Digest

Basketball

Rose facing rape accusation

Derrick Rose, the 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player, is being sued by a former girlfriend who alleges he and two friends drugged and gang-raped her in 2013.

Rose's accuser, identified only as Jane Doe, said she and the three-time All-Star Chicago Bulls guard dated from 2011 to 2013. In August 2013, she said, Rose and two friends invited her to Rose's home in Beverly Hills, California, where they slipped a drug into her drink with the aim of raping her.

The lawsuit alleges the woman escaped the house but that Rose and his friends broke into her apartment later that night and gang-raped her while she was incapacitated.

Darryl Dawkins dead at 58

Darryl Dawkins, who once claimed to be from the planet "Lovetron" and whose backboard-shattering dunks earned him the moniker "Chocolate Thunder" and helped pave the way for breakaway rims, died on Thursday.

He was 58.

The coroner's office in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, said Dawkins died at a hospital. No other details nor the cause of his death were disclosed. An autopsy was scheduled for Friday.

Dawkins spent parts of 14 seasons in the NBA with Philadelphia, New Jersey, Utah and Detroit. He averaged 12 points and 6.1 rebounds in 726 career regular-season games.

Soccer

Messi and Sasic voted UEFA's best

Lionel Messi on Thursday was voted UEFA's best male player in Europe for 2014-15, with Germany's Celia Sasic winning the women's award.

The Argentina star, who won the Champions League, Spain's La Liga and Spanish Cup with Barcelona, claimed the award for the second time ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez.

FFC Frankfurt's Sasic, 27, was voted the best female player ahead of France's Amandine Henry and fellow German Dzsenifer Marozsan.

Boxing

'Money' jabs back at Rousey

Verbal sparring between Floyd "Money" Mayweather and Ronda Rousey continued on Thursday as the unbeaten welterweight champ laughed off the mixed martial arts star's dig at his earning power.

"Big bank takes little bank," Mayweather said in a statement on TMZ Sports. "Let's play and see how much money you got. Last time I checked, I was No 1 on Forbes."

Rousey, the biggest star on the Ultimate Fighting Championship circuit, taunted Mayweather on Wednesday, reckoning she earns more per second than he does.

Forbes said Mayweather banked over $300 million in the 12-month period since June of last year to easily top the list, but added that Rousey's last three wins, in a combined 64 seconds, in fact translates to more pay-per-second than the boxing champion earned.

Golf

Spieth struggles at The Barclays

Newly crowned world No 1 Jordan Spieth struggled to his worst score of the year in relation to par while Bubba Watson charged into a tie for the first-round lead at The Barclays on Thursday.

Spieth was let down by his usually stellar short game as he limped to a 74 in his first competitive round since he replaced Rory McIlroy at the top of the rankings.

"After the tee shots, that is the worst round I've played in years," said Spieth, who hit 11 of 14 fairways.

Watson used a red-hot front nine as a springboard en route to a sizzling 5-under 65 for a share of the four-way lead.

Agencies

(China Daily 08/29/2015 page11)