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Thursday September 20, 2018
DWYANE WADE looked into the camera, stood alone in the middle of
a darkened room and talked for 10 minutes. He strug-gled with his
words at times, unable to control his emotions. He wept.
And fi nally, he made what he called the hardest decision of his
life.
One more year.Retirement needs to wait a
little bit longer for Wade, who announced Sunday night in a
video taped earlier in the day that he’s returning for a 16th and
fi nal NBA season. He basically spent the entirety of the last four
months weighing his options,
and retirement — even just a few days ago — was an extremely
real possibility in his mind.
“I’ve always did things my way,” said Wade, who is expected to
sign a US$2.4 million, one-year deal later. “Whether they’ve good
or whether they’ve been bad, I got here because I’ve done things
the way that I feel is right for me and right for my family. And
what I feel is right ... I feel it’s right to ask you guys to join
me for one last dance, for one last season.
“This is it. I’ve given this game everything that I have, and
I’m happy about that, and I’m going to give it for one last
season,
everything else I have left.”Wade is Miami’s career
leader in points, assists, steals and games played. His status
was an enormous question mark this summer, especially now with the
team a week away from going to training camp. Miami has signed 19
players for camp, one shy of the maximum preseason allotment, and
it was never a question why they kept that last spot open.
Wade’s return basically means that Miami will have the same team
this coming season as it had last season, when it claimed the No. 6
seed in the Eastern Con-ference playoffs. (SD-Agencies)
PAKISTAN captain Sarfraz Ahmed was taking nothing for granted as
one of the most famous rivalries in world cricket resumed when his
team played India in an Asia Cup group match later yesterday.
The United Arab Emirates has been the host venue for Pakistan in
international cricket since a 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team
bus.
Pakistan won the last encoun-
ter between the two rivals — a huge 180-run victory over India
in the fi nal of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy.
But Ahmed, who has won 18 out of 25 games as Pakistan’s ODI
captain, isn’t getting over-confi dent.
“You could say it is Pakistan’s home ground, but the condi-tions
here are the same for all the teams,” Ahmed said. “The weather is
similar to India, Ban-
gladesh and Sri Lanka and the pitches too are playing the same
way. So it isn’t a home ground for any team. It is equal for
all.”
Both teams beat qualifi er Hong Kong in their opening matches of
the Asia Cup and have entered the Super Four stage. Pakistan won by
eight wickets Sunday chasing 116, while India was pushed hard
before registering a 26-run triumph Tuesday.
The tournament, which ends
with the fi nal in Dubai on Sept. 28, has drawn some criticism
from the two rivals over the Super Four scheduling.
Ahmed appeared annoyed at Pakistan having to play in Abu Dhabi
and Dubai, while India stays in Dubai.
“Playing two consecutive matches is always diffi cult, ” said
Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan, who scored 127 runs in the win over
Hong Kong. (SD-Agencies)
IF the World Cup had given the impression that Lionel Messi was
slipping down soccer’s pecking order, the Argentine star made it
clear he remains at the top of his game.
Messi scored a record eighth Champions League hat trick Tuesday
in Barcelona’s 4-0 win over PSV Eindhoven as Europe’s top club
competition got under-way. Meanwhile, Kylian Mbappe, the teenage
star widely viewed as the man capable of dethroning Messi and
Cristiano Ronaldo in a near future as the best player in the world,
endured a frustrat-ing night in a 3-2 loss with Paris Saint-Germain
at Liverpool.
The World Cup winner scored a second-half equalizer but then
gave the ball away in stoppage time, a costly mistake that paved
the way for Roberto Firmino’s winner.
Messi once again failed in his bid to lift the World Cup trophy
this summer in Russia, where he did not play at his best and
Argentina lost to France in the round of 16. But Messi is a
dif-ferent player in the Champions League, a competition he has won
four times, and in which he has scored 103 goals.
With his hat trick Tuesday, he now leads Ronaldo 63-60 in total
group-stage goals.
