Sale of soccer star will net $25M for Ukraine defense funds
Ukraine’s armed forces will get $25 million from the country’s richest man for the sale of soccer player Mykhaylo Mudryk to football club Chelsea FC of the English Premier League.
Billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, the owner of the Shakhtar Donetsk football club, announced the donation on Monday after agreeing to trade Mudryk for about $76 million, plus a potential bonus of 30 million, a record amount for a Ukrainian team.
“I am allocating $25 million today to help our soldiers, defenders and their families,” Akhmetov said. The money will be used for needs “from providing medical and prosthetic treatment and psychological support to meeting specific requests,” he said.
Tennis
Day 2 of the Australian Open began Tuesday with No. 5 women’s seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus defeating Tereza Martincova of Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-4. American Taylor Townsend, a wild-card entry from Chicago, defeated Diane Perry of France, 6-1, 61.
The U.S.’s Alison RiskeAmritraj, of Peters Township, was set to play later Tuesday. The highlight match on Tuesday’s schedule was scheduled to be fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic’s opening match against Roberto Carballes Baena, the final match of the day. Hours before the start of Day 2, the field took another hit when Australian Nick Kyrgios withdrew because of a injury to his left knee, which will require arthroscopic surgery. He joined a list of absentees that ranges from the retired Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Ash Barty, to pregnant Naomi Osaki to injured Carlos Alvarez, Venus Williams and Marin Cilic.
College basketball
Alabama men’s basketball coach Nate Oats said the fourth-ranked Crimson Tide was going through “kind of a grieving process” after player Darius Miles and another man were charged with capital murder after a fatal shooting during the weekend near campus.
• Houston and Kansas remained 1-2 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll after a record 11 Top 25 teams lost over the weekend. Florida Atlantic took advantage of the chaos to crack the ranking for the first time in school history.
• In the women’s poll, South Carolina remained No. 1 for the 30th consecutive week, tying Connecticut for the fourthlongest streak. Ohio State moved past Stanford to No. 2 after the Cardinal’s loss Sunday to USC. And Baylor dropped out of the Top 25 for the first time in 19 years.
• Onetime Big East power Georgetown lost, 73-70, to Villanova, extending its streak of conference losses to 28 games.
Pro basketball
Four-time WNBA champion Maya Moore, who walked away from the game four years ago to devote her life to social justice causes, announced her formal retirement from basketball.
• Former Atlanta Hawks All-Star Kyle Korver was promoted to be the team’s assistant general manager.
Olympics
Ana José Tima, a twotime Olympics triple jumper, was provisionally suspended for two positive tests for doping substances, track and field’s Athletics Integrity Unit said.
Hockey
The Minnesota Wild signed 21-year-old forward Matt Boldy to a seven-year, $49 million contract extension. Boldy, who was selected 12th overall in the 2019 draft, has 12 goals and 17 assists this season for the Wild.
• Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner and his wife have filed for bankruptcy in Nevada, citing up to $50 million in debts to dozens of creditors.