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Sports briefs
Sunday, December 23, 2007
ATP suspends two for betting

The ATP suspended Italians Potito Starace and Daniele Bracciali on yesterday for making bets -- some as little as $7 -- on tennis matches involving other players.

The Italian Tennis Federation denounced the penalties by the governing body as an "injustice," and the players said they have been made scapegoats.

Starace, ranked 31st, was suspended for six weeks and fined $30,000, the Italian federation said. Bracciali, ranked 258th, was banned for three months and fined $20,000. Both suspensions take effect Jan. 1.

The federation said Starace made five bets for a total of $130 two years ago, and Bracciali made about 50 bets of $7 each from 2004-05.

"Injustice is done," the statement said. "These penalties are absolutely, excessively severe compared to the magnitude of the violations carried out by the two players."

Olympics

Marion Jones used several different performance-enhancing drugs over a substantial period of time, according to a detailed doping calendar that was part of several pages of court documents released Friday. Jones' alleged doping regimen was part of a Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) ledger that featured the names of athletes along with the performance-enhancing drugs they were taking and results of urine tests. The other names on the list are redacted.

After long denying she had used performance-enhancing drugs, Jones admitted in October that she had taken the designer steroid "the clear" from September 2000 to July 2001. "The clear" has been linked to BALCO, the lab at the center of the steroids scandal in pro sports.

The International Olympic Committee formally stripped her of five Olympic medals Dec. 12 and banned the disgraced American athlete from attending the Beijing Olympics next year in any capacity.

Skiing

Austria's Thomas Morgenstern became the first ski jumper to open a World Cup season with six consecutive victories, taking a large hill event in Engelberg, Switzerland, to equal the record for most consecutive wins. The Olympic champion won with jumps of 132.5 and 133.0 meters for 260.4 points, beating Austrian compatriot Andreas Kofler (134.5-128.5, 254.4 points). Norway's Tom Hilde (133.5-129.5, 252.9 points) was third.

• American Lindsey Vonn won a super-combi in St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria for her second consecutive victory, sending her to the top of the overall standings. U.S. teammate Julia Mancuso finished third. Another American, Stacey Cook, was 13th. Vonn led after the downhill leg and finished with a combined time of 2 minutes, 20.28 seconds after the slalom. It was her third victory of the season and 10th overall.

Snowboarding

Austrian Stefan Gimpl won a Big Air snowboarding World Cup competition in Sofia, Bulgaria, and overall standings leader Janne Korpi finished second. Matevz Petek of Slovenia, who won last year, was third. Gimpl is second in the Big Air snowboarding standings, trailing Korpi 2,200-2,040. Korpi, from Finland, also leads the overall standings with 3,400 points, ahead of Frenchman Mathieu Bozzetto, who has 2,950.

Soccer

Manuel Almunia saved a penalty kick to help Arsenal beat Tottenham, 2-1, in London and extend its Premier League lead over defending champion Manchester United.

Boxing

Floyd Mayweather Jr. met with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban this week to discuss competing in mixed martial arts. "We're definitely going to work together," Cuban said after the Mavericks' game Friday night. "It's just a question of in what capacity. You just don't jump from being a boxer to an MMA fighter overnight. He's got to test the waters." The 30-year-old Mayweather is considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and boxing's No. 1 drawing card.

First published on December 23, 2007 at 12:34 am