Kanter, a vocal critic of Turkey’s president, wrote on Twitter, “I will come on my own will anyway, to spit on your ugly, hateful faces.”
Enes Kanter, the Turkish N. B. A. star whose home country has revoked his passport, expressed disdain on social media on Friday at reports that Turkey’s government had issued a warrant for his arrest.
“You can’ t catch me, ” Kanter said in a Twitter post accompanied by a photo of an article by the Turkish newspaper Sabah about the arrest warrant. “Don’ t waste your breath. I will come on my own will anyway, to spit on your ugly, hateful faces.”
Kanter, a vocal critic of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was detained at an airport in Romania on May 20 when the authorities there learned that his Turkish passport had been revoked. Kanter, who holds a resident card that allows him to live and work permanently in the United States, returned to the United States on Sunday.
Sabah said that Kanter had been named a fugitive by a Turkish court for his support of the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in Pennsylvania since 1999. Erdogan is seeking Gulen’s extradition, accusing him of playing a role in a failed coup last July. (REUTERS)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the No. 2 seed, beat Nikoloz Basilashvili at the Lyon Open in France to reach his first clay-court final. Tsonga hit 14 aces and saved eight of 10 break points to win, 6-2,3-6,6-1. Tsonga, who has reached 25 ATP finals on other surfaces, will face third-seeded Tomas Berdych on Saturday. Berdych beat top-seeded Milos Raonic, 7-6 (5) , 7-6 (2) , in the other semifinal.
WAWRINKA ADVANCES IN GENEVA The defending champion Stan Wawrinka advanced to the Geneva Open final by beating the unseeded Andrey Kuznetsov, 6-3,7-6 (4) . Wawrinka, the top seed, will face the qualifier Mischa Zverev, who beat second-seeded Kei Nishikori, 6-4,3-6,6-3, in the other semifinal.
Manchester City bolstered its attacking options by signing the Monaco playmaker Bernardo Silva on Friday. The length of the deal and the fee were not disclosed.
Silva, a 22-year-old player from Portugal, will move over on July 1. This season, he helped Monaco become the champion of the French league and reach the semifinals of the Champions League.
CONTE PLANS TO STAY WITH CHELSEA After wavering about his coaching future for months, Antonio Conte said he planned to stay and honor the remaining two years of his contract with Chelsea, the champion of the English Premier. “I want to build something important for the future, ” Conte said.
Danny Lee birdied the last hole for a six-under-par 64 and a share of the second-round lead at the Colonial in Fort Worth with Kevin Kisner, Webb Simpson and Scott Piercy.
The Masters champion Sergio García (66) and his fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm (69) were at five under, along with England’s Paul Casey (66) and Sean O’ Hair (68) .
SENIOR P. G. A. CHAMPIONSHIP Vijay Singh shot a four-under 68 to take a one-shot lead amid wind so strong that play was temporarily halted at Trump National in Sterling, Va. The wind delay lasted 41 minutes and prevented the afternoon starters from finishing their second rounds.
EUROPEAN P. G. A. CHAMPIONSHIP The Belgian Ryder Cup star Thomas Pieters, Italy’s Francesco Molinari and Scotland’s Scott Jamieson shared the halfway lead at seven under in Virginia Water, England.
L. P. G. A. VOLVIK CHAMPIONSHIP Sung Hyun Park shot a 65 to take a two-stroke lead over Minjee Lee and Suzann Pettersen after the second round in Ann Arbor, Mich.
MCILROY TO SKIP THE MEMORIAL Rory McIlroy, the world’s No. 2-ranked player, will skip next week’s Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, as he continues to recover from a nagging rib injury, his agent confirmed. “All focus is on getting back to full health for the U. S. Open, ” the agent, Sean O’ Flaherty, said in an email. The Open starts at Erin Hills in Wisconsin on June 15. (REUTERS)
The Colombian rider Nairo Quintana reclaimed the pink jersey from Tom Dumoulin with two stages to go in the Giro d’ Italia, setting up what could be a tense finale in Milan on Sunday.
Dumoulin could not keep up with his main rivals in the final uphill finish of the three-week race and trails Quintana, the 2014 winner, by 38 seconds. Vincenzo Nibali is third over all, 43 seconds behind Quintana.
The Spanish rider Mikel Landa won the 19th stage in a breakaway, finally tasting victory after two second-place finishes. Landa required nearly five hours to complete the 119-mile route from San Candido to Piancavallo.
The Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming will skip the Belmont Stakes next month after finishing eighth in the Preakness .
The trainer Todd Pletcher said that Always Dreaming would be pointed toward either the $600,000 Jim Dandy at Saratoga on July 29 or the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth on July 30.
The trainer Chad Brown said he would wait until after Memorial Day weekend to announce where the Preakness winner Cloud Computing would run next. However, it appears unlikely that he will run in the Belmont.
