Sports

MILAN, Italy — Jannik Sinner's long doping saga came to an end on Saturday after he agreed to a three-month ban from tennis, the World No.1 admitting "partial responsibility" for team mistakes which led to him twice testing positive for traces of clostebol in March last year.

The February 9 to May 4 suspension means Sinner will be free to play in the French Open, the second Grand Slam of the season, which begins on May 25 at Roland Garros.

In a statement, Sinner said that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accepted that he "had no intent and did not derive any competitive advantage from the two positive tests" of the banned substance.

Australian Open champion Sinner has always said that clostebol entered his system when his physiotherapist used a spray containing it to treat a cut before providing a massage and sports therapy.

"This case had been hanging over me now for nearly a year and the process still had a long time to run with a decision maybe only at the end of the year," Sinner said.

"I have always accepted that I am responsible for my team and realise WADA's strict rules are an important protection for the sport I love. On that basis I have accepted WADA's offer to resolve these proceedings on the basis of a three-month sanction."

WADA said separately that "Sinner did not intend to cheat" but that he would serve his suspension as he is responsible for the actions of his entourage.

Sport's global doping watchdog confirmed it was withdrawing its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which was due to hear the case in April.

The agreement between Sinner and WADA also means that Sinner will be able to play in front of his home fans at the Rome Open which kicks off just after the end of his suspension and is the last big clay-court tournament before Roland Garros.

Saturday's announcement brings to an end a controversy which has followed Sinner everywhere just as he rose to become the top player in men's tennis and a multiple Grand Slam winner.

Doping controversy

Sinner was facing a potential ban of two years after WADA appealed to CAS against his initial exoneration by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), announced in August.

The positive tests were not intially made public while the ITIA investigation was ongoing and Sinner had been allowed to carry on playing after successfully appealing provisional suspensions.

"We were satisfied that the player had established the source of the prohibited substance and that the breach was unintentional. Today's outcome supports this finding," said the ITIA on Saturday.

The ITIA's initial ruling caused uproar among a section of the men's tour, with outspoken Australian player Nick Kyrgios calling it "ridiculous" and pouring scorn on Sinner's explanation for the contamination.

Kyrgios reacted to Saturday's announcement on X, posting: "Guilty or not? Sad day for tennis. Fairness in tennis does not exist."

And three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka was equally damning of the deal, writing: "I don't believe in a clean sport anymore."

The ITIA's decision was made public just days before last year's US Open, which Sinner subsequently won to claim his second Grand Slam after breaking his major tournament duck at the previous Australian Open.

Sinner then successfully defended his title at Melbourne Park last month, becoming just the fourth man to do so since the turn of the century alongside tennis icons Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

By that point he had confirmed his status as national hero in Italy by winning the ATP Finals in Turin and then starring in his country's second straight Davis Cup triumph.

Sinner, who pulled out of defending his title at this month's Rotterdam Open, had previously been viewed with some suspicion in the Mediterranean nation.

His origins in the German-speaking areas of South Tyrol and residence in Monaco led to local media and former tennis players casting doubt on whether he was Italian at all.

But he is now Italy's biggest sports star after surging to the top of the sport ahead of Spain's golden boy Carlos Alcaraz, himself a four-time Grand Slam champion at the age of 21.

AMMAN —  Faisali play Salt on Friday as week 13 of the CFI Jordan Professional Football League kicks off on Friday.

In other matches this week, Aqaba play Sarih, Ahli play Ma’an, and Jazira face Shabab Urdun. Holders Hussein and Wihdat lead the pack but they have their matches postponed for the Round of 16 of the AFC Asian Champions League Two. The two Jordanian teams lost their home matches and will play Leg 2 away matches next week

At action returned to the pitch after over a month’s long break during which the national team regrouped in preparation for resuming World Cup qualifiers, Faisali beat Ma’an 3-1 to move up one spot as did Mughayer Sarhan who held Ahli 0-0. Salt beat Shabab Urdun 4-0 to move up a spot while Ramtha held Aqaba to a goalless draw.

Hussein have managed to garner the most formidable lineup making up most of national team players. They recently beat Wihdat to win the Jordan Super Cup. Earlier, Salt upset Wihdat to win their first ever major title - the Jordan Football Association Shield Cup, while the Jordan Cup is down to the semifinals, with Faisali vs Hussein and Wihdat vs Ahli.

Last season, Hussein won their first Pro League crown, becoming the 9^th champions since the League kicked off in 1944 after neighbors Ramtha won the title in 2022/23  for the third time in their history after 39 years. In other competitions, Wihdat won the Jordan Cup for the 12^th time as well as the Super Cup for their 15^th time, while Faisali won their 9^th Jordan Football Association Shield.  

