Miami
The 6-foot-11 forward must sit out the remainder of this season and 40 percent of next season because of his dealings with an agent, the NCAA said on Monday.
Hernandez responded by saying he’ll turn pro this year rather than remain at Miami to play part of the Hurricanes’ 2019-20 season. Hurricanes athletic director Blake James called the ruling disappointing and unfair.
The NCAA said Hernandez agreed to receive monthly payments from the agent and accepted other benefits from him. Hernandez sat out the first 19 games of the season awaiting the ruling.
“I do not believe that the NCAA treated me fairly, and it is with a heavy heart that I have decided to withdraw from the University of Miami to prepare for the 2019 NBA draft,” Hernandez said in a statement. “While I am saddened by the NCAA’s decision, I look forward to starting the next chapter of my life and focusing my energy on preparing to compete at the next level.”
It’s uncertain whether Hernandez will be selected in the draft. He averaged 11.4 points and 6.7 rebounds as a sophomore.
Drivers, Team Members Banned From Race Betting
Daytona Beach, Fla.
NASCAR employees are prohibited from disclosing confidential information and from requesting insider information that could potentially help “their own gain or for the gain of others.” They are allowed to participate in fantasy sports relating to the three national touring series, Cup, Xfinity and Truck, but may not accept prizes with a value of more than $250 in any games.
NASCAR partnered with Sportradar Integrity Services to develop a comprehensive gambling policy intended to protect the integrity of the sport.
Dover International Speedway opened an on-site betting kiosk last fall, becoming the only track to allow sports gambling on its property.
Caribbean Series Moving From Venezuela
Caracas, Venezuela
Caribbean Professional Baseball Leagues commissioner Juan Francisco Puello announced the decision on Monday. The series will begin on Feb. 4 at Rod Carew National Stadium in Panama City.
Violent street protests have erupted in Venezuela since opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido declared himself interim president in defiance of President Nicolas Maduro.
Swiss Medal Hope Gisin to Miss Worlds
Bern, Switzerland
Michelle Gisin opted for an operation to repair the right knee ligaments she damaged in a World Cup super-G race on Saturday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, the Swiss ski federation said in a statement.
It’s the first serious injury for the 25-year-old Gisin, who won the Olympic title in Alpine combined last year and silver in that event at the 2017 world championships.
“Life went always up up up and it became faster and faster. So now it’ll slow down for a moment,” Gisin wrote in an Instagram post . “And I am actually grateful for this.”
Gisin’s injury comes one month after her elder brother Marc sustained rib, back and pelvic injuries in a hard fall in a World Cup downhill in Val Gardena, Italy.
The world championships will be held in Are, Sweden, from Feb. 5-17.
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Underwater search for plane to begin in Channel this weekend
Eds: Updates with more detail, quotes. With AP Photos.
LONDON (AP) — The man leading a private search of the missing plane carrying Argentine soccer player Emiliano Sala said on Monday there was a “very good chance” of finding the aircraft.
David Mearns, an American-born marine scientist and shipwreck-hunting specialist, said a survey vessel equipped with state-of-the-art search equipment has been mobilized and will conduct an underwater search for the plane this weekend.
“There’s no guarantee,” Mearns said, “but (Sala’s) family is determined to do everything they possibly can through the support they have in the football community and through family and friends.”
The plane carrying Sala and pilot David Ibbotson disappeared from radar last week over the English Channel. The flight was going from the French city of Nantes to Cardiff, where Sala was set to start playing for his new club in the Premier League.
More than 300,000 euros ($340,000) have been raised online to allow Sala’s family to fund a private search, after an official rescue operation for the light aircraft was called off on Thursday after three days. Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona were among those making pleas to resume a search.
Family and friends of Sala went on a special flight on Monday to view the area over the English Channel where the plane disappeared. The “scenic flight” circled the island of Alderney, according to Aurigny, an airline that operates in the Channel Islands.
Mearns, who has said he has located 24 major shipwrecks, said the purpose of the flight was to recreate the route of the plane and “the type of pattern the search-and-rescue aircraft might have created so (the family) could have a feel exactly for the waters.”
“I want to emphasize,” said Mearns, speaking to reporters at Guernsey Airport as Sala’s mother and sister stood beside him, “that the family are determined to get answers that they don’t have right now, and the only way to do that is find this missing plane.”
The private search, which began on Saturday, initially used two fishing boats — one from Guernsey and one from the U.K. — that were in the area at the time of the last radar contact of the plane.
“In terms of something being lost in the ocean, this is a relatively small search area,” Mearns said. “But there are complications in terms of it being a small plane, the bottom is very hard, there is lots of other wreckage out there and we have the weather. We are working in the worst time (of the year).”
Mearns said he was confident there were enough funds to carry out the “search and identification of the plane.” If the plane was to be recovered, he would hand over the operation to police and other authorities.
The official search was abandoned after Guernsey harbor master Capt. David Barker said the chances of survival after such a long period were “extremely remote.”
Cardiff signed Sala from Nantes for a club-record fee, reported to be 15 million pounds ($19 million), on Jan. 19. The striker left the Welsh capital after completing the move and returned to Nantes to collect his belongings and say goodbye to teammates and staff of the French club.
Cardiff’s first game since Sala’s disappearance will be on Tuesday at Arsenal, and manager Neil Warnock said some of his players have needed “help from outside” the club to deal with the situation.
“One or two of the lads, it was only right that they speak to people who might help them in this situation,” Warnock said. “You don’t realize the trauma that it causes a lot of families, whether it’s memories brought back or different situations.”
Warnock said it had been the most difficult week of his 39-year managerial career.
“It is such a strange situation,” he said. “I don’t think we could have played a game on Saturday, but it doesn’t get that much better this morning … I don’t know how it’s going to be in the next 24 hours.”
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