Newsmakers: Barcalona’s Lionel Messi out for three weeks with groin injury
Sidelined Barcelona says Lionel Messi will be out for three weeks with a groin strain in his right leg.
The Argentina star walked off in the 58th minute of the Spanish league match against Atletico Madrid at Camp Nou that ended 1-1.
Messi asked to be substitute moments after a sprint while challenging for the ball with Diego Godin. He appeared to grimace while touching his right thigh.
Arda Turan replaced him after a hasty warm-up.
Barcelona was leading the match 1-0. Atletico leveled moments after Messi left.
Barcelona’s next match is at Sporting Gijon on Saturday. It then plays Borussia Moenchengladbach in the Champions League next Wednesday.
If Messi recovers within the three-week time frame given by the team, he will be back in time for Barcelona’s highly-anticipated match against Manchester City in the Champions League on Oct. 19.
Milwaukee Bucks guard Khris Middleton has a left hamstring injury that will require surgery, sidelining the him for about six months. Surgery is planned for the next week.
Middleton tore the hamstring in a workout Tuesday.
The 25-year-old Middleton averaged a career-high 18.2 points and 4.2 assists in 79 games last season. He was drafted by Detroit in the second round in 2012 and traded to Milwaukee the following year.
Middleton has blossomed with the Bucks, turning into a key player for a franchise on the rise that was hoping to return to the playoffs this season.
Middleton apparently hurt the hamstring after attending a team news conference on Tuesday announcing contract extension for forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops says sophomore QB Drew Barker will miss “significant” time with a back injury that won’t require surgery. Barker started the Wildcats’ first three games but was injured on their first series in last week’s contest against New Mexico State. He did not return. Stoops said after Wednesday’s practice that Barker saw a specialist who recommended rest for “two, three, four weeks” instead of surgery before being evaluated.
Barker’s injury means junior Stephen Johnson will make his first start for the Wildcats (1-2, 0-1) in Saturday night’s Southeastern Conference game against South Carolina (2-1, 1-1). Johnson shook off a rocky start to complete 17 of 22 passes for a career-high 310 yards and three touchdowns to help the Wildcats earn a wild 62-42 victory.
Announced South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner said the school won’t bid for NCAA Tournament men’s basketball games removed from North Carolina because of its law limiting protections for LGBT people. Tanner said the area did not have enough full service hotels available for the dates the games would be played next March. The regional was supposed to be played in Greensboro, North Carolina, but the NCAA removed that and several other championship events from the state last week.
The NCAA had set a deadline of Sept. 27 for submitting bids to host the displaced contests.
Tanner said the university and the Columbia Regional Sports Council have bid for NCAA Tournament games from 2019 through 2022.
NASCAR will not penalize Martin Truex Jr. or Jimmie Johnson for failing inspection after the opening race of the playoffs.
Truex won Sunday’s race at Chicagoland Speedway and Johnson finished 12th. Both cars failed the laser inspection with infractions that should have drawn 10-point penalties.
Although the infractions were similar, NASCAR executive vice president Steve O’Donnell said the penalties would not have been equal. Truex advanced into the second round of the playoffs with his victory, but Johnson’s chances of advancing would have been hampered by the loss of 10 points.
O’Donnell said not penalizing either driver was the fair decision.
All 16 teams in the Chase will go through the laser inspection after this Sunday’s race at New Hampshire. Only nine were inspected at Chicagoland.
Dismissed Former Baylor football coach Art Briles and former athletic director Ian McCaw were dismissed from a lawsuit brought by woman who said they and the school ignored her claims that she was raped by a former player who was later convicted. The men had been named in Jasmin Hernandez’s lawsuit against Bayor as co-defendants in their “official capacity.” But Briles’ lawyers argued both men could not be sued in their official role under the Title IX federal gender discrimination law cited in the lawsuit.
Hernandez’s lawyer, Alex Zalkin, said he agreed and would file new lawsuits against both Briles and McCaw in state court as individuals. The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify sexual assault victims, but Hernandez has spoken publicly to draw attention to the case.
Wednesday’s ruling “shifts the ball to a new court” but won’t stop Hernandez from trying to hold both men accountable, Zalkin said.
The federal lawsuit against Baylor continues. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman denied the university’s request to temporarily halt evidence gathering while considering the school’s request to dismiss the case.
Signed The Los Angeles Lakers have signed veteran forward Thomas Robinson. Robinson played for five teams in his first four NBA seasons, averaging 4.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game over his career. He spent last season with Brooklyn, starting seven games in 71 appearances.
Robinson was the fifth overall pick in the 2012 draft by Sacramento. He also has played for Houston, Portland and Philadelphia.
The Lakers have 19 players on their training camp roster. They will spend next week in Santa Barbara, California, for their first camp under new coach Luke Walton.
Los Angeles is returning from the worst season in franchise history and the retirement of Kobe Bryant.
Departed Wichita State guard Peyton Allen has left the program and withdrawn from school for personal reasons unrelated to basketball or any off-the-court conduct or violation of team rules, according to Shockers coach Gregg Marshall.
Allen transferred to Wichita State from Texas A&M last fall, and spent the season on the Shockers’ practice squad while satisfying NCAA transfer rules.
The native of Springfield, Illinois, started eight games and played in 32 as a freshman for the Aggies, averaging 4.5 points in 14.1 minutes. He scored a career-high 16 points in a game against New Orleans, and also reached double-digits against Alabama and Missouri.
Died Former NHL defenseman Richie Dunn died Tuesday at his home in Akron, New York. He was 59.The Buffalo Sabres confirmed Dunn’s death Wednesday, though the cause of death was not immediately known.
Dunn, from Boston, played 12 NHL seasons with Buffalo, Calgary and Hartford.
He had 36 goals and 140 assists in 483 career games from 1977 to 1989. Dunn broke into the NHL with the Sabres and eventually returned to Buffalo to spend his final four seasons. He retired after playing the 1989-90 season for the Sabres’ minor-league affiliate in Rochester.
He scored a career-best 49 points (seven goals, 42 assists) in 79 games with Buffalo in 1980-81
Dunn was voted the American Hockey League’s top defensive player in 1984-85 while playing for Hartford’s farm team in Binghamton. He was a part of Rochester’s Calder Cup-winning team in 1987.
Reported Court records say NBA player and Duke All-American Christian Laettner could avoid bankruptcy after reaching a deal with his creditors. Laettner’s attorneys have filed a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to dismiss the involuntary bankruptcy proceedings against him.
The documents were filed Monday and obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed in those fillings, and a hearing is scheduled Oct. 20 in Durham.
Laettner and some partners helped develop Durham’s West Village, a mix of apartments and commercial space, and it was sold earlier this year. One of Laettner’s Washington-based attorneys, Hassan Zavareei, said in a statement that some of the proceeds from that sale will be divided among his creditors.
The five creditors, who include Carolina Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart and former Detroit Lions linebacker Ernie Sims, began bankruptcy proceedings against Laettner in June, saying he owes them more than $14 million.