Faisali are 35-time record League champs while Wihdat won 17 times since first joining in 1980. Ahli won eight times, Ramtha and Jazira three times, ShababUrdun twice, Hussein, Amman and Urdun clubs once.

AMMAN — Jordan plays Saudi Arabia on Thursday in Group B matches of the AFC U-20 Asian Cup which kicks off in Shenzhen, China.

The Kingdom’s matches include North Korea on February 16 and Iraq on February 19.  Group A includes hosts China, Australia, Kyrgyzstan and Qatar; Group C includes titleholders Uzbekistan, Iran, Indonesia and Yemen while Group D includes, Japan, South Korea, Syria and Thailand. The top two teams from each group will move to the quarterfinals. The top four teams  will advance from Asia to the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

It will be Jordan’s  9^th time at the  U20 Asian Cup  finals with their best finish fourth place in 2006 when they qualified to the U20 World Cup in 2007.

After a series of friendlies in Amman, the squad played a friendly tourney which included India, Indonesia and Syria ahead of the finals. The team includes a host of young stars who were recently also recalled to the senior team’s Doha training camp, headed by Ibrahim Sabra, who has been instrumental in Wihdat’s local land regional agenda in the AFC Champions League Two.

The U-20 Asian Cup,  previously known as the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship, is a biennial competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC),  and is a qualifying tournament to the U-20 World Cup.  South Korea is the record winning team with 12 titles. Among Arab teams Iraq won five times, Saudi three times, while Qatar, Syria and the UAE once each.

Forty five Asian teams contested the AFC qualifiers in 10 groups, with the group winners and five best second-placed teams advancing to the finals.  Jordan qualified as one of five best second placed teams after they beat Singapore 2-0 and Hong Kong 7-0 and lost 3-2 to Qatar.

SAALBACH, Austria — Twenty years on from her world championship debut, there was no fairytale ending for US star Lindsey Vonn in the women's team combined in Saalbach on Tuesday.

But one of global sport's most recognisable figures insisted she was hoping for a more successful Olympic hurrah at next year's Milan/Cortina d'Ampezzo Games.

Vonn struggled down the downhill section of the team combined, finishing a massive 2.54sec off teammate Lauren Macuga's lead pace.

The deficit was too much for Vonn's combined partner AJ Hurt to make up in the slalom, and the pair finished 16th.

"It was not a fast run!" said Vonn, in her comeback after retiring following a downhill bronze at the 2019 Are world champs.

A raft of former skiers and commentators have openly questioned Vonn's sanity and life following her decision to come out of retirement, made possible after a titanium reconstruction of her knee.

Vonn has called the finger-wagging "inappropriate and disrespectful", hinting she had been picked upon because of being a woman.

But she added there will always be critics and that a life without "haters" probably means she's not performing.

Not gliding fast

"I honestly can't tell you what is going wrong," she said of her performances in Saalbach, topped by a 15th-placed finish in the downhill, citing equipment issues.

"Right now, technically, I'm skiing better than I was before, but on the gliding, I am not fast, so that's something that I've never had a problem with, and I just need to figure it out.

"I have a year to figure it out, and I think I will, but right now, it's hard to really change your entire set-up while you're racing the world championships."

Vonn, the 2010 Olympic downhill champion with 82 World Cup victories to her name, made her world champs debut in Bormio in 2005 and went on to win eight medals in nine overall championships.

Those included two golds in 2009 as well as three silvers in 2007 and 2011.

She is hoping her longevity stretches to the Olympics next year, where she predicts the US team should prosper, naming downhill winner Breezy Johnson -- who won the combined with Mikaela Shiffrin -- and super-G bronze medallist Macuga.

"I think everyone stepped it up this year. You know, it's really fun to see when we were training in November, when I first came with the team, the potential.

"We're skiing really, really well. In Cortina, these girls all have capabilities of being on the podium, which is a matter of putting the pieces together when it counts.

"I have nothing but positive things to say about my team, and I am really excited for the Olympics next year because across the board, we have a lot of talent and a lot of potential.

"I know we're going do incredible things together."

'Full throttle'

Vonn vowed she would be going "full throttle over spring and summer to really get things going".

"It was really important to stand at the starting gate with a clear mind and execute my plan, to feel the butterflies of a big event, and to know that I've done what I came to do," she said of her Saalbach experience.

"I might not have been as fast as I wanted, but from my side, I executed my game plan.

"And that's the biggest positive that I take away from this week, is that I executed when I needed to. I didn't make any major mistakes."

Vonn said her downfall on the road back to competition had been her lack of patience.

