Sports: Sports briefs

Sports briefs

Compiled from Times wires

Nebraska will play Texas Christian in college football's Pigskin Classic in August.

Coach Frank Solich had been wary of preseason games and the physical toll they take on players, but decided the extra practice time and an eight-game home schedule were worth it.

On Thursday the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics announced details had been worked out and the game will be played 1 p.m. on Aug. 25 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb.

MORE COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Colorado will host Fresno State on Aug. 25 in the inaugural Jim Thorpe Classic, a season-opening game that will give each school a minimum payout of $600,000. ... Two Arkansas players were suspended from the team after their arrests for theft. Lee Hayes and Lawrence Richardson are free on $2,500 bond each from the Washington County (Ark.) Jail, Deputy Misty Rickman said. Authorities said Hayes and Richardson are accused of shoplifting. In a statement, Razorbacks coach Houston Nutt said the players are suspended, pending the outcome of their cases. ... Former Kentucky recruiting coordinator Claude Bassett, whom the school blames for most of the violations it reported to the NCAA, has been appointed coach and athletic director at Robstown High School, near Corpus Christi, Texas. ... Mike Dunbar, whose contract was extended four months ago, resigned as coach at Northern Iowa to become quarterbacks coach at Northwestern.

TENNIS: A week after winning his first ATP title since October 1999, Greg Rusedski pulled out of the Citrix Championships in Delray Beach because of back spasms. Rusedski was scheduled to play Jan-Michael Gambill in a second-round match, but dropped out three hours before the match. Seventh-seeded Marcelo Rios reached the quarterfinal of the Franklin Templeton Classic in Scottsdale, Ariz., defeating Rainer Schuettler 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. John McEnroe defeated Andres Gomez 6-3, 6-2 at the senior circuit's Nuveen Champions in Naples, Fla. Also winning round-robin matches were Pat Cash, Yannick Noah and Mats Wilander.

SKIING: Hermann Maier won the last men's World Cup downhill of the season, beating Stephan Eberharter by 35-hundreths of a second in Are, Sweden. Maier turned in a near-flawless run on the way to his 12th World Cup win of the season. The record of 13 in one season was set by Ingemar Stenmark in 1979. Maier has two races left in the World Cup finals, a super-G and a giant slalom. He could tie Stenmark's mark by winning today's super-G.

OLYMPICS: The USOC said at a meeting that it would allow one agency to drug test NHL players for the 2002 Salt Lake City Games as long as the USOC's protocols for testing are followed, said Bill Daly, the NHL's chief legal officer. Daly, who represented the NHL at the meeting, said the USOC told him it has no problem with the World Anti-Doping Agency conducting tests if it follows a resolution to have U.S. athletes tested for performance-enhancing drugs up to a year before the Olympics.

HORSES: Trainer John Tammaro has not been seen for nearly two weeks, and Miami police divers are checking to see if his car may have ended up at the bottom of a rock quarry lake. Tammaro, 75, last was seen Feb. 25, when he left the stables at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach. He has a horse running in today's $200,000 Grade II Breeders Cup Sprint Championship. Tammaro had liver surgery three weeks before his disappearance. He had told family he was feeling well. Police say they do not suspect foul play.

TRACK AND FIELD: World shot put champion C.J. Hunter received a two-year suspension for testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone, and he reiterated that he has retired. Hunter, husband of Marion Jones, was suspended by USA Track & Field organization after he chose not to fight doping charges brought against him by the IAAF. Hunter, who announced his retirement in Sydney, Australia, last year, accepted the ban, but "vehemently denies knowingly taking any banned substance" and maintains he is "the victim of an otherwise legal, contaminated supplement," the USATF said in a statement.

RUNNING: The World Cross Country Championships were moved for the second time in a week, this time to the Belgian coastal resort of Ostend from the capital of Brussels. On Tuesday, the March 24-25 championships were moved away from Dublin, Ireland, because of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain.

COLLEGES: The host Florida State women's tennis team won for a season-high third time in a row, beating Marquette 6-1. ... Host South Florida lost to Old Dominion 6-1 in women's tennis. Ildiko Zubor won at No. 6 singles.

RUGBY: France's Six Nations clash against Wales will go ahead despite the foot-and-mouth outbreaks sweeping Britain.

BOXING: Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson say they're ready to stop blustering and start negotiating for a heavyweight fight this year. They issued a joint statement pledging to end their public posturing and set up the fight the world wants to see: "We are both aware that the public eagerly awaits a championship bout between us. It is the bout we both want. We both expect that it will be finalized soon."

SOCCER: Guest player Paul Schneider finished an attempted header by Steve Trittschuh in the 55th minute, leading the Mutiny to a 3-1 win against host USF in a preseason scrimmage. Steve Ralston tied the match for the Mutiny in the 33rd after USF started the match scoring in the opening five minutes, and Ali Curtis put the game out of reach on a blast from Carlos Valderrama in the 68th. Aaron Paroulek had USF's goal. ... Ian Bishop, a 35-year-old midfielder with Manchester City in England's Premier League, was acquired by MLS and assigned to Miami. ... Brazilian Ronaldo will resume training with Internazionale of Milan after his doctor said he was "clinically cured" after a knee injury. ... Peru and Honduras played to a 0-0 tie in an exhibition Wednesday in Miami. Honduras resumes its World Cup qualifying schedule against the United States on March 28.

IDITAROD: Defending champion Doug Swingley was the first musher as leaders reached the midpoint of the 1,100-mile sled dog event. Swingley arrived after overtaking Linwood Fiedler, who left the checkpoint at Ophir, Alaska, 35 minutes ahead of him.