Sports in brief

Basketball

The 2008 NBA draft took place Thursday at Madison Square Garden in New York,… Basketball

The 2008 NBA draft took place Thursday at Madison Square Garden in New York, according to espn.com.

The Chicago Bulls took former Memphis guard Derrick Rose first overall as expected. A home-grown product, Rose grew up on the south side of Chicago.

The top five was rounded out with the Miami Heat taking forward Michael Beasley, the Minnesota Timberwolves selecting guard O.J. Mayo, the Seattle SuperSonics taking guard Russell Westbrook and the Memphis Grizzlies picking forward Kevin Love. It was the first time in NBA draft history that the first three selections were freshmen.

The Thursday draft, however, was remembered for the amount of trades that took place. The Timberwolves traded the rights to Mayo, Marko Jaric, Antoine Walker and Greg Buckner for the rights to Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins. The big trade took place when the New Jersey Nets traded former U.S. Olympian Richard Jefferson in exchange for Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons.

The Nets, which might be moving to Brooklyn as early as 2010, have garnered the interest of NBA superstar LeBron James, according to the Associated Press. James has repetitively said he would love to play in his favorite city, and the Nets getting rid of Jefferson allows them to offer him the maximum salary if he opts out of his current contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010.

Soccer

The UEFA European Soccer Championships ended Sunday with Spain topping Germany in the final in Vienna, Austria, to win its first major tournament since the European Soccer Championships in 1964.

Spain scored the only goal of the match when Liverpool striker Fernando Torres struck a beautiful shot that ended up in the back of the net in the 33rd minute. Spain won the match, 1-0.

Tennis

The top two American players in men’s tennis, Andy Roddick and James Blake, both lost in the second round of Wimbledon, according to atptennis.com.

Former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin has reached the quarterfinals in surprising fashion by beating four opponents with higher rankings than him.

Mario Ancic will play Roger Federer in a quarterfinal match today. Ancic was the last person to beat Federer at Wimbledon six years ago.

Federer’s nemesis, Rafael Nadal, will face Andy Murray in a highly anticipated showdown. Murray is the final remaining British player in Wimbledon.

On the women’s side, Venus and Serena Williams advanced to the semifinals to set up a possible final clash between the two sisters, according to espn.com.

Venus will face No. 5 seed Elena Dementieva in the semis, while Serena squares off against Zheng Jie, the first Chinese woman to make the semifinals of any Grand Slam event.

Compiled by Ravi Marfatia.