West Ham’s on-loan striker Demba Ba has backed up club co-owner David Sullivan’s claim that he was racially abused by a supporter at the Hammers’ end-of-season dinner on Monday night.
Sullivan said that trouble started at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel after Ba had been subjected to racist comments by a disgruntled fan, a day after the club’s relegation from the Barclays Premier League was confirmed. It was initially suggested the problems had started because Ba refused to sign an autograph, but he has told talkSPORT that he did and that he and team-mate Danny Gabbidon were the victims of racism.
The Senegal international said: “When he (the supporter) talked to me I didn’t understand everything that he said but the people next to me said he was saying racist things and stuff. Read more…
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Swansea survived the first-minute sending off of Neil Taylor to earn a goalless draw against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, meaning it is all still to play for in the npower Championship play-off semi-final second leg in south Wales on Monday night.
A sensational start to the game saw Taylor dismissed after only 52 seconds when he caught Lewis McGugan on the thigh with his studs as both players went into the challenge with raised feet just inside the Swansea half and referee Mike Dean pulled out his red card.
Fabio Borini was a constant threat on the Forest goal and forced Lee Camp into three fine saves and Nathan Dyer forced another from him, while Kris Boyd brought out the best in Dorus De Vries.
However, while Forest struggled to break down 10 men, the Welsh side were unfazed by their numerical disadvantage and created the better chances in the first half.
SAN JOSE, Calif. The Red Wings flew into San Jose after winning Game 4, got to their hotel around 2 a.m. local time, and were on the ice for practice around noon today to get ready for Game 5.
The Wings trail the Sharks, 3-1, in the second-round series, finally winning for the first time Friday at home, 4-3. Now the focus turns to building on that, and reducing mistakes.
Theyre a team that doesnt appear to need as many chances to score, Wings coach Mike Babcock said. Thats what teams that score, do. I think theyve got seven 20-goal scorers, and so the puck just seems to find a way in. And yet in saying that, I think for us, we gave them the first goal. And in my opinion we gave them the second goal.
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The West Indies needed the Duckworth-Lewis method to score their first victory in the one-day series against Pakistan, winning by a single run at Bridgetown.
Dwayne Bravo responded to a signal from the dressing room to say they were trailing according to the DL method by smashing a towering six off Shahid Afridi in the 30th over, and two deliveries later the skies opened once again to end the match.
After numerous rain delays, the hosts began their innings with a revised target of 223 from 39 overs after Pakistan managed 248 for nine.
They attacked it aggressively, perhaps too aggressively as opener Kirk Edwards went for a duck.
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John Higgins punished an unforgivable series of mistakes by Ronnie O’Sullivan as he came out on top in their Betfred.com World Championship quarter-final.
The Scot had trailed 8-5 during the afternoon session but won eight of the next 10 frames to tie up a 13-10 victory.
In a high proportion of those frames, O’Sullivan led, missed reasonably easy balls and was made to pay by the opponent he regards as the most complete player in the sport.
Certainly Higgins proved himself a better finisher than his fellow three-time former Crucible champion, sealing his victory with a fine break of 79 which began with a fluke.
Higgins goes on to face Mark Williams in a semi-final which gets under way on Thursday evening.
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Wales wing Shane Williams has ended speculation about his playing future by signing a new two-year contract with the Ospreys.
Williams, Wales’ record tryscorer with 53 Test touchdowns, had been linked with following his current Ospreys team-mates James Hook and Lee Byrne to French club rugby next season.
Hook will link up with Perpignan after the World Cup in New Zealand later this year, while Byrne is heading to Clermont Auvergne.