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Canada approves NHL’s plan to play

Canada has approved a National Hockey League plan to play in the country during the coronavirus pandemic, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday.

The plan required an exemption as the U.S.-Canada border is currently closed to all non-essential travel until at least July 21 and those who enter Canada must self-isolate for 14 days. The league plans to have training camps open in July and to play games without spectators in a couple of cities in late July or August.

Ten locations including three Canadian cities are in the running to serve as the “hub” cities that will host 24 playoff teams for initial rounds.

Twins remove statue of ex-owner Griffith

The Minnesota Twins removed a statue of former owner Calvin Griffith at Target Field, citing his racist remarks in 1978 and saying the team could no longer “remain silent.”

Griffith’s statue was one of several installed when the team opened the ballpark in 2010. Its removal came on the same day as a statue of a former Washington Redskins owner was removed from outside the team’s old RFK Stadium.

“While we acknowledge the prominent role Calvin Griffith played in our history, we cannot remain silent and continue ignoring the racist comments he made in Waseca in 1978,” the Twins said in a statement.

Griffith moved the Washington Senators to Minnesota for the 1961 season, and the franchise was renamed the Twins.

During a speech in Minnesota to a Waseca Lions club in 1978, he said he decided to make the move “when I found out you only had 15,000 blacks here,” the Minneapolis Tribune reported at the time.

“Our decision to memorialize Calvin Griffith with a statue reflects an ignorance on our part of systemic racism present in 1978, 2010 and today,” the Twins said.

Zanardi injured in crash

Alex Zanardi, the Italian race car champion who transitioned into a gold medalist Paralympian after losing both of his legs, was seriously injured in a handbike race on Friday.

Zanardi was transported by helicopter to Santa Maria alle Scotte hospital in Siena following a crash near the Tuscan town of Pienza during a national race for Paralympic athletes, police told the Associated Press.

A bulletin from the hospital said Zanardi was undergoing “a delicate neurosurgery operation.” His condition was “very serious” due to “severe cranial trauma.”

A Carabinieri police official in Montepulciano said the incident involved a “heavy vehicle.”

Local TV at the scene of the crash showed what was apparently Zanardi’s handbike lying on its side and missing two of its three wheels. A large truck pulling a semitrailer appeared parked on the road ahead.

“It happened on a slightly downhill straightaway just before a slight curve in the road,” national team coach Mario Valentini, who was following the race, told La Repubblica Florence. “Alex veered slightly into the oncoming lane just when a truck came. (The truck) tried to swerve but couldn’t avoid the crash.”

The 53-year-old Zanardi won two championships in CART in the United States before a brief move to Formula One. He returned to America and was racing in Germany in a CART event when both of his legs were severed in a horrific accident the weekend after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

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