Kobe Bryant: Pilot error likely caused helicopter crash

US investigators have said the helicopter involved in the crash which killed basketball superstar Kobe Bryant did not appear to suffer engine failure. The pilot allegedly came within 30 meters of clearing the clouds.

Real Madrid have sent all of the members of their soccer and basketball teams home into quarantine after one of the sports club's basketball players tested positive for the coronavirus, the Spanish club said in a statement on Thursday.

Kobe Bryant's posthumous induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame has been postponed until spring next year, because it is "just not feasible" to hold the ceremony amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Here is why you should pick up a copy of The Guardian on Wednesday. Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on the newsstands on Thursday.

Nigeria's first female combat pilot, Tolulope Arotile has been laid to rest with full military honours at the National military cemetery Abuja.

Nigeria’s basketball got a very bright peep into the likely future of its already successful senior national men’s team, D’Tigers, as a glut of both Nigerian-born and players of Nigerian descent were selected in the 2020 NBA Draft. The NBA draft is a process through which elite players in the American University system are selected by teams playing in the National Basketball Association for a chance to earn a living in the NBA League.

In Los Angeles, murals are painted in tribute to basketball legend Kobe Bryant, who died a year ago with his daughter, Gianna Bryant, in a helicopter crash in California.

Basketball fans gather in Los Angeles to remember Kobe Bryant, one year to the day after the former NBA superstar perished in a helicopter crash with daughter Gianna and seven others.

Young basketball player Nkwain Kennedy from Bamenda, a town afflicted by the years-long conflict in Cameroon, has a dream to play in the NBA. His complex outdoor training was filmed on Tuesday.  

Investigators say the pilot of the helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and his daughter likely became disoriented in fog during the flight. The basketball star's death sent shockwaves throughout the sports world.

Rescuers successfully refloat 28 pilot whales after they became stranded on a notorious stretch of New Zealand's coast, but the mammals remain close to shore and could beach themselves again, wildlife officials said.

The plane's nonappearance took its original destination in Zambia by surprise. As the pilot informed air traffic control that he was about to land, they told him: "We can't see you."