Badminton: Badminton ‘powerhouse’ Malaysia lamented their absence from next week’s $1 million Super Series Masters Finals in Dubai. With world no.1 Lee Chong Wei suspended for a doping violation, Malaysia will have no representatives at the prestigious end-of-season event for the top eight men, women and doubles teams. “We are one of the badminton powerhouses but it is sad that we will not have any Malaysian in this major BWF tournament for the first time. This should not happen again,” Badminton Association of Malaysia deputy president Norza Zakaria was quoted as saying.
Rugby League: National Rugby League pros-pect Jamil Hopoate, the son of controversial former player John, has been jailed for a year for assaulting a man outside a Sydney bar. The 20-year-old Manly Sea Eagles lock pleaded guilty at a Sydney court to two counts of assault. Hopoate’s father John was infamously banned for 12 weeks by the NRL for inserting his finger into players’ anuses during a game for Wests Tigers in 2001.
Basketball: More NBA players joined ongoing nationwide protests against police violence on Tuesday night, as dozens of demonstrators again briefly blocked a California freeway. Renewed protests erupted last week after a grand jury decided not to charge a white New York police officer over the chokehold death in July of Eric Garner, an unarmed black father of six. Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant and other players donned T-shirts with the words “I CAN’T BREATHE” – Garner’s last words in a widely watched video – while warming up at the Staples Centre for a Tuesday night home game. Their move came a night after Cleveland Cavalier standout LeBron James and others wore similar shirts before a game at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn.
Cricket: Injured captain Michael Clarke made a surprise return to the crease and struck an inspiring century to put Australia in command after a rain-interrupted second day of the first test against India yesterday. Clarke retired hurt on 60 with a lower back injury on day one, but after a sleep-deprived night of treatment and pain-killing injections, the 33-year-old’s courageous 128 helped drive the hosts to 517 for seven by stumps at Adelaide Oval. The captain’s batting partner Steven Smith joined the party and was unbeaten on 162 when umpires halted play due to poor light, with paceman Mitchell Johnson yet to score.