Caitlin Clark struggles in front of sold-out Boston Garden crowd but Fever beat Sun
Dearica Hamby scored 26 points, Rickea Jackson had 22, and Los Angeles used a big first-half run to beat Washington. Shakira Austin had 16 points and eight rebounds for Washington. Sug Sutton added 14 points, and Aaliyah Edwards scored 13. The Sparks closed the first half on a 17-2 run over the final four minutes to reach their most points scored in any half this season at 59. Hamby scored 18 in the first half, including a 3-pointer just before the buzzer for a 25-point lead. The Mystics, who were held to 12 points in the second quarter, scored 12 points in the opening four minutes of the third. But the Sparks held onto their double-digit lead for the entire second half. Los Angeles (8-14) won consecutive games for the first time this season to match its win total from last season. Washington (11-11) had won three in a row.
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Al Arabiya
38 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
Ex-raptors exec Masai Ujiri remains focused on humanitarian work
Masai Ujiri's July is shaping up to be quite the rollercoaster ride. The recently fired former Toronto Raptors executive is navigating his sudden departure from a franchise where he'd spent 13 seasons while also launching the second edition of his private foundation's Giants of Africa Festival – all within a one-month span. The humanitarian work Ujiri pledged will continue regardless of his employment status. The British-born NBA executive raised in his father's native Nigeria founded Giants of Africa in 2003 – back when he was just starting off as a scout and long before becoming the first African team president of a professional North American sports franchise. 'It's an obligation for me,' Ujiri said. 'It's a passion.' The foundation's ambitions have risen with his own success. Giants of Africa has reached thousands of campers across 18 countries. It has helped build more than three dozen courts on the continent. High-profile supporters include Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's The Archewell Foundation. 2023's inaugural Giants of Africa Festival united more than 250 boys and girls around a week of basketball clinics life skills lessons and community building that culminated in a concert headlined by South African superstar Tyla. The goal? A borderless Africa as Ujiri likes to say. The festival returns to Kigali Rwanda on July 26 with a lineup featuring Nigerian pop singer Ayra Starr and WNBA great Candace Parker. Two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard – brought to Toronto by Ujiri for the team's championship-winning 2018-2019 season – will mentor campers and train underserved youth. Ujiri discussed the upcoming event and his future with The Associated Press. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Q: Why'd you expand Giants of Africa Festival 2025 to 320 young participants from 20 African nations? A: When we had the last festival we really focused on – whether it was the basketball the life skills the coaching the mentorship – we focused on culture. We focused on the whole ecosystem of how we feel kids need this opportunity to grow. It really inspired us to think about how we bring this to more countries. We're doing this incredible incredible fashion show showing the print the threads of Africa and who we really are. It used to be weird where you'd see somebody wearing cloth from Africa. Now it's part of the fashion. It's part of us. It's just like Afrobeats – it's part of life everywhere. Everybody wants to wear a boubou. You see a lot of fashion designers from all over the world using our prints. We want to showcase that and give these youth the opportunity to see that this is how they can also expand their minds. Q: How does it feel to see basketball investments lead to the sport growing across the continent? A: It's been unbelievable. With these camps it started off as basketball development but you've seen that really become something that has really grown even bigger. I saw Pascal (Siakam) I saw (Joel) Embiid I saw all these guys as youth in camps. Seeing them as 15- 16-year-old kids in camp you can't even project. And that tells you how much talent we have on the continent. I always say Africa's biggest jewel is the talent of the youth. One out of every four people in the world are going to be Africans by the year 2050 and the median age is 20. We should be investing on the continent. Q: How does Giants of Africa use sports to get the youth to consider different careers? A: I'm the prime example of that. I didn't play in the NBA. I didn't even play high-level college or high-level Europe. The entry point for me was a scout in the NBA. From then on lots of people helped me to create this path that I'm on still. I go back to Basketball Without Borders when the NBA gave me the opportunity to be a director. That has led to me becoming an executive in the NBA. That's the example I want to give. That's why we have so many people coming to this festival to really show these kids – whether it's me or a journalist or a sports doctor or sports lawyer – there's so many careers. And the start is sports and doing it passionately and doing it well. Q: How did women's empowerment become a focus for the foundation's work? A: When I first started I was doing boys camps. Not every kid is going to make it to the NBA. So we started focusing on life skills. That was teaching respect honesty being on time. One of the big focuses was respect for women. So I'm challenging these boys but I'm not challenging myself. I can't say women's empowerment and respect women and just do these camps for boys. So we introduced the girls. And it's not 50 boys and 10 girls just for token. It's equality. They all have a basketball and they have the same court time. We can't just say it. We actually have to do it. Q: What does your recent Toronto Raptors departure mean for your humanitarian work? A: Job no job wherever I am whatever kind of job I'm doing Giants of Africa is key. The focus will always be that just because I owe it to the youth of the continent. I owe it to the continent. My goal is not how big does Giants of Africa get. I look at it as: how big are these youth going to become? They'll go on to do other things. They could go on to become a president or become a governor or become president of a team. The hope is that this experience here will even make them reimagine many of the things that they want to do. So Giants of Africa will never go anywhere.
Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Ballers outfielder Lou Helmig represents deep baseball history in Germany
OAKLAND, Calif. – In the quiet dugout hours before first pitch, as a few teammates begin their pregame routines on the nearby grass, Lou Helmig pauses and ponders his baseball lineage. He holds a bat in his hand. It always seems he has a bat in hand, ready. Helmig also carries a deep family history with every swing and every catch, with every sprint around the basepaths. He has carried it at every level, in every new place he plays, on whatever continent it happens to be in a given moment. The larger-than-life right fielder for the independent Oakland Ballers is a third-generation German professional player, trying to leave his own mark just like his grandfather Claus, great-uncle Jurgen, and Helmigs own dad, Martin, before him. 'I come from a baseball family, third-generation professional baseball player, and I've got to make a name for myself first,' he said. 'I've got to follow up the name. I love playing baseball, I love everything about it, and I think it's the best job in the world that you can have, being out here in the sunshine, having an amazing day.' And people love to root for him. Like many of the Ballers, Helmig needed a fresh start, someone to believe in him again – and Oakland is thrilled he landed here to find it. He represented Germany in this year's World Baseball Classic qualifiers and played for the Phillies Florida Coast League rookie-level club in 2022 and 2023. At 6-foot-5, the slugging outfielder is already a beloved face inside Raimondi Park, a huge hit with fans starved for a star to grab onto after the Oakland Athletics' heartbreaking departure this year for West Sacramento. Some have been sporting lederhosen as a thoughtful nod to Helmigs native Bavaria in Germany. The 22-year-old Helmig loves seeing German flags waving in the stands. What many might not know is that his baseball pedigree dates back to pre-World War II-era Germany. Helmigs grandfather and great-uncle became the first German-born players to sign with a major league club when they joined the Orioles in 1955. But that meant playing in the Negro Leagues when Germans weren't always warmly welcomed in the US. After his playing career was over, he started bringing the game to Germany and to a lot of places. 'He was working with the Army bases which were still in Germany at that time,' Helmig shared. 'He was also a distributor of baseball equipment and American sports equipment during that time to spread the game all over Germany.' Father Martin played baseball too and still likes to chat with his son regularly about the games from across the world. 'I don't know anything else besides baseball,' the youngest Helmig said. 'My grandpa and my dad, you can change the subject on them, but after five minutes it will come to baseball somehow.' With a name inspired by Lou Gehrig, he has played on five continents and speaks three languages. Baseball has taken him all over Europe to the Netherlands, Spain, Czech Republic, Italy, and also to Asia, Mexico, Panama, Dominican Republic, Colombia, South Africa, Australia. 'Quite a lot of places already,' he said, easily listing off all of the stops. This one has already been memorable. Just last week, Helmig helped the second-year franchise clinch a Pioneer League playoff spot with the tying and go-ahead singles in the sixth and eighth innings of a 6-5 win over the Rocky Mountain Vibes on July 10. 'Lous brought a great addition to the Ballers, just the personality, everything about him. He brings great energy to the field every day,' catcher Dillon Tatum said. 'I love his personality, that's what I love most about him. Same dude every day. Love him to death and glad to have him.' 'It's amazing,' Helmig family. They hope to keep him all season. While players affiliated with major league clubs and in those teams' farm systems have processes in place with customs and immigration to secure work visas for athletes, the Pioneer League doesn't. But Helmig, Oakland's second-youngest player who was released by the Phillies in April 2024, still had an active visa from his recent stint with the Fargo North Dakota RedHawks team. Ballers assistant general manager Tyler Petersen is a German-American and loves the energy in the ballpark and support surrounding Helmig. 'It's a little bit of fun for me personally, of course,' Petersen said. 'He has the tools, he's got the makeup. It's the same question we ask with all our athletes, can they put it together, can they show off to scouts to say either I deserve my next chance or my first chance? For him, what was it that the Phillies gave up on him for? What can he show in this league? So what is the next step for him to make the jump back to the affiliate level because he can play at the affiliate level. We love having him.' Just as the fans learn about Helmig, he has been educated on Oakland's sports history too, like how the city lost its three major sports teams – the NFL's Raiders, the Golden State Warriors moving to San Francisco, and then the As who plan to move to Las Vegas in 2028. So he quickly understood how much the Ballers fill a void for this baseball-crazed city. 'When I came here they told me everything about it. They gave me some history lessons in that,' he said of the loyal fan group called Last Dive Bar. 'I love this place, I love this setup. People here take really good care of me.' Always with him is the reminder of a family responsibility, and Helmig embraces it. 'It means a lot to me. I've still got to make a name for myself. I've got to be humble, keep going and keep working hard,' he said. 'I think about my grandpa a lot too, obviously because he played the game I love, so it's always in the back of my head.