"I really have to try to be kind to myself because even though I have high expectations -- and I was fourth and sixth in my second and third races back -- I still have work to do.

"I am still 40 and I still have a partial knee replacement! I know I expect to do better, and everyone else expects me to do better, but at the same time, I do need a little bit of grace and patience and kindness to just give me some time to figure it all out.

"It's not like I don't know what to do. It's not like I can't do it. I just need time to put all the pieces together."

AMMAN —  Hussein host UAE’s Sharjah at 7pm on Tuesday while Wihdat play Ahli Dubai at 5:00pm Wednesday at Amman International stadium in the Round of 16of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Champions League (ACL) Two.

Hussein will be facing six-time UAE champions in a tough match while Wihdat face Ahli -2015  Asian Champions League finalist, as both Jordanian teams are eyeing the quarterfinals hoping to win the home matches ahead of the return leg which will be played in the UAE next week. 

Hussein and Wihdat advanced in the second tier Asian event that has replaced the AFC Cupas the top tier Asian clubs competition was rebranded as the ACL Elite. Clubs played in 8 groups in the 21st edition of the event, with the top two in each group advancing to this round. 

It is Hussein’s 2ndand Wihdat’s 13th time in the competition which was won three times by Jordanian clubs when it was the AFC Cup. Faisali won two back-to-back titles in 2005-2006 and Shabab Urdun won once in 2007, Wihdat reached the semis in 2006, 2007 and 2011. No Jordanian clubs played in 2022.

Hussein and Wihdat are leading the local competitions this season.  Hussein top the CFI Jordan Professional Football League and recently beat Wihdat to win the Jordan Super Cup. Earlier, Salt upset Wihdat to win their first ever major title - the Jordan Football Association Shield Cup, while Wihdat and Hussein have reached the Jordan Cup semis. 

SAALBACH, Austria — Mikaela Shiffrin said on Monday she will not defend her giant slalom title at the World Ski Championships because of crash-induced post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but the US star will race with newly-crowned downhill champion Breezy Johnson in the women's team combined on Tuesday.

Shiffrin is making her comeback from an injury in Killington in November that left her with an abdominal puncture wound, explaining her decision to sit out the giant slalom "soul-crushing".

Johnson claimed a shock gold in Saturday's downhill just weeks after her own comeback from a 14-month suspension for three anti-doping whereabouts failures.

"After becoming world champion in downhill on Saturday, Breezy told me 'If you want to do the TC, I would be honoured to pair with you. Not because of the medal, but because this sport is crazy fun, and it would be fun to bring it full circle after all these years'," Shiffrin said.

"Breezy and I have been racing together since we were 11.

"We've been roommates, competitors, friends. And she's right... it will be so cool to bring this full circle."

Shiffrin initially said she would not take part in the women's team combined, a new event that will also feature in next year's Winter Olympics in Milan/Cortina d'Ampezzo.

The event sees two athletes racing one run of downhill and one run of slalom. The combined time will determine the winner.

No 'Dream Team' 

Lindsey Vonn had warmed to the idea of skiing alongside Shiffrin in a veritable US dream team boasting an unprecedented 181 World Cup victories.

Shiffrin, with a record 99 of those World Cup wins to her name, rowed back on her initial decision, saying on social media Monday that she would indeed participate in the team combined.

Vonn will instead race with slalom specialist AJ Hurt.

"Always been a team player and I support my team no matter what," Vonn said on X after having seemingly queried the decision making.

"I'm not surprised by the decisions made, but at least now it's clear that it's not my decision. I have always been supportive and respectful and that will never change."

There was not, however, such good news for Shiffrin's participation in the giant slalom.

"I've poured all of my energy into getting my giant slalom in shape to be prepared to start world champs GS in Saalbach on Thursday," Shiffrin said.

"The long-story-short is... I'm not there. Right now, I feel quite far away. I'm currently working through some mental obstacles in order to return to the GS start with the intensity required for racing."

Mental barrier 

Shiffrin admitted that she had not counted on "experiencing so much of this kind of mental/PTSD struggle in GS from my injury in Killington".

"I figured my passion and longing to compete would outweigh the mental barriers," she added.

"Maybe that will be the case over time, but I'm not there yet.

"Coming to terms with how much fear I have doing an event that I loved so dearly on two months ago has been soul-crushing."

Shiffrin added: "I just haven't been able to overcome some of those psychological challenges from the crash and the injury.

"I just haven't been able to fully overcome those in GS to be able to produce skiing that's good enough to race World Cup GS races.

"I feel like my skiing technically is good, but I'm mentally blocked in being able to get to the next level of pace and speed and putting power into the turns.

