WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2016 SPORTS Gangs stay ahead in sport’s illegal gambling war LONDON: Gangs are using instant messenger serv- Even a split-second advance on a goal being ‘EFFECTIVE AND VIBRANT PARTNERSHIPS’ ices to pass on match information to illegal gam- scored in football or a six being hit in cricket can Flanagan, who on taking up the role in 2010 blers and sport needs to act to catch up, the head make syndicates a fortune. Messenger services was thrust into the Pakistan spot-fixing scandal in of world cricket’s anti-corruption united told AFP. can easily delayed television images. England, said sharing intelligence with other Ronnie Flanagan, former chief constable of the Flanagan, who replaced another former senior sports is crucial in the battle with the criminals. Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and its successor police chief, Paul Condon, in 2010, said the cre- “Organised criminals are operating on a trans- the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), said ation of anti-corruption units in English, Australian national basis in getting money through corrup- sports criminals are also crossing into new sports and Indian cricket has been “very positive.” tion in sport,” said Flanagan. having already become a thorn for cricket, football The 67-year-old Northern Irishman said the ICC “I am certain also these corrupters do not con- and tennis. unit was working increasingly closely with the fine themselves to one sport. “The fact they’re “They are becoming more inventive in how national bodies. moving across sports means for us we must they communicate with each other and circum- But gambling is like sports doping, regulators engage and liaise with other sports bodies sharing vent our measures,” the head of the International close down one avenue and the criminals find intelligence, tactics and to learn from each other.” Cricket Council’s anti-corruption united told AFP. another another to exploit. The ICC unit does not have police powers and “They use WhatsApp and other forms of social “They are increasingly determined,” he said. relies on national authorities to arrest and prose- media to communicate,” he said after addressing “While international cricket has become a hard- cute suspects. the World Rugby Conference in London. er target for them they have improvised and tar- “Policing, as it is I believe similarly with fight- SYDNEY: This file photo taken on February “We have to keep a step ahead of them.” Gangs geted all types of televised matches. ing corruption, can only dream of being suc- 06, 2015 shows Ronnie Flanagan, head of the have long stationed agents at cricket and football “They don’t care if it is England v Australia for cessful if it involves effective and vibrant part- ICC’s anti-corruption and security, speaking matches to try and get game information for ille- the Ashes or Kent v Sussex just so long as it is tele- nerships between themselves and local stake- at a press conference in Sydney on February gal bets. vised so it facilitates betting illegally.” holders. — AFP 6, 2015. — AFP Vasilevskiy stops 34 shots, Lightning beat Islanders 4-0 NEW YORK: Andrei Vasilevskiy faced 20 better. You get up tomorrow and try to get shots in the third period Monday night, so better.” Travis Hamonic returned to the there wasn’t much time for him to worry Islanders just nine days after suffering a hand about the status of his shutout. injury that was expected to keep him out The Tampa Bay Lightning goalie was four to six weeks. However, New York was more worried about a victory, anyway. without fellow defenseman Dennis Vasilevskiy made 34 saves for his third career Seidenberg after he was placed on shutout, J.T. Brown and Ryan Callahan scored injured reserve with a broken jaw after get- 42 seconds apart in the first period and the ting hit in the face by a puck in Saturday Lightning beat the New York Islanders 4-0 on night’s overtime loss at Florida. Scott Monday night. Mayfield was an emergency recall from “We get two points, that’s most impor- Bridgeport of the AHL, and the Islanders tant,” Vasilevskiy said, “and the shutout is a lit- used seven defensemen and 11 forwards. tle bounce.” Mayfield fought with Brown about 5 1/2 The goalie said he expected the Islanders minutes into the second after Brown hit to press in the third after being outshot 17-4 Tavares. Mayfield received 17 minutes of in the second. penalties, getting whistled for instigating “Usually when a team plays not that good and a misconduct in addition to the fighting (in the second period), they make a push in major. the third,” Vasilevskiy said. “We