College Football
Auburn RB turned pro to help “homeless” mother
INDIANAPOLIS – Auburn running back Peyton Barber says part of the reason he left school early to enter the NFL draft was because of his mother was “homeless.”
Barber, who is from Alpharetta, Georgia, is one of 24 running backs at the NFL combine this week, working out for scouts and coaches. He ran for 1,073 yards and 13 touchdowns last season as a third-year sophomore, but his decision to forgo his remaining two years of college eligibility was unexpected.
“My mother is homeless right now,” Barber said. “Right now, she’s staying with her sister. It’s her and her three kids staying in an apartment back home.”
NFl
49ers GM says he expects Kaepernick to be on team
INDIANAPOLIS – San Francisco general manager Trent Baalke said Wednesday he expects quarterback Colin Kaepernick to be with the 49ers next season.
Asked at the NFL combine if Baalke foresees a return to the team by Kaepernick, who lost his job during 2015 to Blaine Gabbert, he replied “absolutely.”
Kaepernick went 2-6 in eight starts before being benched. His future in San Francisco seemed uncertain, but with the hiring of Chip Kelly as coach, Kaepernick’s style would seem a good fit. Kelly prefers mobile quarterbacks who can throw on the run, but Kaepernick will need to improve his accuracy and decision making.
Skiing
World body pays to end a big defamation claim
OBERHOFEN, Switzerland – The International Ski Federation settled a defamation claim by Vanessa-Mae after wrongly accusing her of helping fix races so she could qualify for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
FIS said Wednesday it had apologized and made an “appropriate payment” to Vanessa-Mae, which she intends to pay to a charity.
Vanessa-Mae won an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport last June overturning her four-year ban. The court cleared the musician of rigging low-level races in Slovenia organized by her entourage in January 2014.
Soccer
FIFA reduces suspensions for Blatter, Platini
ZURICH – Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini had their bans from football reduced from eight to six years by the FIFA appeal committee.
They were banned in December after FIFA president Blatter authorized a payment of $2 million to UEFA president Platini in 2011.
FIFA says “the Appeal Committee considered that Mr. Platini’s and Mr. Blatter’s activities and the services they had rendered to FIFA, UEFA and football in general over the years should deserve appropriate recognition as a mitigating factor.”
Tennis
More could be spent on combating corruption
LONDON – As the number of suspected cases of match-fixing in tennis soars, the head of the ATP said more money needs to be given to the agency working to combat corruption.
Chris Kermode, the ATP’s president and chief executive, and Nigel Willerton, director of the Tennis Integrity Unit, addressed a panel of UK lawmakers on Wednesday amid allegations of match-fixing and corruption in tennis.
Willerton said the number of alerts of suspicious activity passed to the TIU has increased from 14 in 2012 to 246 last year.
The TIU is funded by governing bodies and operates on a budget of $2 million. Just 0.4 percent of the ATP’s turnover goes to the TIU.
Associated Press
