Sports briefs
By NewsPress Now
Wander Franco scheduled for Aug. 14 trial
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic | Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco is scheduled to go to trial Aug. 14 after being charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl in the Dominican Republic, authorities said Wednesday.
Prosecutors filed multiple charges against Franco six months after a judge ordered that he be investigated in connection with sexual and psychological abuse of the girl.
Nairobi Viloria, the attorney general’s office spokesperson, confirmed to The Associated Press that prosecutors presented the formal accusation to a judge.
The indictment also includes the girl’s mother. According to prosecutors, Franco paid the girl’s mother thousands of dollars to consent to the abuse, which lasted four months. The girl’s mother remains under house arrest and faces a money laundering charge.
The AP is not identifying the woman to preserve her daughter’s privacy.
The most serious charges that Franco faces are rape, for which he could receive sentences of between 10 and 15 years in prison, and human trafficking, which is punishable in the Dominican Republic by sentences of between 15 and 20 years.
Franco has remained in the Dominican Republic while authorities investigate. He has been required to make monthly monitoring visits to the court since January. In April, he requested that the visits be suspended, which the judge denied.
Franco, 23, will be tried in a court in the province of Puerto Plata, in the north of the country, where the events allegedly occurred.
“I mean, ultimately, serious charges, very concerning,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said before the team’s game Wednesday. “Probably best that I don’t comment much past that and keep our focus on this team.”
MLB placed Franco — who has a $2 million salary this year — on its restricted list, cutting off the pay he had been receiving under administrative leave.
He had been receiving 50% of his salary on that leave, a person familiar with his situation told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because that detail has not been disclosed publicly. That meant Franco accrued $559,140, or half of his salary for 104 days of the 186-day season.
Franco also will not receive service time while on the restricted list, a placement that is not considered disciplinary action.
“We are aware of the charges against Mr. Franco,” MLB said in a statement. “Our investigation remains open, and we will continue to closely monitor the case as it moves forward.”
Tampa Bay’s All-Star shortstop has not played since Aug. 12. Franco agreed to a $182 million, 11-year contract in November 2021.
Jay Reisinger, Franco’s U.S.-based lawyer, said Tuesday he could not comment because Franco had not received formal notification of any charges.
Vingegaard beats
Pogacar in sprint to win Tour de France Stage 11
LE LIORAN, France | Just three months ago, Jonas Vingegaard was lying in a hospital bed with broken ribs and a collapsed lung. On Wednesday, he beat his rival Tadej Pogacar in a two-man sprint after a brutal day in the mountains.
Pogacar, the Tour leader, kept the yellow jersey but it was the two-time defending champion who earned a psychological victory at the end of an epic battle in the Massif Central.
The pair left all their rivals in their wake and Vingegaard, after closing a big gap to Pogacar in a brutal climb, outsprinted his rival to finish half a wheel ahead for the stage win.
“It is of course very emotional for me. Coming back from the crash,” Vingegaard said, trying to hold back tears. “It means a lot. All the things I went through in the last three months, it makes you think of that.”
Vingegaard was hospitalized for nearly two weeks in April following a high-speed crash in the Tour of the Basque Country.
He only resumed competitive racing at the Tour and there were many question marks about his form. His tremendous ride Wednesday showed he is more than ready to defend his title.
“I’m just happy to be here and it means so much to win a stage, especially to win it for my family. They were there supporting me the whole time,” Vingegaard said.
True to his habit of attacking every time he gets the chance, Pogacar tried to move away alone about 32 kilometers from the finish with a strong attack. After getting dropped, Vingegaard kept his head cool and proved to be the fastest in the next ascent to catch his rival.
Vingegaard said he thought he would not be able to bridge the gap opened by Pogacar, and was also surprised he could beat him in the sprint.
“I would never have thought this three months ago. I was only thinking about doing my own pace and then the sprint.”
The pair then stayed together to gain time on Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic, who crashed near the finish. Evenepoel reached the finish 25 seconds behind, with Roglic 55 seconds off the pace.