did a good job Kucherov extended Tampa Bay’s lead to on the (penalty kill) and the game overall, 3-0 with 5:36 left in the second by complet- blocked shots and good play. I just want to ing a give-and-go with Stamkos, snapping say thank you to our guys for the shutout.” the puck past Halak for his sixth of the sea- Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav son. It was Kucherov’s fourth goal against the Namestnikov scored as the Lightning won Islanders, including one in each of the team’s for the fourth time in seven games (4-2-1) three meetings. following a three-game skid. The Lightning made it 4-0 about 2 1/2 Steven Stamkos had two assists to help minutes later when Stamkos brought the Tampa Bay complete a sweep of the three- puck up ice and sent a pass to the right to game season series with the Islanders - all Namestnikov, who tipped it in for his third. within the last 14 days - by a combined 14-2 Brown got the Lightning on the score- margin. board with 1:02 left in the opening period, “We sat back probably a little too much in taking a pass from Craig Paquette and flick- the third and put Vasy in a tough position to ing the puck past Halak. make some big saves,” Stamkos said. “He Tampa Bay made it 2-0 with 20 seconds earned the shutout for sure.” Jaroslav Halak remaining when Andrej Sustr fired a shot had 27 saves for New York, which was shut from the right point that Callahan appeared out for the first time this season and fell to 1- to deflect with the shaft of his stick over 3-3 in its last seven. Halak’s glove. It was Callahan’s first goal of “Obviously we don’t want to be in the the season and his 349th career point. LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles Clippers center Diamond Stone, left, shoots and scores his first NBA basket as Brooklyn Nets forward Chris spot we are in,” Islanders captain John Kucherov nearly added to the lead in the McCullough defends during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, in Los Angeles. The Clippers won 127-95. — AP Tavares said. closing seconds of the first, but the puck ric- Clippers crush Nets for “We just have to play positive and get ocheted of the crossbar. — AP seventh straight victory LOS ANGELES: Chris Paul had 21 points and City, had 27 points for Miami. Hassan Whiteside 11. Orlando shot 32 percent from the field. nine assists while Blake Griffin added 20 points had 23 points and 17 rebounds. Evan Fournier led the Magic with 14 points on as the Los Angeles Clippers blitzed the 4-of-15 shooting, and Aaron Gordon had 11. Brooklyn Nets 127-95 on Monday night to PELICANS 106, CELTICS 105 improve to an NBA-best 10-1 with a seventh Anthony Davis had 25 points, 16 rebounds, ROCKETS 115, 76ERS 88 straight victory. Los Angeles came in having four steals and two blocks as the New Orleans James Harden scored 23 of his 33 points in outscored opponents by an average of 15.1 Pelicans won for only the second time in their the first quarter, helping Houston to the easy points, largest in the league. Brooklyn quickly first 11 games, 106-105 over the Boston Celtics win. Harden, who posted a triple-double in his found itself relegated to the Clippers’ quickly in the National Basketball League on Monday previous two games, added nine assists and growing scrap heap. Bojan Bogdanovic led the night. Langston Galloway scored a season-high seven rebounds. The Rockets had a three-point Nets with 18 points and Sean Kilpatrick added 21 points, while Terrence Jones added 15 lead with five minutes left in the first quarter 14. Brooklyn’s season-high 22 turnovers led to points and a season-high 10 rebounds for New when Harden took over, scoring all of Houston’s 35 points by the Clippers. J.J. Redick added 18 Orleans, which has won two of three after an 0- points in a 17-9 run to make it 35-24. The Sixers points, Luc Mbah a Moute scored 11 points and 8 start. Isaiah Thomas scored 37 for Boston, were led by Joel Embiid and Ersan Ilyasova, DeAndre Jordan had 14 rebounds for the including a driving scoop that tied the game who had 13 points apiece. Clippers, who shot 53 percent from the floor with 7 seconds left. But Boston’s Kelly Olynyk while extending the best start in franchise his- fouled New Orleans guard Tim Frazier with 2.5 KNICKS 93, MAVERICKS 77 NEW YORK: Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Braydon Coburn (55) shoves New York tory. Their 127 points were a season high. seconds left, and Frazier sank one free throw for Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis Islanders’ left wing Anders Lee (27) in front of Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) the margin of victory.