Digest

BASKETBALL

Chinese women jump to second in FIBA rankings

A runner-up finish at the recent FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Australia has vaulted China into second place in the world rankings.

The United States still tops the standings with 848.8 points after beating China 83-61 in the final in Sydney to retain the title.

China, who ranked seventh before the tournament, collected 676.5 points to jump to second place.

China lost only to the US at the tournament to finish in the top three at a World Cup for the first time since 1994.

Australia is ranked third on 668.3 points after winning the bronze medal on home court. Spain fell from second place to fourth (661 points) after failing to qualify for the World Cup. Other big jumpers in the rankings included Puerto Rico, who rose six spots to 10th after reaching the quarterfinals of the World Cup.

GOLF

Johnson already at $30m mark in LIV earnings

Dustin Johnson needed only six events to have a $30-million year, and he still has two events left with Saudi-funded LIV Golf.

Even though he failed to finish in the top 10 for the first time, Johnson clinched the inaugural LIV Golf Individual Championship.

The two-time major champion already had earned $12,758,600 — $3 million of that from four team victories in the LIV Golf Invitational series — with one individual title.

Winning the season points title comes with an $18 million bonus.

Johnson has 121 points going into the LIV Golf Invitational-Jeddah event this week in Saudi Arabia. He has a 42-point lead over Branden Grace, who had to withdraw last week because of an injury. The winner of each event gets 40 points.

Johnson was the most significant player Greg Norman signed for the rival league. He held the No 1 ranking longer than any other player since Tiger Woods and had said in February he would stick with the PGA Tour until changing his mind in June.

ATHLETICS

British sprinter Ujah gets 22-month ban for doping

British sprinter Chijindu Ujah was banned for 22 months on Monday after testing positive for two prohibited substances during the Tokyo Olympics last year.

Ujah tested positive for ostarine and S-23 after the final of the 4x100-meter relay, in which Britain finished second. Ujah has already been stripped of his silver medal, as have teammates Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake.

The ban was backdated to Aug 6 last year, the date of the positive test, so Ujah can return on June 5 next year, two months before the world championships in Budapest.

Announcing the ban, the Athletics Integrity Unit said it accepted Ujah's explanation that he did not intentionally take prohibited drugs and that his failed test was "as a result of his ingestion of a contaminated supplement".

A two-year ban was reduced to 22 months because he admitted to the violation. The ban means Ujah cannot compete in the first five Diamond League meets next year.

SOCCER

Villa labors to draw with fellow struggler Forest

Aston Villa is proving hard to beat but even harder to watch.

Prioritizing solidity after a miserable start to the English Premier League, Villa held Nottingham Forest to a 1-1 draw on Monday in a low-quality match that will do little to ease the pressure on Villa manager Steven Gerrard.

Villa is on a four-match unbeaten run but Gerrard won't be happy with his team's attacking play. The visitor had just two shots on target against an opponent that started the game in last place.

Last weekend, Villa drew 0-0 at 10-man Leeds and eked out a 1-0 win over Southampton before that.

Forest climbed off the bottom, above Leicester, but will regret conceding just seven minutes after taking the lead through Emmanuel Dennis' header from a Morgan Gibbs-White freekick in the 15th.

A sweetly struck shot from 25 meters by veteran Villa fullback Ashley Young earned the Birmingham club a point.

Gerrard's Villa is in fifth-to-last place with two wins from its nine games.

Agencies