NEW YORK -- The Washington Post came under fire Monday for its decision to suspend a reporter a day after she tweeted about the rape case against Kobe Bryant, only hours after the former basketball star and his daughter died with seven others in a helicopter crash.

The starters for this year’s edition of the Midseason Classic National Basketball Association All-Star Game were announced last week with little contention about their makeup as those selected were deserving of their spots.

As expected, the National Basketball Association remained transfixed in grief yesterday. The 12 teams that had matches on tap continued to mourn the loss of Kobe Bryant, honoring him in a variety of ways. The most common had them deliberately absorbing eight- or 24-second violations on their very first possession, in obvious reference to the numbers he wore throughout his 20-year career. Meanwhile, the Lakers -- for whom he toiled in all his outings, and who then recognized his efforts by hanging the aforesaid numbers in the Staples Center rafters -- wound up too shell-shocked to play, asking for, and receiving, approval to suspend a scheduled tiff with the Clippers.

CERES-NEGROS FC shoots for a place where it has never been to before when it plays FC Tokyo in an away AFC Champions League playoff match today in Japan.

CALABASAS, CALIFORNIA. -- Kobe Bryant, one of the NBA’s all-time greatest players whose international stardom transcended basketball, was killed at age 41 on Sunday in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles along with his 13-year-old daughter and seven others on board, officials said.

NATIONAL Basketball Association legend Kobe Bryant loved the Philippines and, in turn, the country loved him back. So when news of the untimely death of the many-time Manila visitor on Monday (Manila time) broke out, Filipinos mourned and expressed their love and respect for the “Black Mamba.”

SET TO TAKE make his Manila debut for ONE Championship, Team Lakay fighter Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang said he is very excited to fight in front of the hometown fans and make it an event to remember.

The 2020 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship was a 12-game match between Chinese reigning champion Ju Wenjun and Russian challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina, who won the 2019 FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament. The first six games was played in Ju Wenjun’s hometown of Shanghai, China and the remaining games in Vladivostok, Russia. The prize fund: 500,000 euros, split 60:40, or 55:45 in case of a playoff.

Death is never easy to take, and, for obvious reasons, among the hardest to process is that of a sports figure who transcended his or her calling. It’s why the passing of Kobe Bryant yesterday came as a shock even to casual observers with little or no regard for basketball. In life, he evoked emotions few others in his profession could. And in the absence of life, he generated an outpouring of sympathy and grief. It wasn’t simply that he went too soon at 41, and under tragic circumstances -- his daughter Gianna, all of 13, by his side. It was that he went not on his own terms, and, therefore, not on terms all and sundry could accept.

FACING what arguably its biggest test to date in football club competition, Ceres-Negros FC veterans Roland Muller and James Younghusband hope their team gets to sustain their competitive form in the AFC Champions League 2020 preliminary stages to achieve what no other Philippine club has done before -- advance to the main draw of the prestigious Asian tournament.

MELBOURNE -- Petra Kvitova came from a set down and took full advantage as her Greek opponent Maria Sakkari’s self-belief drained away to advance to the Australian Open quarterfinals with a 6-7(4) 6-3 6-2 victory on Rod Laver Arena on Sunday.

A THRILLING, real-time auto-chess strategy game, with a magical twist, Magic Chess: Bang Bang, has finally arrived in the Philippines.