Evenepoel trails 1:06 behind Pogacar overall, with Vingegaard in third place, 1:14 back. Roglic is fourth, 2:45 behind the race leader.
The rollercoaster 211-kilometer (131-mile) Stage 11 featured four brutal ascents in its second half and included more than 4,000 meters of climbing.
The race started at a high pace and the peloton stayed together for some 40 kilometers before riders could break away in humid conditions. A group of 10 men rode at the front but split at the foot of the first major climb, the steep Col de Neronne.
Pogacar’s Team Emirates set a fast tempo but they were caught one by one one as they rode up to the Puy Mary, the hardest climb of the day.
Pogacar, a two-time Tour champion, attacked 600 meters from that summit to drop everyone else then went all in on the downhill, showcasing his great skills in the technical descent to increase his lead and start the next climb with a lead of 35 seconds. But Vingegaard still had the final word.
“He is in top shape,” Pogacar said about his rival. “He beat me really good on the line, and I did a pretty good sprint after that kind of stage. He was really strong.”
Thursday’s Stage 12 from Aurillac to Villeneuve-sur-Lot is mainly flat. The battle between Pogacar and Vingegaard is expected to resume this weekend when the peloton will reach bigger mountains in the Pyrenees.
Team USA sending more women than men for Summer Olympics
DENVER | For the fourth consecutive Summer Olympics, Team USA will be sending a roster featuring more women than men.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee announced the 592-member contingent Wednesday that’s heading to the Paris later this month. The lineup features 314 women and 278 men, spanning ages from 16 to 59 and with 46 states represented.
There are 66 Olympic champions who’ve earned a combined 110 gold medals and three five-time Olympians, including basketball standout Diana Taurasi along with equestrians Steffen Peters and McLain Ward.
The opening ceremony in Paris takes place on July 26, with athletes assembling in boats that sail along the Seine River toward the Eiffel Tower. Competition kicks off July 24 and ends Aug. 11.
Team USA is the favorite to top the medal table, with Nielsen’s Gracenote forecasting 123 medals, with 37 of them gold.
“As they prepare to represent our nation on the greatest stage in all of sports, we honor their personal achievements and celebrate the unwavering support of the people that make it possible — their families, teammates, national governing bodies, coaches, and communities around the country,” USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland said in a statement. “In the true spirit of ‘One for All,’ we join a proud nation of fans in cheering them on through inspiring performances and unforgettable moments.”
Age gap
There are a trio of 16-year-olds heading to Paris, with artistic gymnast Hezly Rivera the youngest of the bunch. The oldest athlete is Peters at 59.
Decorated medalists
Swimmer Katie Ledecky leads Team USA with 10 Olympic medals, including seven golds and three silvers. Next on the list are gymnast Simone Biles and swimmer Caeleb Dressel with seven medals apiece, while swimmer Ryan Murphy has six medals.
State breakdown
California leads the way by sending 120 athletes. That’s followed by Florida (42) and Texas (41). There are three athletes who list hometowns that are abroad — sailing’s Ian Barrows is from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; soccer’s Maximilian Dietz from Frankfurt, Germany, and water polo’s Luca Cupido from Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy.
Four timers
Four athletes are making the Olympic squad for a fourth time. The list includes Brady Ellison (archery), Gerek Meinhardt (fencing), Stu McNay (sailing) and Vincent Hancock (shooting).
College system
Of the 592 athletes heading to Paris, 75% of them competed on the college level. There are 15 teams that are made up completely of athletes who played in college. That pertains to women’s basketball, men’s and women’s 3×3 basketball, beach volleyball, men’s and women’s indoor volleyball, diving, fencing, women’s field hockey, women’s rugby, modern pentathlon, men’s and women’s water polo, rowing and triathlon.
What’s more, representation spreads across all divisions of the NCAA, along with junior colleges and club programs.
