Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.
NBA: Road-riding LeBron waging “vendetta” against himself
MIAMI (Reuters) – LeBron James says he is engaged in a
“vendetta” against himself as he pushes himself to reach his
physical peak and win a second straight NBA championship with
the Miami Heat. On Tuesday, James, last season’s Most Valuable
Player, who spent his off-season playing in the London
Olympics, was on court against the Minnesota Timberwolves for
42 minutes.
Heat tame Timberwolves despite huge rebounding gulf
MIAMI (Reuters) – The Miami Heat overcame a 28-point
rebounding differential to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves
103-92 on Tuesday with Dwyane Wade top scoring with 24 points.
The Timberwolves slaughtered Miami 52-24 on the boards, with
Kevin Love winning 18 of the rebounds and Montenegrin Nikola
Pekovic 12.
Warriors beat Hornets at home to stay hot
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Hillsborough verdicts quashed after more than 20 years
LONDON (Reuters) – The deaths of 96 soccer fans in the 1989
Hillsborough stadium disaster will be reinvestigated after
Britain’s High Court quashed the original inquest verdicts on
Wednesday due to a “profound and almost palpable” sense of
injustice. The government also set up a new police
investigation into Britain’s worst sporting disaster, in a
victory for victims’ families who never accepted the official
version of events and have campaigned for more than 20 years
for “Justice for the 96”.
Japan’s Uehara eager to repay Red Sox by staying healthy
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Soccer: Barca’s Vilanova suffers cancer relapse – report
MADRID (Reuters) – Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova has
suffered a relapse on the cancer in his saliva glands, Spanish
daily El Pais reported on Wednesday citing sources at the club.
The 44-year-old Vilanova, who underwent surgery on a tumor in
his glands in November last year, stepped up from his role as
assistant to replace Pep Guardiola as first-team coach for this
season.
Balotelli withdraws appeal, accepts club fine
LONDON (Reuters) – Mario Balotelli has accepted a fine of
two weeks’ wages from Manchester City after withdrawing his
appeal against disciplinary action taken by the Premier League
champions, the club said on Wednesday. The volatile Italian
striker, who was fined by City after a series of
well-documented misdemeanors on and off the pitch last season,
had been due to have his case heard by a Premier League panel
on Wednesday but the hearing was canceled.
European sport split over ticketing websites
LONDON (Reuters) – Germany’s Schalke 04 became the latest
top European soccer club to go into partnership with online
ticket vendor Viagogo on Wednesday, embracing a business that
other sports argue is pricing fans out of stadiums. Once the
preserve of shady figures in sidestreets, the sale of spare
tickets for big sports matches has moved on to the internet
with the development of sites like Viagogo and rival StubHub,
which is owned by eBay Inc .
London to host 2017 Paralympic world championships
LONDON (Reuters) – London will get the chance to recreate
the magic of 2012 after being chosen to host the 2017
Paralympic athletics world championships, Mayor Boris Johnson
said on Wednesday. The event will be held just a month before
the Olympic Stadium hosts the IAAF world athletics
championships, making London the first city to stage both
events back-to-back.
Struggling Jets bench QB Sanchez as playoff hopes dashed
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