BASKETBALL
Police probe Morant video
Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant is facing a police investigation over a video posted on social media in which he appeared to brandish a firearm, police in Colorado said on Monday. The Glendale Police Department confirmed it was investigating the circumstances surrounding Morant’s video, which led to the NBA star being suspended and facing possible sanctions from the league. In the video posted early on Saturday on Instagram Live, Morant could be seen holding a handgun. The 23-year-old later deleted his Instagram and Twitter accounts. The NBA has launched an investigation into the matter, while the Grizzlies said on Saturday Morant would not be selected for at least two games.
BOXING
Benn felt suicidal after test
British boxer Conor Benn on Monday said he felt suicidal after his failed drugs tests last year caused his much-hyped fight with Chris Eubank Jr to be canceled in October. Benn, who tested positive for the banned substance clomiphene, has been cleared of an intentional doping offense by the World Boxing Council after the body ruled a “highly elevated consumption of eggs” resulted in the adverse finding. In an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Benn, 26, was asked if he was feeling suicidal. “Yeah, I would say so, and it upsets me now because I don’t know how it got so bad. I got in a really bad way about it.” He added: “It’s hard because I felt like I was on death row for something I haven’t even done… I felt seven years of hard work and sacrifice, and leaving my family and the image I maintain, was just ruined by somebody else’s incompetence.”
FOOTBALL
Taxpayers to foot suit bill
Iowa taxpayers are to pay US$2 million to help the University of Iowa athletic department settle a lawsuit brought by former football players who allege racial discrimination existed in coach Kirk Ferentz’s program, a state board decided in a vote on Monday. The state’s Appeal Board voted 2-1 to approve the use of taxpayer funds for half of the US$4.175 million settlement over the objection of Iowa Auditor Rob Sand, a board member who said athletic director Gary Barta should be fired for a series of lawsuits ending in settlements under his watch. “I can’t imagine a private company that would still have someone at the helm after four discrimination lawsuits under that person’s leadership,” Sand told a news conference before the vote. “The athletic department, they’ve got the funds for it. The broadcast deal brings tens of millions of dollars every year going forward. I don’t know why they can’t cover their own mistakes and pay for their own mistakes instead of having taxpayer’s do it.”
BASEBALL
Boston’s Turner hit in face
Boston Red Sox infielder Justin Turner needed 16 stitches after he was hit in the face by a pitch during Monday’s spring training game against the Detroit Tigers. The 38-year-old Turner fell to the ground after getting drilled by right-hander Matt Manning. Medical personnel rushed to the plate, and Turner was bleeding and had a towel on his face as he walked off the field. Turner’s wife, Kourtney Turner, wrote on Instagram that the infielder had “16 stitches and a lot of swelling but we are thanking God for no fractures & clear scans.”
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