Auto Racing
Busch has no timetable for return to NASCAR seat
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. – Kyle Busch said he knew immediately that his right leg and left foot were broken when he crashed his car into a concrete wall at Daytona International Speedway.
In his first news conference since the Feb. 21 crash, Busch walked the crowd frame-by-frame through a video of the accident that occurred in the closing laps of the season-opening Xfinity Series race.
Busch had a sharp recollection of the accident and everything he thought and did inside the car as it hurtled toward an inside wall.
He said he left the racing surface at 176 mph, and had only slowed to 90 mph when he hit the wall. Busch said he knew he likely was going to break one leg and removed his right foot from the brake pedal.
Busch said the g-force of the hit itself measured 90 Gs. He is not sure when he’ll be cleared to race again.
Boxing
Pacquiao fights back at Mayweather’s ‘reckless’ jab
LOS ANGELES – Manny Pacquiao said he intends to put on a show when he faces Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2½weeks.
For the fans’ sake, he really hopes Mayweather also is coming to fight.
Pacquiao radiated confidence and excitement Wednesday at the Wild Card gym in Hollywood before his latest workout in preparation for their bout May 2 in Las Vegas.
Both fighters kept their public comments civil and mostly respectful this week, but Pacquiao laughed when told that the defense-minded Mayweather had called him “a very reckless fighter.”
Pacquiao says people love that aggression because it makes for exciting fights.
He also says he hopes Mayweather will abandon some of his usual caution, both because the fans would love it and because it would play into Pacquiao’s plans perfectly.
Swimming
Phelps confirms desire to compete again in Olympics
MESA, Ariz. – Michael Phelps is aiming to compete in a fifth Olympics next year in Rio, although the 18-time Olympic champion won’t swim in the world championships this summer.
Phelps confirmed his intention to make one last run at the Olympics on Wednesday. The 29-year-old swimmer is in Arizona to compete in his first meet since serving a six-month suspension by USA Swimming after a second drunken driving arrest last fall.
But Phelps says he won’t be swimming at the world meet in Russia in August as part of the punishment set forth by the sport’s U.S. governing body. That is the last major international meet before the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.
Phelps is back in Arizona, where he attended an in-patient alcohol rehabilitation program after being arrested on DUI charges in his hometown of Baltimore last September.
Tennis
Nadal returns to his usual form on clay at Monte Carlo
MONACO – Rafael Nadal is back on the clay he loves.
Nadal, who has a mediocre 16-5 record this year, got the flawless start he was hoping for Wednesday at the Monte Carlo Masters, beating 21-year-old wild-card entry Lucas Pouille 6-2, 6-1 in the second round.
The Spaniard won eight consecutive titles in Monte Carlo from 2005-12 but has been struggling recently, dropping to fifth in the rankings. Now in the European clay-court season, the nine-time French Open champion is bidding to regain his old form ahead of another shot at the title at Roland Garros.
After recovering from a wrist injury and an appendectomy, Nadal lost in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open. He then won in Buenos Aires but struggled on the hard courts of Indian Wells and Miami.
Associated Press