Family ties
Team USA said there are at least a half-dozen set of siblings on the roster. They include Annie and Kerry Xu (badminton), Brooke and Emma DeBerdine (field hockey), Alex and Aaron Shackell (swimming), Gretchen and Alex Walsh (swimming), Juliette and Isabella Whittaker (track and field) and Chase and Ryder Dodd (water polo).
FanDuel fined for taking bets on April Fool’s Day
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. | It might have seemed too good to be true, but there it was, and on April Fool’s Day, no less: One of the country’s leading sports books was taking bets on mixed martial arts fights that had already happened a week earlier.
FanDuel accepted 34 bets on the fights that were promoted by the sports book as live events scheduled to take place on April 1, 2022.
But the fights had actually taken place a week earlier, on March 25.
New Jersey gambling regulators fined FanDuel $2,000 for the mistake, and the company paid out over $230,000 to settle the bets.
FanDuel declined comment Wednesday on the fine, which it agreed to pay.
But the state Division of Gaming Enforcement said in a letter made public on Monday that FanDuel said it was not notified by its data-feed providers that the Professional Fighters League matches were actually a recording of events that had already happened.
Instead, FanDuel’s trading team manually created betting markets based on information they obtained directly from the Professional Fighters League, New Jersey Deputy Attorney General Gina DeAnnuntis wrote.
“FanDuel confirmed that its traders failed to confirm with PFL that the event had previously occurred and was being presented via a tape delay,” she wrote.
FanDuel told the state that on April 1, 2022, it took 26 online wagers and eight retail wagers worth $190,904 on the events.
Afterwards, FanDuel received a notification from the International Betting Integrity Association, which monitors sports betting transactions, looking for suspicious activity or out-of-the-ordinary patterns, that the events it was offering odds on had already happened.
FanDuel paid off the wagers in the amount of $231,094, according to the state.
The fine from New Jersey regulators was imposed on Jan. 2 but not made public until this week. The state also required FanDuel to update its internal controls to prevent such events from happening in the future.
It was not the first time a sports book operating in New Jersey mistakenly took bets on something that had already happened.
In 2021, 86 gamblers put down bets on a British soccer game that had already happened the day before. The bets were voided, and New Jersey regulators fined the Malta-based sports betting technology company Kambi Group and Chicago-based Rush Street Interactive $1,000 apiece. In that case, the companies had offered a so-called proposition or “prop” bet on whether Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford would score a goal in a May 13, 2021, soccer game between Manchester United and Liverpool. (He did.)
But because a Kambi trader located in England mistakenly entered a start date of May 14 for the game, it enabled people to place bets on the event after it had ended when it was known that Rashford had already scored.
Last week, New Jersey regulators revealed that they had fined DraftKings, another major national sports book, $100,000 for reporting inaccurate sports betting data to the state.
Bubba Wallace fined $50,000 by NASCAR for retaliatory contact
CHARLOTTE, N.C. | NASCAR fined Bubba Wallace $50,000 on Wednesday for retaliatory contact against race winner Alex Bowman on the cooldown lap of the Chicago Street Race.
Wallace door-slammed Bowman’s car and sent it into the wall. Bowman said after the race he had spun Wallace during Sunday’s event and the retaliation was warranted.
Bowman also advocated for Wallace not to be punished. Bowman said Wallace “has every right be mad.”
“I’d be mad, too,” Bowman said of Wallace. “I ruined his day. The restart was chaotic. I just made every wrong decision that I possibly could. I was fighting with my windshield wiper switch trying to get it working and I couldn’t get it working. I was focused on that, missed the corner.
“I locked all four tires and just slid right into him. I just messed up and absolutely ruined his day. I’m pretty hard on myself when I make mistakes like that and I’ve been embarrassed about it since it happened. The rain delay was a lot of me just sitting there being embarrassed and being mad at myself.”
Wallace’s window net was down when he slammed into Bowman after the race, and the camera inside Bowman’s car showed the driver was jostled by the hit.
NASCAR also plans to speak to Chase Elliott for his contact with Daniel Suarez after Sunday’s race.
—From AP reports
