Matete Ends Young’s 400 Hurdles Streak

Olympic champion and world record-holder Kevin Young made a costly adjustment before the final hurdle and his unbeaten streak of races was ended at 24 by 1991 world champion Samuel Matete of Zambia on Friday at London.

Young had to break stride five meters before the hurdle in the 400-meter race and wound up squandering a three-meter lead over Matete. He tried to recover, but Matete surged to the line and won in 48.85 seconds in an IAAF Grand Prix meet at Crystal Palace.

In other competition, Britain’s Linford Christie won impressively over former world record-holder Leroy Burrell at 100 meters, and Quincy Watts edged former Olympic titlist Steve Lewis in the 400.

Javier Sotomayor of Cuba, another Olympic champion, attempted to break his world high jump record of 8 feet, but failed at 8-0 1/2 after winning the event at 7-10 1/2.

Jan Zelezny, Olympic champion in the javelin, won at 284-8, upstaging the return to action of former world record-holder Steve Backley. The Briton managed 277-8 with his first throw since the Barcelona Olympics and improved to 279-2 with his third.

Sally Gunnell, Olympic titlist in the women’s 400 hurdles, ran the second-fastest time of the year, 53.85, to beat Jamaica’s Deon Hemmings and Americans Tonja Buford and Kim Batten.

Olympic champion Maxim Tarasov won the pole vault in the absence of world record-holder Sergei Bubka, who couldn’t get a visa. Tarasov cleared 18-8 1/4 on his first vault, winning with fewer misses over Americans Kory Tarpenning and Scott Huffman, who cleared the same height.

Basketball

Moses Malone, who won the NBA’s most-valuable-player award as a member of the league champion Philadelphia 76ers in 1983, might be back in a 76er uniform next season.

The Philadelphia Daily News reported that 76er officials have spoken to the 38-year-old Malone about the possibility of rejoining the team. Malone, an unrestricted free agent, was in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Malone spent the last two seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, but appeared in only 11 games last season after undergoing back surgery. He became a free agent when the Bucks bought out his contract for next season.

Malone previously played for the 76ers from 1982-83 through 1985-86.

Houston Rocket guard Vernon Maxwell was arrested after arguing with an off-duty police officer outside a Houston nightclub, authorities said.

Maxwell, 27, was charged with two counts of resisting arrest, a misdemeanor, after his arrest at 12:30 a.m. He was later released after posting $1,000 bond.

Rookie forward Richard Dumas, who helped the Phoenix Suns reach the finals of the NBA playoffs this season, agreed on a long-term contract, the team said.

Former Nevada Las Vegas assistant basketball coach Tim Grgurich has been cleared of any major violations in the NCAA’s ongoing investigation of the Rebel basketball program, his attorney said.

Grgurich, now an assistant coach with the Seattle SuperSonics and formerly the top assistant to former Rebel coach Jerry Tarkanian, has agreed to be cited for two minor violations.

The United States beat Italy, 74-71, on the second day of the Under-22 World Basketball Championships at Burgos, Spain, as Wesley Person scored 20 points.

Olympics

A Chinese official decried a U.S. congressional resolution that opposes Beijing’s bid for the 2000 Olympic Games because of China’s human rights record.

“I’m totally against that” resolution, said He Zhenliang, a vice president of the International Olympic Committee who also serves on the Beijing bid committee. “It’s an infringement of the Olympic principles and it’s unacceptable.”

Auto Racing

While everybody was cheering on rookie Robby Gordon and comeback-minded Neil Bonnett, Bill Elliott flashed some of his old form by winning the pole position for Sunday’s DieHard 500 at Talladega, Ala.

Gordon, replacing the late Davey Allison and making only his third NASCAR Winston Cup appearance, drew a standing ovation from the crowd for the opening round of qualifying for the race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Gordon’s fast lap of 190.613 m.p.h. was fourth-best when he completed his trip around the 2.66-mile oval. But the 24-year-old Indy car racer wound up 14th among the 20 drivers who earned starting positions in the first day of qualifying for the 40-car lineup.

Bonnett, a local favorite from nearby Hueytown, Ala., making his first Winston Cup start since suffering a serious head injury in a race crash April 1, 1990, turned a lap of 190.019 that was good for 20th.

Winston Cup driver Michael Waltrip was the fastest qualifier in the final round of time trials for the Fram Filters 500-Kilometer Busch Grand National stock car race, also at Talladega.

Waltrip turned a fast lap of 183.765 m.p.h., earning him the 23rd starting spot in the 42-car field, right behind fellow NASCAR competitors Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt.

Alain Prost of France, winner of eight pole positions in nine races this season, was fastest in the first round of qualifying for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.

Prost had a quick lap of 1 minute 39.640 seconds around the 4.22-mile course.

Miscellany

A federal judge has ruled Magic Johnson could not have intentionally inflicted emotional stress on the daughter of a woman suing Johnson for allegedly infecting her with the AIDS virus.

U.S. District Judge Richard A. Enslen on Thursday dismissed part of a $2-million lawsuit brought against Johnson by Lansing resident Waymer Moore, who filed the lawsuit in October.

The Hollywood Athletic Club will be the site of the final stop of the 1993 Southern California Amateur Ladies 9-Ball Tour today and Sunday at noon both days.

The Acura Malibu Pro surfing finals will take place Sunday at Surfrider Beach in Malibu at 2 p.m.