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Fri/Sat/Sun March 30~April 1, 2018

A TOP Tokyo 2020 Olympic offi cial has promised a clean Games, pledging to improve water quality in the venue for marathon swimming and tri-athlon, and to ban four large Japanese construction com-panies that have been charged with colluding on bids.

Toshiro Muto, the CEO of the Tokyo 2020 organizing commit-tee, spoke Wednesday following a meeting of the organization’s executive board.

Muto said “special fi ltering screens” will be trialed this summer at the open-water swimming venue in Tokyo Bay. Last year, E.coli concentrations were found to be up to 21 times above the accepted limit.

Muto also said four compa-nies that have been banned by the Tokyo metropolitan govern-ment for bid rigging, would not be involved in future tenders on Olympic projects.

The four builders are already major contractors on Tokyo Olympic venues.

(SD-Agencies)

FABIO CAPELLO has left his post as head coach of Jiangsu Suning, the Chinese Super League club said Wednesday.

The 71-year-old Italian signed an 18-month contract with the Nanjing club in June 2017, help-ing the 2016 league runner-up to avoid relegation.

The departure of the former Milan, Real Madrid, Juventus and England coach comes just three games into the 2018 season in which Jiangsu has won one and lost two matches.

“After friendly negotiations between the two sides, the contract between Fabio Capello and Suning Football Club ended early and Mr. Capello no longer serves as the head coach of Jiangsu Suning,” the club said.

Earlier reports said that Capello will be replaced by Cosmin Olaroiu, a Romanian coach who has extensive expe-rience with Middle Eastern clubs. (SD-Agencies)

CAPTAIN Steve Smith and vice captain David Warner were banned for 12 months Wednes-day after an investigation into the Australian cricket team’s cheat-ing scandal identifi ed Warner as the instigator of the ball tamper-ing plan that unraveled in South Africa.

Cricket Australia (CA) said Warner “instructed” young batsman Cameron Bancroft to carry out the tampering on the fi eld with a piece of sandpaper — even showed Bancroft how to do it — then misled match offi cials and tried to cover up his role in the cheating.

Smith, the top test batsman in the world and the star of Aus-tralian cricket, knew about the plan. But the captain failed “to take steps to seek to prevent the development and implementa-tion of that plan,” Cricket Austra-lia said as it released the fi ndings of the investigation by its head of integrity that dragged in all the players, coaches and backroom staff for questioning.

Smith and Warner were banned from playing for Aus-tralia, or any high-level cricket in Australia, for a year. Bancroft, maybe because he’s an impres-sionable newcomer in the team, received a nine-month ban.

The 28-year-old Smith will not be allowed to captain Aus-tralia for two years and Warner will never be allowed to hold a leadership position in Australian cricket again. At 31, Warner may never play for Australia again.

The fallout extended beyond Australia. The three players were also all banned for the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League, denying them places in the lucrative Twenty20 tourna-ment where players are paid big money to appear.

“These are signifi cant penalties for professional players and the Cricket Australia board does not impose them lightly,” CA chair-man David Peever said. “It is hoped that following a period of suspension, the players will be able to return to playing the

LEBRON JAMES matched Michael Jordan’s streak of 866 consecutive double-digit scoring games Wednesday night, scoring 41 points to help the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Jordan-owned Charlotte Hornets 118-105 and remain in third place in the Eastern Conference.

“I can’t tell you how I’ve been able to do it,” James said. “Any time I’m mentioned with some of the greats, and arguably the greatest basketball player of all-time in Mike, it’s just another feat for me to be just apprecia-tive and humbled by what I’m able to do.”

He wasn’t the only one making history.

Although the game got away from the Hornets in the fourth quarter, there was still the matter of Kemba Walker attempting to pass Dell Curry as the franchise’s career scoring leader. After a sluggish three quarters, Walker scored 11 points in the fourth, including a reverse layup with 20 seconds left to break Curry’s mark of 9,839 points.

“I wasn’t supposed to be here,” Walker told the crowd moments after the game ended. “... Anything is possible. If I can do it, anybody can.”

Walker had to grab a towel to wipe away tears after breaking the record.

James approached Walker at midcourt as time expired, gave him a huge hug and whispered congratulations in his ear, tell-ing him it was an incredible accomplishment.

“Listen, if you can be the all-time leading scorer in any franchise, that’s incredible,” James said. “That’s an incred-ible feat. I defi nitely went over and just told him how incred-ible that was. Even though with

Charlotte Hornets forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (L) blocks Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (2nd L) during the fi rst half at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte on Wednesday. SD-Agencies

James ties Jordan’s double-digit streak

the season that they’re having, when accomplishments happen throughout the season, you try not to take them for granted. I think it’s an incredible feat for him.”

Jordan, who was not at the game, issued a statement through the team saying he was happy for Walker.

“Becoming a franchise’s all-time leading scorer is a big accomplishment and it’s a testa-ment to his hard work, dedica-tion and passion for the game of basketball,” Jordan said. “He exemplifi es what it means to be a Hornet.”

Jordan did not comment on James tying his streak.

James matched Jordan’s 17-year-old mark in the second

quarter when he scored his 10th point on a powerful alley-oop dunk off a pass from J.R. Smith.

James, who began his streak on Jan. 6, 2007, can break Jordan’s record Friday night at home against the New Orleans Pelicans.

He scored 16 points in the second quarter and 13 in the third on 10-of-15 shooting during that span, including 4 of 6 from beyond the arc as the Cavaliers built a 17-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Hornets cut Cleveland’s 20-point lead to 11 points but James re-entered the game and made an immediate impact with a few more highlight reel plays.

He stole Frank Kaminsky’s

pass near the top of the key, raced the length of the fl oor and threw down an emphatic one-handed dunk over Jeremy Lamb that brought the crowd to its feet again.

Then with 3:09 left in the game, he grabbed Rodney Hood’s miss out of the air and dunked it hard with his right hand, punctuating the Cava-liers’ victory.

James left the game to a stand-ing ovation from the Charlotte crowd, which was fi lled with Cavaliers fans wearing James’ No. 23 jersey.

James had his way against Charlotte in two previous meet-ings this season, combining for 58 points, 22 rebounds and 21 assists. (SD-Agencies)

Fabio Capello

Capello leaves Chinese club Jiangsu Suning

Tokyo Olympic CEO promises clean Games Cricket team captain banned

game they love and eventually rebuild their careers.”

All three were encouraged by national administrators to play low-level club cricket during their bans in an attempt to rebuild trust with the Australian public. In terms of Smith’s future captaincy prospects, CA said that “would be conditional on accep-tance by fans and the public.”

Underlining the extent of the

damage to Australia’s reputa-tion, the Cricket Australia bans were far more serious than punishments handed out by the International Cricket Council. The ICC banned Smith for one test, gave Bancroft disciplinary demerit points but no ban at all, and didn’t even charge Warner with any offense following the tampering episode in the third test last weekend. (SD-Agencies)

Axed Australian cricket captain Steve Smith (L) is escorted by police offi cers as he departs at the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Wednesday. SD-Agencies