GOING HOME AGAIN: GASOL WILL PLAY FOR FC BARCELONA
Pau Gasol is going home, announcing Tuesday that he will sign to play with FC Barcelona again and rejoin the franchise with which he started his professional basketball career more than 20 years ago.
The Spaniard has previously said he wants to play in his fifth Olympic Games but that he needs to be playing this season to give himself a chance of making it to Tokyo.
Gasol is a six-time NBA All-Star, winning a pair of championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. The 40year-old who was born in Barcelona last appeared in the NBA on March 10, 2019, for Milwaukee.
“I’m happy to return to the club where I began, and I’m excited about this new opportunity,” he wrote in a post on social media. “I hope to contribute to the first team very soon. I want to thank Barca and its technical staff for making it possible to join them.”
Earlier this week he had denied the move to Barcelona, saying he remained “focused on my recovery and I am not ready to get back to competing just yet.” His statements Tuesday made no mention of the Olympics.
Gasol debuted for Barcelona in the 1998-99 season, was part of two Liga ACB — the top Spanish league — championships in three years, then was the No. 3 pick in the 2001 NBA Draft. He was the rookie of the year for Memphis in 2002, won three Olympic medals with Spain and was part of the team that won the FIBA world championship, now called the Basketball World Cup, in 2006.
Gasol has been bothered by a foot injury over the past two years, though Tuesday’s announcement suggests he believes he’s nearly ready to play again.
Horse racing
A 3-year-old filly died Tuesday during training at Golden Gate Fields, making it the fifth thoroughbred fatality at the Northern California racetrack this year.
Okoye’s death was listed as an accident on the California Horse Racing Board’s website. She was trained by Isidro Tamayo and finished fourth in her most recent race on Feb. 5. She was winless in five career starts and had earnings of $16,080.
A 4-year-old gelding and a 5-year-old mare died in training incidents last weekend at the track.
The gelding named Sweet Boy died suddenly on Saturday, according to the
CHRB.
Sweet Boy was trained and co-owned by Timothy Bellasis. The gelding had four wins in eight career starts and earnings of $43,971. Sweet Boy had not raced since Feb. 28, 2020, when he won at Golden Gate.
My Three Kids died Sunday, according to the racing
board. The mare was trained by Andreas Psarras. She had one win in 14 career starts and earnings of $14,908. She finished second in her last race on Feb. 6 at Golden Gate.
• Three prominent Kentucky horse farms challenged a rule Tuesday aimed at limiting the number of mares that a thoroughbred stallion breeds each year, calling it an anti-competitive restriction that threatens to disrupt the breeding industry.
The farms filed a federal lawsuit in Kentucky that takes aim at the “stallion cap” adopted by The Jockey Club in the spring of 2020. The rule effectively restricts thoroughbred stallions from breeding with more than 140 mares each year, the suit said.
Local colleges
San Diego State softball’s Karina Faasisila was named the Mountain West Pitcher of the Week.
Faasisila helped the Aztecs to a 5-0 record over the week, matching SDSU’s best start in program history. The left-hander appeared in three games in relief, going 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 10 innings, striking out nine with three walks, while limiting the opposition to a .129 average. Faasisila allowed only four hits — all singles.
• The UCSD men’s golf team tied for 13th place in the 14-team The Joust, hosted by California Baptist at Goose Creek Golf Club in Riverside County. Loyola Marymount won the tournament at 12 over, 25 strokes ahead of second-place
Washington State and 58 strokes ahead of the Tritons.
Also
UEFA appointed a disciplinary investigator to look at allegations Zlatan Ibrahimovic was racially abused when AC Milan played at Red Star Belgrade last week.
Ibrahimovic was sitting in the stands as a substitute during the Europa League game in Serbia and footage appeared to detail insults shouted at him.
• Andy Murray lost in straight sets to No. 83-ranked Egor Gerasimov at the Open Sud de France in the former No. 1’s first ATP Tour match since October.
• UCLA runner Chris Weiland has been dismissed from the track and field and cross country teams after a video recording and text message exchange showing him using racist, homophobic and sexist language surfaced on social media.
• Fausto Gresini, a former motorcycling world champion and team owner, died from complications linked to the coronavirus. He was 60.
• The New England Black Wolves of the National Lacrosse League are relocating to Albany, New York.