June 12, 2007

 

All-star Holdsclaw stuns Sparks by retiring

Compiled By The Inquirer Staff

Six-time WNBA all-star forward Chamique Holdsclaw unexpectedly retired yesterday, the Los Angeles Sparks announced. No reason was given for the decision.

Holdsclaw, 29, who had averaged 15.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in the Sparks' first five games this season, starred at New York City's Christ the King High School, then the University of Tennessee. She led the Vols to three straight NCAA crowns in the late 1990s while becoming only the fifth woman in NCAA history to reach 3,000 points.

Golf
The Golf Association of Philadelphia's 107th Amateur Championship, plagued by rain yesterday, will continue its qualifying rounds today at Applebrook Golf Club and White Manor Country Club.

Chase Duncan of Meadia Heights, Pa., had the lowest 36-hole score - 2-under 140 - of those who were able to finish. The top 32 players will qualify for match play.

Olympics
Red-faced organizers of the Beijing Olympics threatened to cancel the contracts of companies using child labor and violating minimum-wage rules to make Olympic-licensed products. Four Chinese factories were cited for labor violations in a report released Sunday by an alliance of global trade union and labor groups.

Tennis
Five-time Wimbledon champion Bjorn Borg suffered a severe dog bite to his right leg at his home in Sweden last weekend and had to cancel an exhibition at the Liverpool International this week.

Four-time champion Roger Federer withdrew from the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, citing fatigue after his French Open loss to Rafael Nadal on Sunday. In first-round matches, James Blake defeated teenager Sam Querrey and Thomas Berdych edged Nicolas Kiefer.

Colleges
Oregon (44-18) gained a College World Series berth against Cal State Fullerton when it defeated Michigan, 8-2, last night in Corvallis, Ore. . . . UNLV offered men's basketball coach Lon Kruger a contract guaranteeing $5.2 million over the next five years. The 2006-07 Rebels (30-7) made the NCAA round of 16. . . . Ray Mears, who led Tennessee to a 278-112 record in men's basketball from 1962 to '78, died in Knoxville. He was 80.

Noteworthy
Formula One driver Robert Kubica left a Montreal hospital a day after crashing head-on into a wall at the Canadian Grand Prix. He suffered no broken bones. . . . Belgian cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke said in Milan, Italy, he would return to racing despite a suicide attempt on Wednesday. He slit his wrists, reportedly because his wife had left him. . . . Hector "Macho" Camacho was sentenced to the maximum seven years in prison for burglary in Biloxi, Miss., but the eight-time world champion could avoid spending time in a cell if authorities in Puerto Rico agree to monitor him. . . . Walter Centeno scored the lone goal as Costa Rica advanced to the second round of the CONCACAF Gold Cup with a 1-0 win over Guadeloupe in Miami. Canada beat Haiti, 2-0, as Dwayne De Rosario scored twice.