Bogut disappointed with NBL
NBA veteran Andrew Bogut says players were “used like pawns” in the process that led to his Sydney Kings refusing to fly across the country for Game 4 of the Australian league's finals series because of the coronavirus pandemic, a decision that ultimately handed the championship to Perth.
The Perth Wildcats led the bestof-five game grand final series 2-1 and were scheduled to host the Kings, but the last two games were canceled.
Two days later, the Wildcats were declared NBL champions after an extensive review of the competition regulations, despite Bogut and the Kings leading the standings from the start to the end of the regular season.
Bogut said he had no issue with the Wildcats winning the title, but was scathing of how the NBL handled the situation as sports events were being canceled all over the world.
“To me, what's more disappointing is how the NBL have handled this. That's got nothing to do with Perth,” Bogut said. He gave the NBL a rating of 1 out of 10 in terms of being proactive in contingency planning.
He said the NBL had little contact with the players in a period of upheaval, despite the second and third games of the series being played in empty stadiums. Travel restrictions were coming into effect across Australia and the world when the Kings decided against taking a cross-continental flight because of health and safety concerns.
SWIMMING
USA Swimming's CEO is urging the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to push for the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics until next year.
Tim Hinchey wrote to USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland to advocate on behalf of his governing body's 400,000 members.
Hinchey said athletes' worlds have been turned “upside down” as they struggle to find ways to continue preparing and training for the games. He wrote that “pressing forward amidst the global health crisis this summer is not the answer.”
Because of the disruptions in training, Hinchey said going ahead with the Olympics this year “calls into question the authenticity of a level playing field for all.”
FOOTBALL
The XFL has canceled the remainder of its return season because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The league played five games of a 10-game regular season in eight cities.
It was a revival of the XFL that played one season in 2001.
Commissioner Oliver Luck said the league had “no choice but to officially cancel the remainder of the 2020 season. This decision has been made with the health and safety of the entire XFL family as our top priority.”
“While we are disappointed to not complete the 2020 season,” Luck added, “our hearts are full of appreciation for your overwhelming support.”
Luck stressed that the XFL will be back.
GOLF
Amid a slew of postponements and cancellations in golf, the LPGA Tour announced a September date for what traditionally is its first major championship of the year.
The ANA Inspiration, previously scheduled for April 2-5 in Rancho Mirage, California, now will be played Sept. 10-13. That date previously was for the Cambia Portland Classic, which will move back by one week.
It's the first postponed golf tournament to announce a new date.
The schedule change was announced Friday along with the postponement of three more LPGA Tour events because of the new coronavirus. They were to be played the final three weeks of April – in Hawaii, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Meanwhile, the Official World Golf Ranking and the Rolex Women's World Golf Ranking are freezing the rankings since golf is shut down from the coronavirus, with no tournaments on main tours until May at the earliest.
That's particularly significant for the Olympics because qualifying for the 60-player fields is determined by world ranking. Countries are allowed two players, with a maximum of four if they are among the top 15.
HORSE RACING
One of the major prep races for the Kentucky Derby is being postponed.
Oaklawn Park said the Arkansas Derby will be pushed back from April 11 to May 2.
That's the day the 146th Kentucky Derby was scheduled to be run, but it has been postponed until Sept. 5.
Oaklawn officials said they could have continued live racing with purse money intact through April 18, but after discussions with horsemen decided to reduce purses and keep racing until May.
As a result, the Arkansas Derby purse has been reduced to $750,000 from $1 million.