Arab News
4 hours ago
- Arab News
Pacquiao is back, but how back is he? Saturday's fight against Barrios will reveal all
LAS VEGAS: Manny Pacquiao insisted he was back, and from a purely technical standpoint, he was correct. For the latest updates, follow us @ArabNewsSport Back in the ring. Back as a headliner. But back to what he was when Pacquiao was one of the planet's most dominant fighters, building a massive fanbase and a gold-standard resume that put him in the International Boxing Hall of Fame last month? That is the real question. He will get a chance to answer it Saturday night when the 46-year-old from the Philippines will try to take the WBC welterweight belt from Mario Barrios. It will be Pacquiao's first fight since losing by unanimous decision to Yordenis Ugas nearly four years ago. His last victory occurred in 2019, a split decision over Keith Thurman. 'Saturday night, it's going to be a great fight,' Pacquiao said. 'It's been a while that I've been out of the ring, but I'm still active and exercising all the time. I'm going to prove to everyone that I'm in great condition. 'I've been enjoying training camp like I did in the past, just like when I was 26 years old. The discipline is still the same. Even with my layoff, my passion is still there.' Barrios, a 30-year-old from San Antonio, is a -275 favorite at BetMGM Sportsbook to spoil Pacquiao's return. But he needs to bounce back from a split-decision draw on Nov. 15 against Abel Ramos that dropped his record to 29-2-1, 18 wins by knockout. 'Manny is one of a kind,' Barrios said. 'He's not an easy style to copy in training camp. We've gotten a lot of different southpaw looks, so I'm feeling extremely comfortable. 'It feels amazing to be in this position. I poured everything into this sport since I was (a) kid, and now I get to walk the (Las Vegas) Strip with my family and see my name all over. It's something that I've always dreamed of. Now it's my job to show why I'm going to continue to be the champion.' The buildup to this bout hasn't come with the usual forced hatred that envelops many title fights. The combatants even chatted during the standard face-off pose at Wednesday's news conference and then broke into laughter. Hard to imagine that happening at a Gervonta Davis presser. Barrios cautioned not to read too much into the mutual respect and admiration when it comes to what the action in the ring might look like, that each boxer would bring his all. Pacquiao enters with a resume that includes 12 world championships in eight divisions as well as a 62-8-2 record with 39 KOs. He's considerably older and gives away about seven inches in height to the 6-foot Barrios. Pacman is back, but how back he truly is will be revealed Saturday night. 'I've been a challenger many times and it's always the same feeling,' Pacquiao said. 'I'm excited to take the belt. He's a good fighter also, but our job is to entertain the fans. We're going to give them a real fight.' In the co-main event, WBC super welterweight champion Sebastian Fundora (21-1-1, 14 KOs) will face Tim Tszyu (25-2, 18 KOs). Fundora emerged with a split-decision victory over Tszyu on March 30, 2024. The WBO stripped Fundora of his belt for taking the rematch rather than face mandatory challenger Xander Zayas. 'It doesn't matter what happened in the first fight because we have the second fight coming up,' Fundora said. 'Tune in Saturday, because it's going to be another great war.'
