Los Angeles, OCT 15 (AP/UNB) — LeBron James believes Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey "was either misinformed or not really educated on the situation" regarding the potential consequences of his actions when he tweeted in support of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests.

In his first public comments since the Los Angeles Lakers returned home from a strange weeklong tour of China immediately after Morey's incendiary tweet , James' lengthy answer to a question about whether Morey should be punished for his tweet didn't appear to specifically address the merits of Morey's support of Hong Kong sovereignty.

The Lakers superstar instead characterized the international incident caused by Morey's tweet as a cautionary tale about the power of social media.

"Yes, we do have freedom of speech," James said. "But at times, there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you're not thinking about others, when you only think about yourself. I don't want to get into a word or sentence feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn't educated on the situation at hand, and he spoke. So many people could have been harmed, not only financially but physically, emotionally, spiritually. So just be careful what we tweet and what we say and what we do. Even though yes, we do have freedom of speech, it can be a lot of negative that comes with it."

When asked to clarify his thoughts, James went further.

"I believe (Morey) was either misinformed or not really educated on the situation, and if he was, then so be it," James said. "But I have no idea. That's just my belief. When you say things or do things, you're doing it and you know the people that can be affected by it, and the families and the individuals and everyone that can be affected by it. Sometimes things can be challenging as well. Also sometimes, social media is not always the proper way to go about things as well. But that's just my belief."

James' comments set off swift reaction on social media, with many listeners perceiving his comments as criticism of the democracy movement in Hong Kong. James addressed the issue again in two tweets before the Lakers' preseason game against Golden State at Staples Center.

"Let me clear up the confusion," James tweeted. "I do not believe there was any consideration for the consequences and ramifications of the tweet. I'm not discussing the substance. Others can talk about that. ... My team and this league just went through a difficult week. I think people need to understand what a tweet or statement can do to others. And I believe nobody stopped and considered what would happen. Could have waited a week to send it."

James didn't play, but watched from the bench when the Lakers hosted the Warriors on Monday night, just two days after they returned home from their bizarre trip to China.

A typical NBA preseason promotional swing through Shanghai and Shenzhen became something else when Morey tweeted in support of the Hong Kong protesters while the Lakers were in the air on their 13-hour flight to China.

The Lakers landed amid outrage in China with Morey's since-deleted tweet and the NBA in general. The league and Chinese authorities decided to hold no media availability or community events with the Lakers or the Brooklyn Nets, their opponents.

The Lakers passed their week in China in public silence. Although the exhibition games weren't canceled, the league claimed it would be unfair to ask players and coaches to speak on the delicate geopolitical argument in which they found themselves involuntarily enmeshed.

So the players spent most of the week in hotels or on the court, with two NBA Cares events, a fan event and other public appearances all canceled by the league or the government. Several companies and state-run offices reportedly severed their ties with the NBA over Morey's tweet and the league's response to it.

When asked about his thoughts on the political side of the events in China, James echoed Warriors coach Steve Kerr's belief that he wasn't educated enough to comment on the situation.

"When I speak about something, I speak about something I am very knowledgeable about, something that hits home for me, something that I am very passionate about," James said. "I felt like with this particular situation, it was something that not only was I not informed enough about, I just felt like it was something that not only myself and my teammates or our organization had enough information to even talk about it at that point in time, and we still feel the same way."

Tokyo,  OCT 15 (AP/UNB) — Roger Federer wants to become a five-time Olympian.

Already the most successful male tennis player in terms of Grand Slam singles titles, Federer wants to add another piece of hardware to his impressive collection. If he's healthy.

"My heart decided I would love to play at the Olympic Games again," Federer said Monday during an exhibition event in Tokyo.

He made his Olympic debut for Switzerland in 2000 at Sydney, where he met his wife, Mirka, and finished fourth in singles. He competed at Athens in 2004 before combining with Stan Wawrinka to win the Olympic gold medal in doubles at Beijing in 2008. Federer finished with silver in the singles after losing to Andy Murray at Wimbledon in the final of the 2012 London Games, and he missed the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro because of injury.

"If I am healthy I am coming. Absolutely," the 38-year-old Federer said. "I have been thinking about it for weeks now, just trying to figure the schedule more than anything, with my four children and my wife. Figuring out the U.S. Open, what do with the clay (Roland Garros), what to do with the grass (Wimbledon) and just how that all lines up."

The 20-time major winner said he was disappointed to skip the Rio Olympics because of a knee injury that sidelined him for the rest of the year at Wimbledon in 2016.

"Every Olympic Games has been very, very special to me," he said, adding that he figured he may as well make the announcement "while I was actually in the city where the Olympics will take place."

"I just figured it was an organic place to do that," he said, "so I am very happy to announce it here."

Dhaka, Oct 14 (UNB) – Syed Mamun of BSS clinched table tennis singles title of the Jatiya Press Club (JPC) sports festival, arranged on the occasion of the club’s 65th Founding Anniversary at the club premises on Monday.

Tariqul Islam Masum of Channel i finished runner-up while SK Enamul Haque of Daily Star became 3rd in the singles event.

Earlier, Secretary General of Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) Syed Shahed Reza inaugurated the table tennis competition on the 2nd day of the festival in the morning at a simple ceremony chaired by JPC President Saiful Alam.

General Secretary of Bangladesh Volleyball Federation Ashiqur Rahman Miku, General Secretary of Bangladesh Handball Federation Asaduzzaman Kohinoor, General Secretary of Bangladesh Basketball Federation AK Sarkar and JPC sports committee convener Kallyan Saha were also present on the occasion. 

Later, in the afternoon, JPC President Saiful Alam inaugurated the air gun shooting competition of the festival.

In the shooting competition, Golam Kibria of NTV emerged as champion, Kazi Rownak Hossain of Saragom finished runner-up while Mohammad Momin Hossain and Rashida Afzalunnessa of BSS became 3rd.  

Dhaka, Oct 14 (UNB) – Bangladesh U-21 Hockey team will play against touring Oman U-21 Hockey team in the fifth and last match of Walton five-match practice series on Tuesday (Oct 15).

The match will kick off at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium here at 4pm.

Earlier, Bangladesh U-21 Hockey team clinched the Walton five-match practice series 3-0 with one match to spare crushing the touring Oman U-21 Hockey team by 4-1 goals in the 4th match on Saturday.

Hosts Bangladesh Youth Hockey team made a good start in the series beating Oman by 5-1 goals in the opening match and defeated them by 2-0 goals in the 3rd match after playing 2-2 draw in the 2nd match.

Oman arrived here on Monday last from Pakistan after playing four preparatory matches there, responding to the invitation of Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) as part of the Bangladesh team’s preparations for the next year’s Junior Asia Cup in Dhaka, a qualifying meet for the Junior Hockey World Cup.

Dhaka, Oct 13 (UNB)- Special Chess Competition for visually impaired people orgnised by Bangladesh Chess Federation (BCF) and sponsored by Walton Group will start at the BCF hall-room on Monday. 

Some 55 visually impaired players are going to take part in the open section while 23 women chess players from different districts, universities and colleges of Dhaka will also participate in the competition

 
Executive Director of Walton Group FM Iqbal Bin Anwar Dawn will inaugurate the meet as the chief guest.

Executive Director of National Fellowship for the Advancement of Visually Handicapped (NFAVH) M Jahangir Alam and BCF Joint Secretary Masudur Rahman Mallick will be also present on the occasion.