Capriati Withdraws From Australian Open

Jennifer Capriati has withdrawn from the Australian Open tennis championships, citing a continuing bout of influenza, tournament director Paul McNamee announced Wednesday.

McNamee said Capriati’s doctor advised her not to fly.

Capriati, 19, had hoped to recover sufficiently from flu but has not been able to shake the symptoms that forced her to withdraw from this week’s New South Wales Open in Sydney.

The Australian Open starts Monday in Melbourne and continues through Jan. 29.

*

Richard Fromberg upset top-seeded Marc Rosset of Switzerland, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round of the New South Wales Open.

Martina Hingis, a 14-year-old from Switzerland, beat Meredith McGrath of the United States, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, in a first-round match and defending women’s champion Kimiko Date of Japan defeated compatriot Mana Endo, 6-4, 6-1, in a second-round match.

*

Steven Downs, an 18-year-old New Zealander playing as a wild-card entry, upset sixth-seeded Fabrice Santoro of France, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, in the first round of the New Zealand Open at Auckland.

*

Second-seeded Chanda Rubin of the United States defeated American qualifier Audra Keller, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, in the first round of the Tasmanian Open at Hobart, Australia.

Top-seeded Ines Gorrochategui withdrew because of a knee injury.

College Basketball

David Brown, 23, of Pfeiffer College in North Carolina, was shot and killed on his way to a Georgetown game Saturday in Landover, Md.

Brown was among the nation’s top guards coming out of Baltimore Community College last year.

The Purdue Calumet women’s team, which has lost six players because of injury, illness, grades or unexpected departure, has canceled the rest of its schedule.

The Lady Lakers have played only two games, with a victory over Robert Morris and a loss to Taylor. Seven players were in uniform for the last game, Dec. 29, but injuries hampered several of them, Coach Gary Hayes said.

College Football

The NCAA reportedly is investigating claims that Mississippi State players were provided money by a benefactor in 1992. A Dec. 9 letter from the NCAA said the benefactor has been identified by four former football players and three confidential sources, the Clarion-Ledger reported.

Coach Jackie Sherrill said he knew of no payments to players and was unaware the NCAA was investigating such claims.

The Jackson newspaper said the letter was among several documents it obtained from Mississippi State under Mississippi’s public records law.

The university deleted all references to the individual who allegedly provided the money to athletes.

Ohio State linebacker Lorenzo Styles and Florida State strong safety Devin Bush announced that they are giving up their final year of eligibility and will make themselves available for the NFL draft.

Three UCLA juniors--linebacker Donnie Edwards, wide receiver Kevin Jordan and offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden--will stay in school and play their senior seasons.

Elliot Uzelac lost a chance to remain Colorado’s offensive coordinator under Rick Neuheisel after clashing with the new head coach during the Fiesta Bowl, the Denver Post reported.

Leonard Davis of Lenoir-Rhyne, who led the NCAA Division II in rushing last season, was listed in serious but stable condition after being injured in a traffic accident in Florida, authorities said.

School officials said Davis suffered a broken jaw, a cracked vertebra and severe skin lacerations of the face.

The rules committee of the American Football Coaches Assn. has recommended that teams be allowed to declare the color jersey they will wear for home games.

Louisiana State Coach Gerry DiNardo’s former secretary at Vanderbilt, June Jakes, has been reassigned to the athletic department ticket office after being suspended for shoving a Tennessee fan at a game last season.

Soccer

Argentina, despite being held to a scoreless draw by Nigeria on Tuesday, will meet Denmark on Friday in the final of the six-nation Intercontinental Cup at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

World soccer’s governing body, FIFA, fired the director of the press department, Guido Tognoni, and the director of the competitions department, Miguel Galan.

Bookmakers in Malaysia paid some soccer players about $500,000 to fix matches in last year’s Malaysian League, Criminal Investigation Department director Mohd Said Awang said. He said the players involved received an average of less than $6,000 per game but some got as much as $17,000, the National News Agency Bernama reported.

Miscellany

Bonnie Blair, the world’s best woman speedskater and the nation’s winningest Winter Olympian, was named the Associated Press female athlete of the year.

The year-old Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Fla., spring training home of the Florida Marlins, has severe structural problems and is in need of major repairs, county records show.

Osaka, Japan’s third largest city, will bid to host the Summer Olympics in 2008.