Barcelona defender GERARD PIQUÉ "vowed to start a media outlet to give players a voice in the wake of recent photos published of him talking to police." Piqué, 30, "was photographed while pulled over in his car on a busy road in Catalunya on Friday, prompting some outlets to claim the traffic stop was due to reckless driving and speeding." However, the Spain int'l "denied the allegations." He published a series of tweets, including two that said, "4. The majority of the sites of this country publish the news without corroborating the information. All in order to get more clicks. 5. The damage has already been done and nobody does anything to change this dynamic" (ESPN.com, 5/20). ... Nigerian footballer AHMED MUSA will open a sports complex estimated to be worth about N500M ($1.6M) in Kano, Nigeria, next month. The facility, which has two five-a-side pitches, a gymnasium, lounge, restaurant and a "large multipurpose events hall," will be officially opened to the public on June 15. Musa: "People like football in Kano and they pay money to train in different places so I thought it would be good to have a standard place where all these people could have a good place to train, play football and relax too" (ESPN.com, 5/20). ... Tennis player NOVAK DJOKOVIC announced ANDRE AGASSI will coach him at the French Open, which starts May 28. Speaking after his loss to ALEXANDER ZVEREV in the Italian Open final on Sunday, Djokovic said, "Andre is someone who I have tremendous respect for. ... He's someone who can contribute to my life on and off the court" (AP, 5/21). ... Former Australian sprinter CATHY FREEMAN became the sixth official Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games ambassador. Freeman was the first female Aboriginal athlete to win gold at a CWG, at Auckland 1990 at age 16 (GC2018). ... Serie A side Genoa defender ARMANDO IZZO "had his ban and fine over match-fixing allegations reduced." Izzo was banned for 18 months and fined €50,000 ($56,000) last month for "failing to disclose a match-fixing agreement" when at Italian club Avellino in '13-14. Italy's Federal Appeal Court on Friday reduced the ban to six months and €30,000 ($33,600) (BBC, 5/19). ... American tennis player NIKITA KRYVONOS has been banned for 10 years and fined $20,000 after being found guilty of "breaches of the sport's anti-corruption" program. The Tennis Integrity Unit found he colluded with third parties "to contrive the outcome of a match" at the Challenger event in Illinois in '15 (BBC, 5/18). ... NBA Oklahoma City Thunder center ENES KANTER was "stopped at a Romanian airport, after Turkey cancelled his passport." The Turkish player posted a video on Twitter saying that this was "due to his political views." He blamed Turkish President RECEP TAYYIP ERDOĞAN, whom he called "a bad, bad man," and a "dictator." Kanter was "later allowed to fly to London" (BBC, 5/20). ... Chelsea defender DAVID LUIZ marked his side's Premier League title by spending £1M ($1.3M) on "giving his teammates custom-made gold and diamond-encrusted computerised wristbands, programmed to act as a key for their supercars." Luiz reportedly presented each member of the Chelsea squad -- along with Manager ANTONIO CONTE and Owner ROMAN ABRAMOVICH -- one of 30 Senturion keys (London TELEGRAPH, 5/20).
