases the results of the analyses have been confirmed by the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory in France". Rossi denied any wrongdoing.Rogers' gun chargeAMERICAN FOOTBALL: Cleveland Browns tackle Shaun Rogers was facing a felony charge of carrying a concealed weapon on Friday, a day after he allegedly tried to take a handgun through airport security. The charged filed by a Cleveland city prosecutor alleges that 31-year-old Rogers carried a .45-calibre Kimber semi-automatic with eight rounds of ammunition in his carry-on luggage at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, resulting in a night in jail before bail was posted.
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