Briefs

Report: NHL will meet with union

By wire services
Published May 3, 2005

The NHL and the players' association will hold the next round of labor talks Thursday and Friday, the Associated Press reported on Monday.

The first bargaining sessions since April19 will take place in Toronto, the AP reported. The league and the union have met five times since commissioner Gary Bettman canceled the 2004-05 season Feb.16.

They have agreed to meet twice next week and twice the following week in an attempt to reach a deal and end the lockout that began last September.

Negotiations have recently centered on a new, hybrid concept, which contains an upper and lower salary cap that would float among the 30 teams depending on revenues.

Finland advances in worlds

Undefeated Finland used goals from Ville Peltonen and Kimmo Timonen scored 3:25 apart in the second period to beat winless Ukraine 4-1 at the hockey world championships on Monday at Innsbruck, Austria. ... Doug Palazzari resigned after six years as executive director of USA Hockey.

Roddick advances in Rome

A slimmed-down Andy Roddick, the top seed, beat Greg Rusedski 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the Italian Open in Rome. Last year, Roddick lost to Olivier Mutis in the second round of the French Open, beaten 6-2 in the fifth set. This is a key tuneup for the French Open, the only Grand Slam in which Roddick hasn't reached the semis.

High court reverses ruling

The Supreme Court told a lower court Monday to reconsider whether Michigan high schools discriminated against female athletes by scheduling their basketball and volleyball seasons during nontraditional times of the year. Justices set aside the lower court's ruling for the female athletes. That decision found a violation of the Constitution's equal-protection clause and ordered the Michigan High School Athletic Association to revamp its scheduling.

Athletes appeal loss of medals

Robert Fazekas and Adrian Annus, stripped of their Olympic gold medals for doping offenses, appealed their case to Switzerland's Supreme Court. The Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport last month upheld the IOC's move to strip the medals they won last year in Athens.

Visa keeps Derby, dumps rest

Visa is ending its 10-year sponsorship of the Triple Crown and will back only the Kentucky Derby after this year. The credit-card company has sponsored the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes since 1996 and offered a $5-million bonus for any horse who swept all three races. It has never had to pay.

Val Belmonte, the U.S. Figure Skating Association's chief executive has resigned after seven months on the job, citing an inability to work with the organization's board. ... Theo Middelkamp, 91, a former world champion cyclist and the first Dutchman to win a stage in the Tour de France has died. ... Former boxing world champion Naseem Hamed, 31, was arrested in Sheffield, England, on Monday after he was in a car crash that left one man seriously hurt.

[Last modified May 3, 2005, 01:18:22]