Digest

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

Harris sticking with Denver in $27m deal

New Broncos general manager George Paton scored his first victory as John Elway's hand-picked successor Monday when defensive end Shelby Harris agreed to a three-year, $27 million deal to stay in Denver.

Harris' agent, Ryan Williams, announced on Twitter that the seventh-year veteran was remaining with the Broncos and the club confirmed the agreement.

Harris played on a one-year deal last year after finding no suitors in free agency despite setting personal highs with 49 tackles, six sacks and nine passes defensed in 2019.

He refused to lament his bad luck, however, saying he felt fortunate to have a job during the pandemic.

Even though he missed a month with COVID-19 last season, Harris had another solid season in coach Vic Fangio's 3-4 defense, deflecting seven passes, tied with JJ Watt for most by a defensive lineman in 2020.

BOXING

Joshua, Fury to unify heavyweight belts

Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have signed on for two fights to unify the world heavyweight titles, Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, said on Monday.

With terms of the deal set on Saturday, Hearn's company, Matchroom, and Fury's promoter, Top Rank, have 30 days to find a site and a date for the first fight in June or July.

"The hard part is always getting everybody to put pen to paper," Hearn told ESPN. "But this was a major effort from all parties to get this over the line. You had rival promoters, rival networks and rival fighters."

Joshua and Fury will reportedly split proceeds 50-50 from their first fight, with the victor taking a 60-40 cut for the rematch. Joshua's WBA, IBF and WBO belts, and Fury's WBC title, will be on the line.

BASKETBALL

Landesberg, Wu lead Zhejiang past Xinjiang

Sylven Landesberg and Wu Qian each scored 29 points to help the third-ranked Zhejiang Golden Bulls beat the fourth-ranked Xinjiang Flying Tigers 123-108 in Zhuji, Zhejiang province, on Monday.

Wu shot 6-of-6 from beyond the arc, including three late scores in a row to extend Zhejiang's CBA win streak to seven games. His shooting accuracy saw him surpass Sun Jun into 25th place on the CBA's all-time 3-point scoring list.

Nicholas Rakocevic notched 17 points for Zhejiang.

"My players spared no efforts throughout the game. They executed the tactics quite well," said Zhejiang coach Liu Weiwei.

Xinjiang's Donatas Motiejunas finished just shy of a triple-double with 26 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.

"The first three quarters were in our hands, but we encountered problems at the beginning of the fourth quarter," said Xinjiang coach Adiljan.

TENNIS

Medvedev makes historic leap to No 2

Daniil Medvedev rose to a career-best No 2 in the ATP rankings on Monday, making him the first man other than Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer or Andy Murray to hold either of the top two spots in 15 1/2 years.

Lleyton Hewitt was the last man outside of the quartet－previously known as the 'Big 4' before Murray's regression－to sit at No 1 or No 2.He ranked second in July 2005, behind Federer.

Medvedev rose from No 3 to swap places with Nadal a day after winning the Open 13 tournament in the French city of Marseille for his 10th career title.

Since Hewitt's most recent stay at No 2, that spot has been held for 368 weeks by Nadal, 203 by Federer, 144 by Djokovic and 41 by Murray.

Djokovic is currently in his 312th career week at No 1; he recently broke Federer's record of 310 total weeks at the summit.

SOCCER

Moukoko, 16, earns Germany U21 call-up

Sixteen-year-old Borussia Dortmund forward Youssoufa Moukoko was included in Germany's under-21 squad on Monday for the upcoming European championship.

Moukoko, who scored his third Bundesliga goal on Saturday in Dortmund's 2-0 win over Hertha Berlin, is one of four players making their debuts in the 23-player squad.

"In Youssoufa we have an extraordinary talent in Germany, one that we want to bring along carefully in line with performances," Germany under-21 coach Stefan Kuntz said in a statement.

The tournament in Hungary and Slovenia is scheduled to begin on March 24, with three games for each team in the group stage before the quarterfinals in May. The semifinals and final are scheduled for June.

Germany in is Group A with Hungary, the Netherlands and Romania.

Zidane says Ronaldo return to Real 'possible'

Zinedine Zidane opened the door to Cristiano Ronaldo returning to Real Madrid on Monday, admitting a comeback is "possible" for the striker.

Asked by Sky Italia if there is any truth to rumors that Ronaldo could rejoin Madrid, Zidane said: "It's possible, it's possible."

"We know Cristiano," Zidane added. "We know the person he is and everything he's done at Real Madrid. But now he's a Juventus player and you have to have respect both him and the club."

Asked if he would like to coach Ronaldo again, Zidane said: "I did what I had to do with Cristiano. Let's see what will happen in the future."

Ronaldo, 36, increased speculation last week with a cryptic post on social media, which read: "It's true the past belongs in museums (I should say!) but fortunately, football has memory... and so do I!"

Xinhua - Agencies