"And that kind of mental, psychological, PTSD-esque struggle, it's more than I anticipated."

Shiffrin, who has seven world championship gold medals to her name, has 14 medals in 17 world champ starts dating back to 2013.

LOS ANGELES, United States — Superstar big man Anthony Davis dazzled in his Dallas debut before hobbling out hurt in the third quarter of the Mavericks' 116-105 NBA victory over the Houston Rockets on Saturday.

Davis had given Dallas fans still fuming over the trade of Luka Doncic plenty of reasons to welcome his arrival, scoring 26 points with 16 rebounds, seven assists and three of the Mavs' 18 blocked shots.

But he pulled up in pain with less than three minutes remaining in the third period, departing with what the team called a lower-body injury.

There had been no contact when Davis stopped short and put his hand to his groin, heading immediately for the sideline.

Davis, whose Mavs debut was delayed as he recovered from an abdominal strain, downplayed the injury after the game, saying it was "nothing serious".

"I'm fine," he said, adding that he felt "a little spasm" in his groin-quadriceps area and could not get it loose.

Even so, the injury will likely fuel the ire among some Mavs fans at the trade that brought Davis from the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Doncic -- the 25-year-old Slovenian star who led the team to the NBA Finals last season.

Some gathered outside American Airlines Center before the game with signs calling for general manager Nico Harrison to be fired.

Huge ovation 

Nevertheless, Davis received a huge ovation when he was introduced and the cheers were even louder when he fed Daniel Gafford for an alley-oop dunk for the first points of the game.

Davis had 14 points on six of eight shooting in the first quarter with eight rebounds, three assists and a block as the Mavs surged clear of the Rockets and coasted to a comfortable victory.

Elsewhere the Lakers, still waiting for Doncic to make his debut as he recovers from a calf strain, shrugged off the absence of superstar LeBron James -- nursing a sore ankle -- to beat the Indiana Pacers 124-117.

Austin Reaves, questionable to start with an elbow injury, scored a career-high 45 points. Rui Hachimura added 24 on his 27th birthday to help the Lakers win their fifth straight.

In Chicago, Jimmy Butler made a winning start to his career with the Golden State Warriors, scoring 25 points on his debut in a 132-111 victory over the Bulls.

The Warriors trailed by as much as 24 points early in the third quarter but a stunning Stephen Curry-inspired rally flipped the game on its head.

Curry rattled in 24 points in the third quarter as the Warriors outscored Chicago 42-25 to edge into a slender lead before closing out victory in the fourth quarter.

Curry finished with 34 points, including eight three-pointers, to lead Golden State's scoring.

The Oklahoma City Thunder extended their lead at the top of the Western Conference, dominating the second-placed Memphis Grizzlies 125-112 on the road in a statement win.

The Grizzlies took a fleeting two-point lead early in the first quarter but after that it was all Oklahoma City, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finishing with 32 points. Aaron Wiggins added 26 points and Jalen Williams 25.

In New York, Jayson Tatum erupted for 40 points as the Boston Celtics thrashed the Knicks 131-104.

Payton Pritchard backed Tatum with 25 points off the bench, shooting six of eight three-point attempts, as the Celtics improved to 37-16 to remain second in the Eastern Conference.

AMMAN — The CFI Jordan Professional Football League returns to competition on Friday after over a month’s long break during which the national team regrouped in preparation for resuming World Cup qualifiers while club players transfer deals were concluded.

As Leg 2 matches kick off, Hussein are in the lead with Wihdat, Ramtha, Ahli, and  Faisali in top five spots, while Salt are sixth followed by Shabab Urdun, Jazira, Sarih and Mughayer Sarhan. Ma’anand Aqaba are in the relegation zone.

Four matches are scheduled on the weekend with Hussein and Wihdat’s matches postponed as they play the quarterfinals of the AFC Asian Champions League Two.

Meanwhile, Hussein won the Super Cup after they beat Wihdat 3-1 in Leg 1 before they tied 0-0 in Leg 2 on Thursday. 

Hussein have managed to garner the most formidable lineup and are expected to add more titles as the season progresses.

This season, Salt upset Wihdat to win their first ever major title - the Jordan Football Association Shield Cup. The Jordan Cup is down to the semifinals, with Faisali vs Hussein and Wihdat vs Ahli. In the quarterfinals, Ahli  beat Ramtha 2-1,  Wihdat beat Sama Sarhan 3-0, Hussein beat Salt on penalties 1-1 (5-3)and Faisali beat Mughayer Sarhan 3-1. Sama Sarhan were the only team from the First Divison to join Pro league teams in the quarters.