Kuwait Steel team Star Power team Cruz hands Kusina 64-63 ...€¦ · as flu-like symptoms such as fatigue and muscle stiffness were misdiagnosed. Delle Donne finally got the ill-ness,

ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

43SPORTS

Matar rout Kuwait Energy; Yousef Power outplay Star Power

Cruz hands Kusina 64-63 win over Clinic

Kusina Grill team

HPI Hyperians team

Body Building team

Kuwait Steel team

Baskin Robbins team

Star Power team

Lasting effects

Donne battlesLyme diseaseCHICAGO, Sept 15, (RTRS):Chicago Sky head coach PokeyChatman needs only a brief glanceat Elena Delle Donne, one of thebrightest stars in the WNBA, toknow when the high-scoring for-ward is going toneed a break.

“Pokey canlook at me in themorning and tellhow I’m doing,”said DelleDonne, theleague’s topscorer. “Andshe’ll know togive me morerest that day. We’re on an eye-con-tact level at this point.”

Delle Donne’s fatigue and stiff-ness on certain days has nothing todo with the rigors of a Women’sNational Basketball Associationseason but with the lasting effectsof Lyme disease.

A favorite to win the WNBA’sMVP award this year, Delle Donnebelieves she contracted the disease,a bacterial infection often transmit-ted through the bite of an infecteddeer tick, in 2008.

She says she doesn’t know howshe exactly how she got the diseaseand didn’t catch it in its early stagesas flu-like symptoms such asfatigue and muscle stiffness weremisdiagnosed.

Delle Donne finally got the ill-ness, which has no known cure,under control but in 2010 she saidshe “had a really bad relapse” andhas been troubled by it ever since,causing the Delaware native to missa chunk of last season, includingthe All-Star game.

She has not missed any time thisseason as she averages a league-best 23 points, while adding nearly9 rebounds and 2 blocks, all careerhighs.

“This season I’ve been playingwell and staying pretty healthy sopeople just think the disease isgone,” she told Reuters. “But it’ssomething I battle every single day.”

The 26-year-old, 6-foot-5 (1.96meter) Delle Donne said she canspend four hours a day “just doingthings trying to stay healthy.” Afterhard games or a long flight, she saidshe often will use a computerizedmassage machine that aids recoveryin the legs, hips and arms.

She has to eat well, staying awayfrom foods that could cause inflam-mation, and take dietary supplements.

Chatman, the Sky coach, saidwhen she sees the “glassy look” inDelle Donne’s eyes, she knows it istime to sit her down.

“Sometimes people forget thatjust because Lyme hasn’t reared itsugly head this year, she’s fine. Butit’s still a day-to-day process withher,” Chatman said. “Fortunately,Elena treats it with the respect itdeserves and tries to get out of frontof any potential problems.”

Delle Donne sees Pennsylvania-based nurse practitioner RitaRhoads every week during the off-season to make sure her blood testsare satisfactory. Once the seasonstarts, the two keep in touch via e-mails, texts and phone calls.

“Elena is a very driven person,”said Rhoads, who has treated DelleDonne for the past five years. “Shedoes everything she needs to do tostay on top of it. “She’s got thatType A personality. It’s not justplaying basketball. She followsdirections.”

Kuwait Energy Company team

NAS Matar team

Yousef Power team

The Pearl Clinic team

Jennings ordered not to score

Cowboys most Valuablesports team in the worldLOS ANGELES, Sept 15, (Agencies):The Dallas Cowboys have dethronedReal Madrid as the most valuablesports team in the world according toa Forbes survey of the richest teams inthe National Football League.

The Cowboys, often described as“America’s Team” despite not havingwon the Super Bowl since 1995,topped the Forbes list with a value of$4 billion (3.5 billion euros), fueledin part by the NFL’s gargantuandomestic television deal.

The valuation puts them ahead ofReal Madrid, who were valued byForbes at $3.26 billion according to aglobal list released earlier this year.

Two other US sports franchises,the NFL’s New England Patriots andbaseball’s New York Yankees, werenext with an estimated value of $3.2billion.

Reigning European championsBarcelona came in at fifth with anestimated value of $3.16 billion.

Premier League giants ManchesterUnited were valued at $3.1 billionaccording to most recent Forbes esti-mates.

Forbes said the Cowboys havesurged to the top thanks to revenues of$620 million, some $100 million morethan its nearest high-earners in the NFL.

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New York Giants running backRashad Jennings said that he wasordered not to score a touchdown ontwo late running plays during theclub’s 27-26 loss to the DallasCowboys on Sunday.

The Giants held a three-point leadand had the ball inside the Dallas 5-yard line with under two minutesremaining when Jennings wasinstructed not to cross the goal-line.New York settled for a field goal andthe Cowboys responded with a game-winning touchdown drive.

Quarterback Manning later admit-ted that he told Jennings not to scoreif he got close to the goal line, to runmore time off the clock.

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Washington Redskins widereceiver DeSean Jackson is expectedto miss three to four weeks with thestrained hamstring he sufferedSunday.

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The NFL suspended Redskins cor-nerback Chris Culliver one game forviolating the league’s personal con-duct policy.

Culliver’s suspension without paybegins immediately.

