BASKET, NBA: Miami Heat’s 27-game winning streak in the National Basketball Association ended on Wednesday when they were beaten by the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls won 101-97 at home to hand the defending NBA champions their first defeat since February 1. Miami’s 27 consecutive wins was the second longest winning streak in NBA history. Only the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers, who won 33 in a row, had a longer winning sequence.

HORSE RACING: Dubai government-owned developer Meydan Group plans to host an international horse race meeting in China’s southwestern city of Chengdu later in 2013, aiming to bring a world class event to the country’s nascent racing industry. Saeed al-Tayer, chairman of the group, which runs Dubai’s opulent racecourse where the world’s richest race is held today, said the racing programme is tentatively scheduled for October following a deal with Chengdu officials.

ATHLETICS: “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius was granted permission to travel abroad this week when a South African judge relaxed bail conditions imposed after the Paralympic and Olympic track star was charged with murdering his girlfriend. The relaxation of initially tough bail conditions for Pistorius opens up the possibility that he could return to competition this year, including the World Championships in August.

WEIGHTLIFTING: Mexican weightlifter Soraya Jimenez, a gold medallist at the Sydney Games in 2000, died at the age 35 on Thursday from a heart attack. Jimenez, who was battling various health problems, became a national hero as Mexico’s first woman to win an Olympic gold medal. The athlete surprised many by retiring from the sport shortly after the Athens Games in 2004. In 2002, she was accused of doping, but was later exonerated. Jimenez won her gold medal in Sydney in the women’s 58kg category after lifting a total of 225.5kgs.

BASKETBALL: A leading South Korean coach, arrested earlier this month for allegedly rigging matches, was among four people formally charged by prosecutors yesterday. Dongbu Promy head coach Kang Dong-hee was indicted for accepting money from brokers to help fix four matches during the 2010-2011 season. Three others, including two gambling brokers, were also charged for match-fixing. Basketball is the latest sport in South Korea to be hit hard by match-fixing in recent years with incidents in soccer, volleyball and baseball forcing the government to take a hard-line stance on the issue.

CRICKET: New Zealand cricketer Jesse Ryder’s condition was improving and he was responding to medical staff and his family yesterday as police said they had arrested two men in connection with the alleged assault. A 20-year-old man and 37-year-old had been charged with assault and would appear in court on April 4, New Zealand Police said in a statement. The men were related, police said, without providing further detail. Ryder, 28, was rushed to hospital early on Thursday with serious head injuries after being involved in two altercations outside a bar and fast food restaurant in Merivale, a suburb of Christchurch.