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Thursday September 14, 2017

U.S. basketball legend Kobe Bryant announced plans Tues-day for China’s fi rst National Basketball Association (NBA) school, a development the 18-time All-Star said will improve the game in China.

The fi ve-time NBA cham-pion joined sports and leisure company Mission Hills Group and NBA China to announce a multi-year partnership to design, develop and operate the NBA school as well as an NBA interactive experience and store in Haikou, Hainan Province.

“The Chinese youth will ben-efi t from a complete approach to player development that combines NBA-quality coach-ing with NBA-level training. I believe this partnership will lift the game of basketball to a higher level in China,” said the retired NBA star.

“This groundbreaking NBA Basketball School in Haikou further builds on our com-mitment to developing young basketball talent in China,” said NBA China CEO David Shoemaker.

The NBA Basketball School-Mission Hills Haikou will be open to male and female players, from junior level to profession-als. Construction of the facility will begin later this year and will be completed in 2019.

The school will include six indoor courts and other state-of-the-art facilities. Mission Hills Group will be responsible for designing and building the school, while NBA China will operate and staff the facility with NBA-trained coaches and provide the basketball develop-ment curriculum. NBA players and legends will visit the school

Kobe unveils basketball plans in Haikou

U.S. basketball legend Kobe Bryant (C) is surrounded by enthusiastic fans in Haikou, South China’s Hainan Province, on Tuesday. Courtesy of Mission Hills Group

to provide additional instruction and help foster player develop-ment.

The NBA interactive experi-ence and store will be located at Mission Hills Centreville, a 240,000-square-meter shopp-ing and entertainment complex located within the 22-square-kilometer Mission Hills Haikou resort. It will be a multimedia exhibition and retail space celebrating the league’s history and providing fans with a broad assortment of merchandise for men, women and kids, includ-ing jerseys, fan apparel, basket-balls and accessories.

Meanwhile, Mission Hills will

become a promotional partner of NBA China Games 2017 that will feature a game between the Golden State Warriors and the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Shenzhen Universiade Center on Oct. 5, followed by a rematch in Shanghai at the Mer-cedes-Benz Arena on Oct. 8.

The NBA Basketball School-Mission Hills Haikou builds on the NBA’s existing basketball and youth development initia-tives in China.

In November 2016, NBA China opened NBA Academy Zhejiang, NBA Academy Shandong and NBA Academy Xinjiang, three elite basketball

training centers for the top male and female prospects from throughout China.

“As the world’s largest fully-integrated resort, we couldn’t be more excited to team up with the world’s largest professional basketball league to invest in the future of basketball in China, providing the Chinese people with access to an active and healthy lifestyle and help unearth future Chinese NBA stars,” said Mission Hills Group Chairman Ken Chu.

Haikou already hosts a Bar-celona soccer academy, also in partnership with Mission Hills. (SD-Agencies)

SHANGHAI SIPG advanced to the semifi nals of the AFC Champions League on Tuesday evening as Andre Villas-Boas’ side defeated Guangzhou Ever-grande 5-4 on penalties after the two-legged tie end in a 5-5 draw.

Yu Hai scored the winning penalty after Ricardo Goulart had missed Evergrande’s open-ing spot kick at Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou.

It capped off an astonishing game in which the Brazilian scored a hat trick, only to end on the losing side.

Leading 4-0 from the fi rst leg, SIPG players surrendered their entire advantage during regula-tion time of the second leg before Wang Jiajie’s sending off in the 97th minute looked likely to con-demn Shanghai to defeat.

A fi rst-half brace from Alan and two goals in the fi nal seven minutes from Goulart improb-ably took the game in extra time. But Hulk’s thunderous strike looked set to take SIPG through until Goulart completed his hat trick from the penalty spot in the 118th minute.

But the Brazilian was to miss from the spot just moments later. All fi ve of SIPG’s takers were suc-cessful as Shanghai qualifi ed for the last four.

Villas-Boas’ team will play either Kawasaki Frontale or Urawa Red Diamonds — both of Japan — as they make their debut appearance in the semi-fi nals of the continental club championship at the expense of the two-time winners.

After such a poor showing in the fi rst leg, Evergrande had no option but to push for an early goal and both Gao Lin and Gou-lart tried their luck in the open-ing 10 minutes.

Just before the midway point in the half, however, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s team exploited the fi rst crack in the SIPG defense.

Alan capitalized on a poor defensive header from Shi Ke before rounding goalkeeper Yan Junling and rolling the ball calmly into the unguarded net. (SD-Agencies)

SIPG edges Evergrande

Shanghai SIPG players celebrate after the match against Guangzhou Ever-grande on Tuesday. SD-Agencies

THREE Russian cyclists are suing the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and investi-gator Richard McLaren over their exclusion from the Rio 2016 Olympics, their coach said Tuesday.

The road cyclists were among the Russians banned from competing after a WADA-com-missioned report by Canadian lawyer McLaren, found evi-dence of widespread doping and manipulation of doping tests by Russian athletes and offi cials.

The cyclists — Kirill Svesh-nikov, Dmitry Strakhov and Dmitry Sokolov — do not appear in the McLaren report.

However, to be able to compete in Rio, Russian athletes had to fulfi ll a series of criteria defi ned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC also called on international sports federations, which ultimately ruled on athletes’ participation in the Games, to examine the McLaren report and “carry out an individual analysis of each athlete’s anti-doping record.” (SD-Agencies)

Russian cyclists sue WADALIONEL MESSI fi nally added

Italy great Gianluigi Buffon on his long, long list of vanquished goalkeepers.

Messi struck two shots past Buffon to lead Barcelona to a 3-0 victory over Juventus in their opening match of the Cham-pions League in Barcelona on Tuesday.

Two of soccer’s all-time best players, the 39-year-old Buffon had denied Messi a goal in their previous three meetings, includ-ing Juventus’ 3-0 aggregate win in last season’s quarterfi nals.

But once he found room to work, Messi picked Buffon’s Juventus apart — to take some revenge from last year’s elimi-nation and continue his superb start to the current season.

Messi grabbed his 95th and 96th goals in the Champions League, breaking the deadlock just before the end of the fi rst half in the Group D game. After he had hit the post and played a part in Ivan Rakitic’s second goal, Messi rounded off the commanding win.

“Tonight Messi did score against Buffon because we left

Messi finally conquers Buffon as Barca beats Juve

him too much space,” Juven-tus coach Massimiliano Allegri said. “Messi plays perfectly well in tight spaces, but today he had more space, and I would even say that we made it easier for him, leaving him so open.”

The fi rst half was dull, apart from long-range attempts by Miralem Pjanic and Mattia De Sciglio for Juventus, until Messi struck just before the interval.

Ousmane Dembele, the most expensive signing in Barcelona’s history, made his fi rst start for the Catalan club. The 20-year-old France forward helped with a counterattack that caught the Juventus defense off-guard. Messi took the ball from Dem-bele, worked a quick one-two with Luis Suarez and then rolled a left-foot shot just inside the far post. (SD-Agencies)

Barcelona’s forward Lionel Messi (R) is congratulated by Juventus’ goalkeeper Gianlu-igi Buffon (L) at the end of their match in Barcelona on Tuesday. SD-Agencies