“We were up against Messi, the best in the world,” PSV coach
Mark van Bommel said.
Ousmane Dembele also scored for Barcelona, which was already 3-0
up when it was reduced to 10 men as defender Samuel Umtiti was sent
off with a second yellow card for a hard foul in the 79th.
TRIBUTES fl owed yesterday for charismatic Japanese mixed
martial artist Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, who died at age 41, three
weeks after announcing a battle with cancer.
Born to a family of wrestlers and martial artists, the wiry,
tattoo-covered Yamamoto took on larger opponents in a wide range of
MMA events, including the Ultimate Fighting Champi-onship
(UFC).
He won fans with a beaming, confi dent smile — a rarity in Japan
where many fi ghters tend to display stoicism rather than
showmanship.
Yamamoto started wrestling at a young age under his father, who
represented Japan at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Two of his sisters
were also successful wrestlers. He turned profes-sional after
failing to qualify for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
On Aug. 26, Yamamoto announced via Instagram that he was going
through cancer treatments.
His gym Krazy Bee tweeted news of his death Tuesday.
UFC.com called him “one of Japan’s greatest and most excit-ing
mixed martial artists.”
Fans and peers mourned the fi ghter’s sudden death.
“A true legend of the sport has left us, Kid Yamamoto,” tweeted
UFC hall of famer Ken Shamrock.
“My thoughts are with his family and fans worldwide as we refl
ect on an amazing person and athlete,” the American said.
“Absolutely devastated by this news,” tweeted BJ Penn, another
UFC hall of famer. (SD-Agencies)
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (C) celebrates with Luis Suarez (L) and
Arturo Vidal after scoring their fourth goal to complete his hat
trick against PSV Eindhoven during their match in Barcelona, Spain,
on Tuesday. SD-Agencies
Messi scores another hat trick
The Group B result extended Barcelona’s unbeaten run at home to
27 matches in the Champions League.
In the group’s other match, Mauro Icardi volleyed in a superb
equalizer for Inter against Tottenham and Matias Vecino headed in
the winner in injury time to complete a 2-1 win for the Italian
club on its return to Europe’s top competition.
At Anfi eld, Mbappe scored his 11th Champions League goal since
he made his debut in the tournament during the 2016-17 season. His
mistake in stoppage time proved costly for his club, though.
After netting PSG’s equalizer in the 83rd minute, Mbappe was
dispossessed by James Milner in
the closing stages of the match, giving Liverpool a chance to
mount a fi nal attack. Firmino collected a pass from Virgil van
Dijk and fi red a low shot into the far corner to seal the Reds’
victory.
PSG was down 2-0 after 36 minutes following goals from Daniel
Sturridge and Milner but managed to fi ght back as Thomas Meunier
pulled one back before Mbappe leveled. PSG, whose main goal this
season is to win the Champions League after repeated failures, next
plays Red Star Belgrade, which drew 0-0 with Napoli.
A year after making it to the fi nal, Liverpool showed it might
be capable of challenging for the title once again by fi nding a
way
to tame Neymar and Mbappe for much of the game.
Christian Pulisic celebrated his 20th birthday by scoring on his
return from injury to give Borus-sia Dortmund a late 1-0 win at
Club Brugge in group A.
“It was great to come back after injury and to be back with the
team,” said Pulisic, who made his 100th appearance for the
club.
The American, who hadn’t played since Aug. 26 due to muscular
problems, came on with around 20 minutes remain-ing and scored in
the 85th when Matej Mitrovic’s attempted clearance rebounded off
his shin and looped in over Brugge goalkeeper Karlo Letica.
(SD-Agencies)
Japanese MMA star Norifumi Yamamoto dies
Norifumi Yamamoto
In this April 21, 2018 fi le photo, Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade
(3) shoots as Phila-delphia 76ers forward Dario Saric (9) and Joel
Embiid defend during their game in Miami. SD-Agencies
Wade returning to Heat for a fi nal season
Cricket rivalry resumes as Pakistan plays India at Asia Cup
