Sports in Brief: Armstrong in urine dispute
The French anti-doping authority has a challenge for Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France champion who has said he will return to cycling.
The French anti-doping authority has a challenge for
Lance Armstrong
, the seven-time Tour de France champion who has said he will return to cycling.
The organization proposed yesterday that Armstrong agree to retesting of his 1999 urine samples to see whether a French newspaper was right when it reported they contained traces of EPO, a banned blood-boosting hormone that enhances endurance.
"The 1998 and 1999 Tour de France samples have not been maintained properly, have been compromised in many ways, and even three years ago could not be tested to provide any meaningful results," Armstrong responded in a statement. "There is simply nothing that I can agree to that would provide any relevant evidence about 1999."
A positive test from the samples could not lead to a ban that would thwart the 37-year-old's comeback.
Women's basketball
Katie Smith
and
Taj McWilliams-Franklin
led the Detroit Shock to a 77-69 win over the San Antonio Silver Stars in Game 1 of the WNBA finals.
Smith scored 25 points and McWilliams-Franklin had 24.
Colleges
Kellen Moore
threw for two touchdowns and
D.J. Harper
rushed for two more to lead No. 17 Boise State (4-0, 1-0 Western Athletic Conference) to a 38-3 win over Louisiana Tech (2-2, 0-1) in Boise, Idaho.
Arkansas defensive lineman Ernest Mitchell underwent arthroscopic knee surgery after an injury in last weekend's 52-10 loss to Texas.
Coach Bobby Petrino said he wasn't sure how long Mitchell would be out.
Rutgers senior cornerback Jason McCourty was named a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame's Draddy Trophy.
The award is for academic excellence among college football players.
Notre Dame tight end Will Yeatman will be sentenced in South Bend, Ind., as a minor consuming alcohol.
Prosecutors in February agreed to dismiss a criminal-recklessness charge after Yeatman agreed to plead guilty to drunken driving and reckless driving. If he had stayed out of trouble for a year, the drunken driving charge would have been dismissed. But he was cited by police on Sept. 21 and faces up to 180 days in jail.
Tennis
Serena Williams
was upset by China's
Li Na
, 0-6, 6-1, 6-4, in the second round of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany. It will cost Williams her No. 1 ranking.
Swiss star Roger Federer withdrew from next week's Stockholm Open, saying he needs to rest before starting his quest to reclaim the top spot in the world rankings.
Hockey
In Bern, Switzerland,
Ryan Callahan
scored with 20 seconds remaining to give the New York Rangers a 4-3 win over European champion Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the first game between NHL and Russian teams in 17 years.
Noteworthy
Rusty Wallace
, who retired after the 2005 season, refuted a report by his brother
Kenny
that he is considering a return to NASCAR's top level.
World-record holder Paula Radcliffe of Britain will defend her title in the New York City Marathon on Nov. 2.