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The Redskins released kicker KaiForbath and signed kicker Dustin

Hopkins to replace him, the teamannounced.

The Redskins also waived line-backer Houston Bates and signeddefensive end Frank Kearse.

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Houston Texans coach BillO’Brien refused to name his startingquarterback for Sunday’s gameagainst the Carolina Panthers, andsaid he will not make any announce-ment about the starter this week.

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Johnny Manziel is being preparedto start for the Cleveland Brownsthis Sunday as the status of injuredJosh McCown remains uncertain.

McCown suffered a concussion inthe first quarter of Sunday’s loss tothe New York Jets and was replacedby Manziel.

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The Arizona Cardinals areexpected to be without starting run-ning back Andre Ellington for acouple of weeks after he damaged thePCL in his right knee in Sunday’sseason opener.

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Indianapolis Colts wide receiverT.Y. Hilton is day-to-day with abruised knee.

The Colts are planning to be with-out their No. 1 receiver for theirWeek 2 Monday night game againstthe New York Jets.

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Oakland Raiders quarterbackDerek Carr is likely to sit outSunday’s game with a bruised thumb.

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The NFL won’t discipline MiamiDolphins defensive tackleNdamukong Suh after he appeared tokick off the helmet of WashingtonRedskins running back Alfred Morris.

There was contact between theplayers, but “Suh’s action was notdeemed a kick,” NFL spokesmanMichael Signora said.

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The Dolphins released runningback LaMike James, who fumbled akickoff return in the season openeragainst the Washington Redskins.

The Dolphins also announced thatrunning back Jonas Gray has beencut from the 53-man roster.

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Cincinnati Bengals cornerbackAdam “Pacman” Jones is expectedto be fined but avoid a suspensionafter ripping the helmet off ofOakland Raiders rookie widereceiver Amari Cooper.

NFL RoundupBy Iddris Seidu

Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 15:Cruz scored in the final min-utes to hand Kusina the onepoint win, 64-63 againstPearl Clinic in the PBLK 4thseason basketball confer-ences Friday afternoon at theKhaitan Sports Club.

Allan Villenueva scored a team-high 21 points and 11 reboundsand Richard Ocampo added 10points, including a 3-pointer inthe final round, as Kusina ralliedmidway in the game and held offPearl Clinic to clinch the inter-company divisional win.Villanueva finished one-for-fourin 3- pointers but wound up witha spectacular 6-for-8 in 2s to leadKusina close to its first inter-com-pany victory since entering theleague a couple of months ago.

The Pearl Clinic kicked off theircampaign with a cold shooting dis-play and Pearl Clinic, with an entireteam coordinating effectively, racedinto an early 15-11 lead before end-ing the first quarter with a 20-17advantage.

A suffocating defence, methodicaloffence coupled with an electrifyingand raucous crowd, was mostly thewinning formula for the Kusinasquad side as they rallied to take con-trol of the game after a lacklustre firsthalf start that left them 3 pointsadrift, 37-40.

“This team is one of the mosttogether and toughest, being downnever bothered us, we just kept goingtill we got a handle on the game”,said Kusina forward Ocampo”.

Kusina was jolted out of their iner-tia as Tirso Cruz led a second quarterrampage to gnaw down his side’sdeficit. But Pearl Clinic clampeddown to keep him scoreless in theopening minutes of the second quar-ter. Pearl Clinic fought their way inthe battle, snatched the lead andwent ahead to the end of the secondround.

The Kusina side, seeking to winthe trophy in their first year of join-ing the conference, outshot theiropponents by 47 percent to 45 fromthe field with their star forwardVillanueva being held to just fifteenpoints on four-of-10 shooting afterrunning into foul trouble.

Norman Lopez, MVP of the gameat 24 points and Arnel Del Rosarioboth ran into foul trouble early on butmanaged to stay in the game. Butsharp-shooting forward Mendozacame off the bench and sparked a

Pearl Clinic revival as the Kusinaside closed the gap.

An Ocampo three-pointer, his sec-ond of the game, saw Kusina slicedown the deficit to 4 points four min-

utes into the fourth but Clinic steppedup their defence to regain controland, with Lopez finding his rangefrom beyond the arc, Clinic enteredthe fourth with a 55-51 lead.

Clinic appeared to tighten theirgrip on the game, but Kusina’s Cruzscored from behind the arc in a sur-prising move to bring the scores to astandoff at 63-63, then again grabbeda steal off a poor Rosario pass to slotthe ball into the Clinic net for thewinner 64-63 for Kusina. The deaf-ening noise in the gallery persisted tothe very last second of the game asthe Kusina fans celebrated theirside’s win.

In the other matches of the week-end, N.A.S Matar beat KuwaitEnergy 95-79 while, Yousef Powerhad an easy day outplaying StarPower 91-61. Body Building on theother hand, outpaced BaskinRobbins 75-68 while H.P.IHyperians narrowly defeatedKuwait Steel 87-86 in the final gameof the weekend. (Left to right): Action shots from the matches.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo (9), celebrates a last minutetouchdown pass to tight end Jason Witten (82), to win against the NewYork Giants during the second half of an NFL football game on Sept 13,

in Arlington, Texas. (AP)Donne

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