Digest

BASKETBALL

McCollum's blazing start halted by injury

CJ McCollum

In the midst of one of his best seasons, Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum has suffered a hairline fracture in his left foot.

McCollum will wear a walking boot and be evaluated in four weeks.

McCollum was averaging a career-best 26.7 points, as well as five assists, per game when he was injured on Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks.

"I don't want people to feel bad. There's a lot of people going through a lot worse situations than me," he said Tuesday. "So I'll be OK. I've been through injuries before, some foot injuries that were more severe that required surgery, some that required not walking for months at a time. So I'll be able to deal with this accordingly."

McCollum's injury is the latest to befall the Blazers. Center Jusuf Nurkic fractured his wrist during a game last week against the Indiana Pacers and is out indefinitely.

SOCCER

Nine-man Roma left red-faced by cup shock

Spezia advanced to the quarterfinals of the Italian Cup with a 4-2 win against nine-man Roma after extra time on Tuesday.

Former Roma winger Daniele Verde and Riccardo Saponara scored in extra time for Spezia, which next plays Napoli.

The match changed two minutes into the extras when Roma defender Gianluca Mancini and goalkeeper Pau Lopez were sent off within 30 seconds of each other, in separate incidents.

Mancini was dismissed following a second yellow card while Lopez received a straight red for clattering into Spezia forward Roberto Piccoli.

It was more misery for Roma, just a few days after an embarrassing 3-0 league loss to Lazio in the capital derby.

Rooney gets first win as permanent Derby boss

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney earned his first win as permanent Derby County manager as the Rams beat Bournemouth 1-0 to climb out of the Championship relegation zone on Tuesday.

Rooney's side had lost to relegation rival Rotherham United in his first game since taking charge on a full-time basis following his spell as interim boss.

But the former Manchester United and England striker was able to celebrate a priceless three points after Krystian Bielik's cool finish in the first half saw off promotion-chasing Bournemouth at Pride Park.

Derby moved above Rotherham, which was held to a 3-3 draw by Stoke, and the Rams are now two points above the bottom three.

"To get any win is great. Obviously I've not been looking at it like that (a first victory) as I've been doing it a while but, yeah, I'm delighted," Rooney said.

Vieira eyeing Gremio return after Tokyo exit

Veteran forward Jael Vieira has expressed a preference to return to his former club Gremio after parting ways with FC Tokyo.

The 32-year-old made just 22 appearances and scored one goal over two injury-interrupted seasons in Japan. He hailed the professionalism of the J-League but said he was now looking forward to ending his career in his homeland.

"I won't leave Brazil now," Vieira told reporters on Tuesday. "I will work hard at any club in Brazil. I've been able to play in other countries four times and I've lived the experiences I had to live. Now I'm going to enjoy the family more and my little daughters."

Vieira represented Gremio in 2017 and 2018, netting nine times in 47 outings. He has also had spells with Atletico Mineiro, Cruzeiro and Flamengo over a 14-year career.

WEIGHTLIFTING

Olympic champion charged in doping case

Nijat Rahimov

Olympic weightlifting champion Nijat Rahimov has been charged with swapping his urine samples in a doping case that could threaten his gold medal.

The International Testing Agency said late Monday it charged Rahimov of Kazakhstan and Dumitru Captari of Romania with "an anti-doping rule violation for 'urine substitution' which would have occurred over a period of time in 2016".

It is unclear if the allegations span the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics where Rahimov took gold with a world-record lift in the men's 77-kilogram class. Captari competed in the same event.

Even at the time, Rahimov's Olympic performance was doubted.

The bronze medalist in Rio, Mohamed Mahmoud of Egypt, said of his rival's rapid improvement: "In a very short time it cannot happen like that."

BASEBALL

Hall of Fame pitcher Sutton dies at 75

Don Sutton

Don Sutton, a Hall of Fame pitcher who was a stalwart of the Los Angeles Dodgers' rotation spanning an era from Sandy Koufax to Fernando Valenzuela, died Tuesday. He was 75.

The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, said Sutton died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, after a long struggle with cancer. The Atlanta Braves, for whom Sutton was a longtime broadcaster, said he died in his sleep.

A four-time All-Star, Sutton had a career record of 324-256 and an ERA of 3.26 while pitching for the Dodgers, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics, California Angels and the Dodgers again in 1988, his final season.

The durable Sutton never missed a turn in the rotation in 756 big-league starts. Only Cy Young and Nolan Ryan made more starts than Sutton, who never landed on the injured list in his 23-year career.

A master of changing speeds and pitch location, Sutton recorded just one 20-win season but earned 10 or more wins in every year except 1983 and 1988. Of his victories, 58 were shutouts, five were one-hitters and 10 were two-hitters. The right-hander is seventh on the career strikeout list with 3,574.

Xinhua - Agencies