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In brief

By TIMES WIRES, BRIAN LANDMAN
© St. Petersburg Times
published November 21, 2002

Boxing panel suspends Vargas

Despite putting himself at the mercy of the Nevada Athletic Commission in Las Vegas, Fernando Vargas on Wednesday was suspended from boxing for nine months and fined $100,000 for testing positive for steroids after his Sept.14 loss to Oscar De La Hoya.

Though the suspension is retroactive to Sept.14, Vargas cannot fight until June15 and will miss a proposed April fight that was to be aired on network TV.

Vargas spent two hours in front of the commission, telling it he took responsibility for the positive test but he never knowingly used steroids.

Commissioners hinted they believe it was inadvertent but voted 4-1 to penalize Vargas and send a message that steroids won't be tolerated. It was believed to be the first time a boxer has been suspended for steroid use. Francois Botha was stripped of his IBF heavyweight title in 1995 for testing positive in Germany.

MORE BOXING: Mike Tyson will fight Clifford Etienne on Feb.22 at the Pyramid in Memphis, where he lost June8 to Lennox Lewis.

SOCCER: Major League Soccer changed its playoff format to match international play, expanded each team's schedule by two games and lengthened its season by a month. Starting next season, the first round will be a home-and-home series. The team with more goals advances. If tied, they will play 30 minutes of sudden-death overtime. If neither team scores, the playoff will be decided by penalty kicks. The conference finals will be one game with ties to be decided by sudden-death overtime and penalty kicks.

COLLEGES: FSU senior hitter Kristin Frye was named first-team all-ACC. She led FSU, which opens the ACC Tournament today against Clemson, in kills (416) and digs (241) and is second in assists (967). ... Saint Leo's Cristiana Florea was named Sunshine State Conference volleyball player of the year. Tampa's Ania Ruiz, Krissi MacIntyre and Gretchen Naruta are first-teamers. Tampa's Ericka Womack and and Tiffany Boatwright are second-teamers. And Eckerd's Delaney Menell is an honorable mention. ... A federal judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two former women's soccer players against North Carolina. Any trial is expected to be at least a year away. Melissa Jennings and Debbie Keller say coach Anson Dorrance asked questions about their sex lives and the sexual activities of teammates. Keller also said Dorrance made unwanted phone calls and physical contact.

GYMNASTICS: Courtney Kupets finished second in the uneven bars and Ashley Postell second in the vault in qualifying at the world championships in Debrecen, Hungary.

HOCKEY: Seung Ho Chi died after he was hit in the chest by a puck during a South Korean league game in Chuncheon. The 21-year-old tried to block a shot, and he was dead by the time he arrived at the hospital.

AUTOS: Istanbul, Turkey, might host a Formula One race starting in 2005. The schedule won't be decided until 2004.

SWIMMING: Swimmers must undergo tests for the endurance-boosting hormone EPO before any world record is approved under rules passed by the sport's international governing body. Blood and urine samples will be taken from record-setters.

WEIGHTLIFTING: Im Yong Su won the gold in the men's 137-pound class at the world championships in Warsaw. Ri Song Hui won the 117-pound women's gold in the snatch and total, tying the world record with a combined 496. Li Xuejiu won the clean-and-jerk.

ROWING: Venezuelan rower Alex Cobawere is missing and presumed drowned after his scull flipped in high winds during training for the Central American and Caribbean Games. The accident happened on Lake Coatepeque, about 30 miles west of San Salvador, El Salvador. Three others swam to safety.

SAILING: Steve Ravussin's TechnoMarine, more than a day ahead of its nearest rival, capsized fewer than 750 miles from the finish in the Route du Rhum, a single-handed race from France to the West Indies. Michel Desjoyeaux took the lead. Ellen MacArthur led the monohulls category.

POWERBOATS: Lee Murray and Steve Oropeza won the Super Vee class during the first of two races that comprise the Key West Offshore World Championship. John Tomlinson and Clearwater's Hugh Fuller won the Super Cat class. Todd Welling and Lance Henrichsen won the Factory II class.

OBITUARIES: Kim Gallagher, who had surgery on her ovaries about six months before winning a silver medal in the 800 meters in the 1984 Olympics, died of a stroke Monday. She was 38. She also won the bronze in the 800 in 1988. ... Alexandre de Merode, who directed the International Olympic Committee's anti-drug effort from its beginning through the positive steroid test of sprinter Ben Johnson, died at 68. A cause was not disclosed. ... Dick Case, the former executive director of the U.S. Baseball Federation, died Tuesday at age 73. A cause was not disclosed.

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