Digest

Ice

Hockey Karlsson set to be toast of the coast

The San Jose Sharks swung a monster deal to acquire captain and All-Star defenseman Erik Karlsson from the Ottawa Senators on Thursday.

The Sharks sent forward Chris Tierney, defenseman Dylan DeMelo, prospects Josh Norris and Rudolfs Balcers, a conditional 2019 second-round draft pick and a conditional 2020 first-round pick to the Senators in exchange for the four-time All-Star and two-time Norris Trophy winner as the NHL's to defenseman.

The deal also includes two additional conditional picks. Ottawa receives San Jose's 2021 second-round pick if Karlsson re-signs with San Jose, and the pick becomes a first-rounder if the Sharks reach the 2019 Stanley Cup final.

Stars open vault to keep Seguin happy

Five-time All-Star center Tyler Seguin on Thursday signed an eight-year, $78.8 million contract extension with the Dallas Stars.

Stars general manager Jim Nill announced the deal before the team departed Texas for the start of training camp in Boise, Idaho.

Seguin, the No 2 overall pick in the 2010 draft, was going into the final season of his contract.

Soccer

Seven found guilty of trying to be fixers

Seven men, including the ex-presidents of Nimes and Caen football clubs, were found guilty on Thursday of trying to fix French Ligue 2 matches in 2014.

Jean-Marc Conrad, a former co-owner and club president at Nimes, and Serge Kasparian, the club's majority shareholder at the time, were both sentenced to three years in prison, of which 18 months is suspended, and fined $58,000 in a case built around police telephone taps.

Former Caen president Jean-Francois Fortin was given a 15-month suspended sentence and fined $20,000 for passive bribery.

Record revenues for Manchester City

English champion Manchester City posted record revenues of $652 million in a record-breaking 2017-18 campaign on the pitch as Pep Guardiola's men romped to the Premier League title by amassing 100 points.

City reported profits of $10.4 million, a fourth consecutive year of profitability, with wages to revenue ratio falling to 52 percent.

"Our journey is not complete and we have more targets to fulfill," said club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who recently celebrated a decade since an Abu Dhabi-backed takeover of the club transformed City's fortunes.

Tennis

Slams will stay with 32 seeds next year

The four major tennis tournaments will continue to seed 32 players for men's and women's singles draws, after the Grand Slam Board (GSB) announced on Thursday it had reversed an earlier decision to halve the number.

Having indicated last year that the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open would only have 16 seeds starting in 2019, the organization in charge of the Grand Slams said the current format will remain in place next year.

"Following a full year of Grand Slam match analysis and feedback from all other constituencies, especially players and broadcast partners, the Grand Slam tournaments have decided there is no compelling reason to revert to 16 seeds," the GSB said in a statement.

China Daily / Agencies

(China Daily 09/15/2018 page11)