Tuesday, February 3, 2026
Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic will lead Team World at the 2026 NBA All-Star Game.
Rajakovic, from Serbia, is in his third season with the Raptors. At 30-21, Toronto entered Tuesday tied for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
The All-Star Game, scheduled for Feb. 15 in Inglewood, Calif., will feature a new format with two teams of U.S. players and one “world” team made up of international players. They will play a round-robin tournament of 12-minute games, after which the teams with the best records will play for the championship.
The rosters will be revealed Tuesday night, with each team made up of eight players.
J.B. Bickerstaff of the Detroit Pistons and Mitch Johnson of the San Antonio Spurs already were named the head coaches for the teams of players from the United States.
Rajakovic, 46, previously was an assistant coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns and Memphis Grizzlies, and he also was a head coach in the G League, in Spain and Serbia. He served as an assistant coach for Serbia at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
The All-Star Game will be the 75th in NBA history.
(Reuters)
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Alex Eala and Janice Tjen advanced to the quarterfinals of the women’s doubles event of the Abu Dhabi Open on Tuesday night (early Wednesday in the Philippines) at the Zayed Sports City International Tennis Center in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Eala and Tjen progressed in the round-of-8 after defeating Filipina-Canadian Leylah Fernandez and Kristina Mladenovic, 7-5, 3-6, 10-6, in the opening round of the doubles event.
The Eala-Tjen tandem relied on efficiency in key moments, particularly in the match tiebreak, where they pulled away late to seal the victory.
Eala and Tjen posted a higher first-serve percentage at 78 percent compared to 62 percent for Fernandez and Mladenovic.
Both pairs were equal on points won off the first serve at 61 percent, but Eala and Tjen had the edge on second-serve points, 69 percent to 65 percent.
Despite being outscored overall, 70-60, and losing the total games count, 11-10, Eala and Tjen capitalized on crucial rallies. They won more receiving points, 28-26, and dominated on service points, 42-34.
The winning pair also committed fewer double faults, with just two against six by their opponents. Both teams recorded one ace each.
Fernandez and Mladenovic converted more break points at 4-of-6, while Eala and Tjen went 3-of-6, but they duo made up for it by winning the lone tiebreak of the match.
Eala will return to action tonight against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus in the round-of-16 of the singles event. (AC)
The post Alex Eala, partner advance to Abu Dhabi Open Q’Finals first appeared on Fastbreak.
Organisers of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics on Tuesday named six stadiums across the United States set to host matches in the men’s and women’s Olympic soccer tournaments, expanding the competition footprint well beyond Southern California.
LA28 said group stage and knockout games will be played in New York, Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, San Jose and San Diego.
Venues range from an under-construction New York City Football Club stadium due to be completed in 2027 to established Major League Soccer grounds in Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri and Northern California.
Final-stage matches, including the men’s and women’s gold medal games, have already been confirmed for the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The men’s final is scheduled for July 28, 2028, followed by the women’s final on July 29, 2028, organisers said.
LA28 said it designed the tournament schedule to stage matches concurrently from the East Coast to the West Coast in an effort to limit travel and support athlete welfare while offering fans a more geographically inclusive Games experience.
The organisers also highlighted a milestone in Olympic football, saying that for the first time more women’s teams (16) than men’s teams (12) will compete.
LA28 said it aims to set a benchmark for the first Olympics in which all team sports will feature at least as many women’s teams as men’s.
A full match schedule for both tournaments, including dates and locations for every game, will be announced before tickets go on sale in April, LA28 said.
The post Olympics-LA28 name six US stadiums for 2028 Olympic soccer matches first appeared on Fastbreak.
