Basketball, NBA: In the full-court layup drill and three-point contest otherwise known as the 66th NBA All-Star Game, New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis set an All-Star record with 52 points and Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook added 41 points to carry the Western Conference to a 192-182 victory over the Eastern Conference on Sunday night in New Orleans. In a game in which defence was outlawed and feuding former team-mates Westbrook and Kevin Durant played together for only 81 seconds, the West defeated the East for the sixth time in the last seven games. The 374 combined points broke the record of 369 set during the West’s 196-173 win a year ago
Cricket: England’s Ben Stokes fetched a staggering $2.17 million in the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) player auction yesterday, with the Rising Pune Supergiants splashing out in a frenzied bidding war to land the explosive all-rounder. The Pune franchise fought off Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and Hyderabad to get the 25-year-old, paying 145 million Indian rupees despite his limited availability for the Twenty20 competition. With England hosting South Africa in a one-day series in May, Stokes is set to miss the final phase of the April 5-May 21 tournament, yet the bidding surged from his base price of 20 million rupees.
Tennis: American Ryan Harrison wept with relief after winning his first ATP World Tour title, beating Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-1 6-4 in the final of the Memphis Open yesterday. After breezing through the first set, Harrison survived some nervous moments in the second, saving break points in each of his service games. But he proved unbreakable in the clutch, digging out of trouble time and again before securing the title with an ace.
Motor Racing: Chase Elliott edged teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Sunday to claim the pole for the Feb. 26 Daytona 500 for the second straight year. Elliott turned in a single-lap speed of 192.872 miles per hour. Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Earnhardt Jr. will start alongside Elliott on the front row of the Daytona 500 after posting a lap speed of 192.864 mph. Thursday’s two 150-mile races will help determine the remaining field for the 500.
Canoeing: Olympic gold medallist Ed McKeever has announced his retirement from the sport of canoe sprint. McKeever, who triumphed in the men’s single kayak over 200m at London 2012, missed out on retaining his Olympic title in Rio last year. The 33-year-old from Bradford on Avon, known as the ‘Usain Bolt of the water’, calls time on a career which spanned 17 years. “Competing and winning a gold medal at a home Olympic Games in front of thousands of British fans is something that will live with me for the rest of my life”, said McKeever. “Very few people get that opportunity so I am extremely grateful for all the support.”