Orlando’s Avent Stabbed 4 Times in Street Fight

Anthony Avent, a reserve forward for the Orlando Magic, was knifed four times in his left arm during a weekend fight and needed 20 stitches and 20 staples to close the superficial wounds.

“There was no damage that would inhibit him as a basketball player,” Magic spokesman Alex Martins said.

Avent, in his second season with the Magic, is expected to play Wednesday against the New Jersey Nets at Orlando.

The 6-foot-9 player was cut early Saturday during a fight in downtown Orlando, where he was seen at a nightclub.

Three men insulted Avent while he was walking alone on a street, police said. An argument escalated into a fist fight, and one man charged Avent with a knife.

No one was arrested by Sunday night, police said.

After the fight, Avent drove home, then checked into the Sand Lake Hospital. After an emergency room physician tended to the wounds, Magic team physician Rich Shurer examined Avent.

Avent played 18 minutes Friday night in the Magic’s 115-106 overtime victory over the Clippers, failing to score but getting two rebounds. He is averaging 18 minutes, 4.9 points and 5.2 rebounds a game.

“You always worry about something like this when guys are out at night,” Magic Coach Brian Hill said. “When I first heard about it, I was originally told he was stabbed. You couldn’t describe my original feelings.”

Winter Sports

Bonnie Blair, a five-time Olympic gold medalist, and Christine Witty, 19, were named to the U.S. sprint speedskating team.

Blair, in her final season of competition after winning two more gold medals in the 1994 Olympics, won all four races in the two-day National Long Track Sprint Championships at Milwaukee, including the 500 meters and 1,000 meters on Sunday.

Leslie Thompson skied to a rare victory by an American cross-country racer, winning the 10-kilometer Skisylvester at Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, ahead of a former world champion from Sweden and an ex-Russian star.

Thompson, 31, a three-time Olympian from Stowe, Vt., edged Marie-Helene Ostlund by eight-tenths of a second Saturday in the freestyle technique event.

Ostlund, who won the 20K at the 1987 worlds, had beaten Thompson by 17 seconds the last time they met in a World Cup 5K race at Sappada, Italy, before Christmas.

Marty Murray had one goal and three assists, leading unbeaten Canada to a 6-4 victory over Finland in the world junior hockey championships at Edmonton, Canada.

Canada is in first place with a 5-0 record. Sweden and Russia are tied for second at 4-1, after the Russians defeated the Swedes, 6-4, at Calgary.

In other games, the United States (2-3) beat winless Germany, 5-3, and the Czech Republic beat Ukraine, 10-1.

Risto Jussilainen of Finland tied a hill record with a 95-meter ski jump, but Knut Muller of Norway led the first round and ignored fluffy snow to win for the second consecutive day in the Intercontinental Cup at Lake Placid, N.Y.

Muller, who won the large hill event Saturday at the Adirondack Bank NYCE New Year’s Ski Jump meet, went 93 and 94.5 meters Sunday for 249.5 points. Jussilainen, long on distance but not as stylish in the eyes of the five judges, went 93 and 95 meters for 246.5 in the normal hill event.

College Football

Watson Brown, who spent the last two seasons as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, is expected to be named coach at Alabama-Birmingham, a Division I-AA school that will upgrade to Division I-A in 1996.

Brown was offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Mississippi State before joining the Sooners. He was coach of Vanderbilt, his alma mater, from 1986-90.

The position became available when Jim Hilyer announced his resignation after a 7-4 finish in 1994.

Tennis

Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash defeated Christo van Rensburg, in men’s singles, 7-5, 6-2, before teaming with Kristine Radford to defeat Van Rensburg and Amanda Coetzer in mixed doubles, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (11-9), as Australia rallied to defeat South Africa, 2-1, in a first-round match in the Hopman Cup team tournament at Perth, Australia.

In an exhibition match at the Hopman Cup, Goran Ivanisevic injured his knee and could miss this month’s Australian Open.

Ivanisevic, one of the hardest servers in tennis, hobbled from the court in pain after playing three games of an exhibition against Mark Petchey of Britain. The Croatian star had cartilage trouble with the same right knee last May.

Ivanisevic played the exhibition match after a suspension ruled him out of the Hopman Cup.

Miscellany

Jay Clear, son of longtime Angel coach and minor league instructor Bob Clear, died Monday of cancer. He was 43. Clear, a left-handed hitting first baseman, played in the Angel organization from 1970-72.

An Australian navy helicopter winched French sailor Isabelle Autissier to safety after she spent more than four days stranded in her stricken yacht in the South Indian Ocean off Australia.

Autissier, 38, who was competing in the BOC Round the World race, was rescued 750 nautical miles southwest of Adelaide.

Ray Pugshy of Baltimore splashed through the first rainstorm of the year to win the first American sports event of 1995, the New Year’s Eve Midnight five-mile run in New York.

Pugshy was the best in a record field of 5,929, covering the Central Park course in 23 minutes 37 seconds.

Ann Leary of Larchmont, N.Y., was fastest among the women, winning by two seconds with a time of 29:02.