Digest

BASKETBALL

Resilient Royal Fighters make Marbury proud

Kyle Fogg scored a game-high 40 points to lead the Beijing Royal Fighters to a stirring 105-100 comeback victory over the Fujian Sturgeons on Monday night in Jinjiang.

"My players didn't give up until the last minute. We played as a team and displayed our resilience on the court," said Beijing coach Stephon Marbury, whose team had trailed 92-83 in the final quarter.

The host opened fire beyond the arc with three consecutive 3-pointers to take a 27-22 lead in the opening quarter. By the middle of the second, Fujian had extended its advantage to 49-37 before Fogg helped the capital team turn the tide, cutting the deficit to 53-46 by halftime.

Former NBA player Amar'e Stoudemire was ejected for a second technical foul at the start of the third, but Fujian still led 81-79 by the end of the period.

The Sturgeons moved up the gears in the fourth, only to see Fogg spearhead a 22-8 spurt for Beijing in clutch time to seal victory.

SWIMMING

Olympic ace Schooling shines for Singapore

Olympic champion Joseph Schooling led Singapore to gold in the men's 4x100m medley relay to earn his fourth title at the 30th Southeast Asian Games in Manila on Monday.

On the closing day of the tournament at New Clark City Aquatics Center, the quartet of Schooling, Darren Chua, Quah Zheng Wen, and Lionel Khoo ended the event in style by clocking 3:38.63 to finish almost five seconds ahead of second-place Indonesia.

Schooling, who won the 100m butterfly title at the 2016 Rio Olympics, also bagged golds in the men's 4x100m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relays in the Filipino capital.

However, the 24-year-old had to settle for silvers behind teammates Teong Tzen Wei and Chua in the 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle finals, respectively.

BADMINTON

Zheng, Huang striving for missing major title

World No 1 pair Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong have been drawn in a tough mixed-doubles group at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals, which starts in Guangzhou today.

The Tour Finals trophy remains the only major title missing from the Chinese duo's collection. However, they will face a tricky task to emerge from Group B after being drawn against two tough Indonesian pairs (Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti, and Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja) and Japan's Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino.

In the women's singles, Chinese ace Chen Yufei will face defending champion PV Sindhu of India, Japan's Akane Yamaguchi and compatriot He Bingjiao.

The two Chinese women's doubles pairs－Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan, and Du Yue and Li Yinhui－have been drawn with world No 2 duo Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota of Japan.

Defending men's doubles champions Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen will face serious challenges against top seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia and Asian champions Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe of Japan.

SOCCER

Trailblazer Rapinoe reaps another award

Megan Rapinoe collected another accolade in a stellar year by claiming Sports Illustrated's Sportsperson of the Year honor on Monday for her performances on the US women's World Cup-winning team and for her campaigning off the field.

Rapinoe rocketed to household fame this year, taking home the Golden Boot and Golden Ball from the World Cup as top scorer and best player as the US retained the trophy. In addition, she became an advocate for gender pay equity in sport. The attacking midfielder also picked up the prestigious Ballon d'Or Feminin award for the world's best female player.

"Choosing Megan as the Sportsperson of the Year was an easy decision," Sports Illustrated's co-editor-in-chief, Steve Cannella, said in a statement.

"She is a force of nature on and off the field, a trailblazing soccer player who also proves every day how large and loud a voice a socially conscious athlete can have in 2019."

Freddie relieved to halt Gunners' horror run

Arsenal caretaker manager Freddie Ljungberg believes a weight has been lifted off his players' shoulders after a three-goal blitz in nine second-half minutes beat West Ham 3-1 on Monday to end the Gunners' worst run in 42 years.

Another miserable night for the Swede seemed in store when the visitor trailed at halftime to Angelo Ogbonna's deflected header.

However, Arsenal suddenly sparked into life after Gabriel Martinelli scored his first Premier League goal and Nicolas Pepe curled home a brilliant second, before crossing for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to secure the three points.

"It means so much for the players. They have been living under enormous pressure and you see it in their performances," said Ljungberg after his team snapped a nine-game winless streak. "You can see the players have been a bit low and you see in the dressing room the relief and how happy they are."

BASEBALL

Strasburg inks record deal with Washington

Stephen Strasburg is returning to Washington with a record contract, and fellow free-agent pitcher Gerrit Cole could be in line for an even larger payday.

Strasburg and the Nationals agreed to a $245 million, seven-year contract, the first significant announcement at this week's winter meetings.

A 31-year-old right-hander, Strasburg agreed to a deal that is the highest for a pitcher in both total dollars and average annual value at $35 million.

The largest contract for a pitcher had been David Price's $217 million, seven-year deal with Boston that began in 2016. The highest average value had been Zack Greinke's $34.4 million as part of a $206.5 million, six-year agreement with Arizona prior to the 2016 season.

Strasburg's deal includes $80 million in deferred payments, with all the money paid by 2029, a source familiar with the agreement said. The source spoke to Associated Press on condition of anonymity because that detail was not announced.