Four Japanese basketball players expelled from Asian Games
Jakarta, Aug 20: Four players have been expelled from Japan's men's basketball team at the Asian Games 2018 in Indonesia for allegedly hiring sex workers, the Japanese Olympic Committee said on Monday.
Yasuhiro Yamashita, the head of the Japanese delegation, said that the players in question had had their accreditations withdrawn and had been sent home, reports Efe.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) sources told EFE that the decision was taken after pictures of the basketball players wearing the national jersey walking with the alleged sex workers in the red light area of the Indonesian capital appeared in the Japanese press.
Yamashita said the four players went for dinner at a Japanese restaurant last Thursday, after which they were approached by a person who spoke Japanese and offered them the prostitutes' services.
The head of the delegation said the four players, named as Yuya Nagayoshi, Takuya Hashimoto, Takuma Sato and Keita Imamura had breached the delegation's code of conduct, and had arrived back in Japan on Monday, public broadcaster NHK reported.
"I deeply apologize for betraying the expectations of the Japanese people", Yamashita said.
The men's team had defeated Qatar 82-71 on Thursday, and lost against Taiwan 65-71 two days later. They are due to play Hong Kong on Wednesday.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
