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A22 SPORTS
Tuesday 13 February 2018

Ex-All Star pitcher Esteban

Loaiza arrested on drug charges

By JULIE WATSON
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Former
All-Star pitcher Esteban
Loaiza has been arrested
on suspicion of trafficking
drugs after packages con-
taining a white powder be-
lieved to be cocaine were
found at a home he rented USA's Venus Williams, left, and Serena Williams , right, talk be-
in Southern California, offi- tween points in their doubles match against Netherlands' Leslie
cials said Monday. Herkhove and Demi Schuurs in the first round of Fed Cup tennis
The 46-year-old former competition in Asheville, N.C., Sunday, Feb. 11, 2018.
Associated Press
Major League Baseball
player was booked Friday Fed Cup: 10th straight
on charges involving the
possession, transport and
sale of 20 kilograms (44 SFs for Czechs; Serena
pounds) of suspected co-
caine worth an estimated returns for U.S.
$500,000, according to the
San Diego Sheriff's Depart-
ment. By The Associated Press The Germans last met the
Loaiza played for numer- The Czech Republic beat Czechs in the 2014 final, los-
ous teams between 1995 In this Sept. 21, 2007, file photo, Los Angeles Dodgers' Esteban Switzerland 3-1 to advance ing 3-1.
and 2008, starting with the Loaiza throws a pitch against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the to its 10th straight Fed Cup Germany met Belarus for
first inning of a baseball game in Phoenix.
Pittsburgh Pirates and con- Associated Press semifinals on Sunday, and the first time without its
cluding with his second stint Serena Williams played her three leading singles play-
with the Chicago White a text to the newspaper. "I to be cocaine, said San Di- first competitive match in ers. But Tatjana Maria won
Sox. He had a 21-9 record don't know how he would ego Sheriff’s Lt. Jason Vick- more than a year as de- the first reverse singles for
with the Chicago White Sox get himself involved in this, ery. fending champion United Germany against Vera
in 2003 and started in the so it's difficult to even com- Loaiza was born in Tijuana, States defeated the Neth- Lapko 6-4, 5-7, 6-0 for a
All-Star Game that year. ment on it." Mexico and was married erlands 3-1. 2-1 lead. The 19-year-old
It was not immediately Officers stopped Loaiza for for two years to the late The Czechs, Fed Cup Lapko made her Fed Cup
known if Loaiza had hired a minor traffic infraction Fri- Mexican-American singer champions in five of the debut in place of team
a lawyer and the for- day after he left the home Jenni Rivera. She filed for last seven years, travel to No. 1 Aliaksandra Sasnov-
mer player could not be he started renting recently divorce shortly before she Germany, which made its ich, who lost her singles on
reached to comment. He in the Pacific coast com- died in a plane crash in first semifinals since 2015 af- Saturday. Aryna Sabalenka
was being held Monday for munity of Imperial Beach, 2012. ter beating 2017 finalist Be- then tied the match 2-2 by
lack of $200,000 bail pend- along the U.S.-Mexico bor- The 43-year-old Rivera was larus 3-2 in Minsk. The U.S. beating German newcom-
ing a court appearance on der. Authorities had the known as the “Diva de la goes to France, which de- er Antonia Lottner 6-3, 5-7,
Wednesday. vehicle under surveillance Banda” and died as her feated Belgium 3-2. 6-2. But straight after that
Loaiza's agent, John on suspicion it was used for career was peaking. She Dual Wimbledon champi- two-hour match, Sabalen-
Boggs, told the San Francis- smuggling drugs. was perhaps the most suc- on Petra Kvitova beat Swit- ka returned for the decid-
co Chronicle that he had When they searched the cessful female singer in gru- zerland's Belinda Bencic ing doubles without regular
no information about the vehicle, they found a so- pero, a male-dominated 6-2, 6-4 in the first reverse partner Sasnovich.
arrest and that he has not phisticated compartment Mexico regional style, sold singles to give the Czechs Sabalenka combined with
spoken to Loaiza recently. used to conceal contra- more than 15 million re- an insurmountable 3-0 lead Lidziya Marozava for the
He said that Loaiza had band, authorities said. That cords, and moved into act- in the first-round match in first time, and they faced
called his office early last led them to obtain a search ing and reality television. Prague. Maria and Anna-Lena
week but Boggs was un- warrant for Loaiza's rental Loaiza sued the aircraft’s The second reverse singles Groenefeld, who hadn’t
available at the time. home, where they found owners in 2014 for wrongful was not played but Swit- played Fed Cup doubles
"I am shocked and sad- the packages of drugs, ac- death but her relatives ac- zerland's Timea Bacsinszky since 2011 but had a 3-2
dened by the news and cording to investigators. cused him of trying to profit and Jil Teichmann defeat- record. The Belarusians
had no indication he The packages containing from her death. He denied ed Lucie Safarova and Bar- committed 69 unforced er-
would ever be in this type a white powder are still be- the accusations and later bora Strycova 1-6, 6-4, 10-8 rors as the Germans edged
of situation," Boggs said in ing tested but are believed retracted his lawsuit.q in the doubles. them 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4. q