Nordiques Trade Duchesne to the Blues

The Quebec Nordiques traded disgruntled defenseman Steve Duchesne to the St. Louis Blues Sunday for centers Bob Bassen and Ron Sutter and defenseman Garth Butcher.

Duchesne, 28, was fourth in scoring among defensemen last season, but has sat out this season because of a contract dispute with the Nordiques. Duchesne had 20 goals and posted career highs with 62 assists and 82 points for the Nordiques last season, his seventh in the NHL.

The acquisition of Duchesne gives the Blues three players who finished in the top eight in scoring by defensemen in 1992-93. Phil Housley and Jeff Brown are the others.

“Steve Duchesne will provide the Blues with better puck control from our defensive end and will provide more offense in the attacking zone,” said Ron Caron, the Blues’ vice president and general manager.

The Blues also acquired right wing Denis Chasse from the Nordiques in the five-player deal.

Gymnastics

Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan won the final event, the floor exercise, to pull out of a three-way tie for first place and win the women’s portion of the Reese’s World Gymnastics Cup at Baltimore.

Chusovitina won two of the three events to upset Dominique Dawes of the United States by one point. Tatiana Gutsu of the Ukraine was third.

Germany’s Andreas Wecker was the men’s winner, ahead of Russians Valentin Moguilni and Dmitri Bilozerchev. Trent Dimas, the only American participant among the seven men, skipped two events and finished last.

It was the first event of the 1994 season and one of only five international gymnastics competitions held in the United States each year, but several of the participants treated it as an exhibition.

Shannon Miller, the world’s top-ranked woman, was tied with Dawes and Chusovitina after two events but did not compete in the floor exercise.

Winter Sports

Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg, the defending overall champion, posted his first World Cup victory of the season in a super-giant slalom at Wengen, Switzerland. . . . Vreni Schneider of Switzerland took the overall World Cup lead with a slalom victory at Maribor, Slovenia, the 48th World Cup victory of her career.

Jens Weissflog of Germany soared 125 meters, the longest jump ever at Okurayama Schanze, on his first attempt and won a large hill event in a World Cup meet at Sapporo, Japan.

French skier Sebastien Foucras earned a spot in the Winter Games by winning a World Cup freestyle aerials meet in light snow at Lake Placid, N.Y.

Kenji Ogiwara beat Japanese countryman Takanori Kono by 1 minute 37.7 seconds in a 15-kilometer cross-country ski race at Trondheim, Norway, for his fifth World Cup victory of the season in the Nordic combined.

Austrian Markus Prock won the men’s title at the European luge championships at Koenigssee, Germany.

Tennis

The International Tennis Federation rejected a United States appeal, resulting in Andre Agassi remaining ineligible for a first-round series Davis Cup series against India on March 25-27.

Agassi was banned from the first round for his refusal to play his final singles match against the Bahamas in Charlotte, N.C., last September after the United States had clinched victory.

John Newcombe was chosen as captain of Australia’s Davis Cup team. Newcombe’s longtime doubles partner, Tony Roche, was selected as coach.

Names in the News

Undefeated Pichit Sitbangprachan of Thailand won a unanimous decision over American Arthur Johnson to retain the International Boxing Federation flyweight title at Bangkok, Thailand.

Harold Brazier knocked out Kevin Pompey in the 10th round to win the U.S. Boxing Assn. welterweight title in Boston. Brazier is 89-14 with 59 knockouts. Pompey is 29-6-2 with 12 knockouts.

A Rosary for longtime Ram administrative assistant Ray San Jose is scheduled for 6 tonight at St. Joseph’s Church in Long Beach. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at St. Joseph’s.