Olajuwon Cleared for Olympics

Hakeem Olajuwon, who led the Houston Rockets to their second consecutive NBA title last month, was cleared Friday to represent the United States in next year’s Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Olajuwon, a naturalized U.S. citizen, had to receive special permission from the Federation of International Basketball Assns., the sport’s worldwide governing body, to become eligible because the Rocket center competed for his native Nigeria as a teen-ager.

Olajuwon will be playing on a team that is expected to include Orlando’s Shaquille O’Neal, San Antonio’s David Robinson, Indiana’s Reggie Miller and Utah’s Karl Malone and John Stockton.

Pro Football

Tony Boselli, expected to anchor the Jacksonville Jaguars’ offensive line, will probably miss the start of the regular season after having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.

Boselli will be sidelined at least six weeks. That rules him out for the Jaguars’ five exhibition games, beginning July 29 with the Hall of Fame contest against the Carolina Panthers at Canton, Ohio, and perhaps the season opener.

The Dallas Cowboys signed top draft pick Sherman Williams to a four-year contract worth more than $2 million.

Outside linebacker Darrin Smith remains the team’s only contract holdout.

Jerome Bettis, running back for the St. Louis Rams, continued to be a no-show at training camp.

Bettis was officially listed AWOL after missing Friday morning’s practice.

No one in the organization has heard from Bettis.

Minnesota Viking quarterback Warren Moon apologized to his wife, his children and his fans for slapping and choking his wife earlier this week and said he was seeking counseling.

Felicia Moon last Tuesday delivered a sworn affidavit to police after a 911 call was placed from the home of the couple, notifying authorities an assault was taking place.

She told police, however, she would not press assault charges. In Texas, however, officials can file criminal charges even though the alleged victim decides against prosecution.

The case is under review.

Tennis

Top-seeded Thomas Muster and third-seeded Sergi Bruguera posted straight-set victories to set up a semifinal matchup at the Mercedes Cup at Stuttgart, Germany.

Muster needed only 53 minutes to beat Tomas Carbonell, 6-2, 6-0. Bruguera, who hasn’t lost a set in the tournament, defeated Carl-Uwe Steeb, 6-3, 6-4.

Jan Apell reached the semifinals with a, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Magnus Gustafsson, and will play Arnaud Boetsch, who rallied to beat Alberto Costa, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Defending champions Tina Karwasky of Glendale and Charlene Hillebrand of San Pedro advanced to the finals of the USTA Women’s Grass Court championships at New York.

Karwasky, the top-seeded player in the 40 division, beat Louise Cash of Upper Montclair, N.J., 6-0, 6-0. Hillebrand, No. 1 in the 50 division, defeated fourth-seeded Judy Louie of Corona Del Mar, 6-4, 6-4.

The United States will play France in the semifinals of this weekend’s Fed Cup at Wilmington, N.C.

Singles play begins today, reverse singles and doubles Sunday. The winner will play Spain or Germany in November.

The U.S. players are Mary Joe Fernandez, Gigi Fernandez, Lindsay Davenport and Chanda Rubin. Captain Billie Jean King has not announced who will play singles.

Mary Pierce, the fourth-ranked woman in the world and a former French Open champion, heads an experienced French team.

Miscellany

Shooting only 35%, the U.S. basketball team lost to Argentina, 67-58, in the consolation semifinals of the Men’s Junior World Championship at Athens, Greece. . . . Seattle lawmakers decided to ask Metropolitan King County voters in a Sept. 19 election to raise the sales tax to 8.3% from 8.2% to fund a $410-million bond issue. Proceeds would be used to build a retractable-roof baseball stadium downtown for the Seattle Mariners, who have said they will not continue playing at the indoor Kingdome after their lease expires next season.

Auto Racing

Michael Andretti shattered the course record with the fastest lap ever on an Indy car road course, averaging 146.215 m.p.h. to win the provisional pole for Sunday’s Cleveland Grand Prix. . . . Sterling Marlin turned in the fastest lap before qualifying for the DieHard 500 Winston Cup stock car race at Talladega, Ala. was interrupted by rain. Marlin’s speed of 194.212 m.p.h. led, but nine cars did not get to run before a storm moved over the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. Qualifying will resume today.

Names in the News

Roderick Rhodes, who played for Kentucky for three seasons before submitting, then later withdrawing, his name from the NBA draft, visited USC and is considering transferring to the school. If Rhodes does transfer he will have to sit out a season. . . . Moses Kiptanui of Kenya won the 3,000-meter steeplechase and Britain’s Olympic champion, Linford Christie, won the 100 meters in the Bislett Games at Oslo, Norway. Kiptanui had a winning time of 8 minutes 3.36 seconds, only 1.28 seconds off his world mark set in 1992. Christie won the 100 in 10.12 seconds.

Toraino Singleton, the University of Texas El Paso’s star running back, was indicted on assault charges stemming from a fight with another man. Singleton faces trial on two counts of aggravated assault. . . . The man who attacked skater Nancy Kerrigan, ruining her bid for the 1994 U.S. figure skating championship, was released from an Oregon prison. Shane Stant served 14 months for his conviction on a charge of criminal conspiracy.

Olympic middleweight weightlifting champion Fedor Kassapu of Moldova has been banned for life after testing positive for an anabolic steroid at the European championships in Warsaw in May. . . . U.S. National Championship winning figure skaters Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, who met at an ice skating competition five years ago, are getting married today in Cleveland.