Basket, NBA: The slumping Phoenix Suns have fired head coach Jeff Hornacek and named assistant Earl Watson as the interim coach, the National Basketball Association team said. The Suns began the 2015-16 season with hopes of making the play-offs for the first time since 2010 but have lost 19 of their past 21 games, a stretch that has seen the team without several key players. Under Hornacek, who had been in charge since May 2013, the Suns went 101-112, including a 14-35 mark this season that has them near the bottom of the league standings.
Rugby: Super Rugby organisers announced a change in the penalty rules and confirmed a new attacking bonus point system aimed at making matches more competitive. As heavily reported last month, the four-try bonus point was scrapped in favour of a point for teams who score three tries more than their opponents, a policy used in France’s Top 14 tournament. Teams will also be allowed to kick for touch with a penalty and play the line out after the 80-minute mark, where previously the full-time whistle would have been blown once the ball went dead.
Auto Racing: Max Chilton says he still has unfinished business with Formula One after it was announced he will drive for Chip Ganassi Racing in the 2016 IndyCar season. The 24-year-old Briton drove for Marussia for two seasons in F1 but was left without a drive for 2015 when the team re-branded as Manor after financial issues. Chilton has since driven for Nissan in the Le Mans 24 Hours and enjoyed a fine introduction to American motorsport in last year’s Indy Lights season. But this week it was announced that Chilton would drive for Chip Ganassi Racing, the reigning IndyCar champions. “Yes, a little,” Chilton said when asked if he had unfinished business in F1. “Since the age of nine I worked hard to get there and it was frustrating I never got a fair chance of getting podiums.”
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Motor Racing: Former McLaren test and reserve driver Gary Paffett (picture, right) has joined Formula One rivals Williams to help them develop their new car in the simulator. “His level of testing knowledge, and ability to analyse data, will significantly help to drive forward development of the FW38 throughout the season,” deputy principal Claire Williams said in a statement, yesterday. Paffett, 34, is a veteran of the test circuit after taking part in 72 official test days between 2001 and 2013 and clocking up 22,745 kilometres. The Briton, who has never raced in Formula One, won the German Touring Car (DTM) championship with Mercedes in 2005.