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 FIBA, 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.

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Shooting only 35%, the United States team lost to Argentina, 67-58, in the consolation semifinals of the Men’s Junior World Championship at Athens.

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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.

Pro Football

Minnesota Viking linebacker Broderick Thomas was arrested at Houston Intercontinental Airport while trying to board a plane after a metal detector revealed an unloaded 40-caliber Smith & Wesson semi-automatic in Thomas’ luggage.

Houston Police Department spokesman Fred King said Thomas was charged with carrying a weapon in a secured area of an airport. A conviction of the third-degree felony could get Thomas up to 10 years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

Minnesota quarterback Warren Moon was charged with misdemeanor assault, hours after publicly addressing a domestic dispute with his wife that occurred Tuesday.

Moon, who was charged with a Class A misdemeanor, surrendered to authorities and appeared before a Missouri City, Tex., municipal judge. His arraignment was set for Sept. 19 and he was released on $1,000 personal recognizance bond.

Earlier in the day, Moon and his family addressed a media gathering in which he said he apologized to his wife, Felicia, his children and his fans for slapping and choking his wife earlier this week and said he was seeking counseling to put his personal life back in order.

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.

San Francisco 49er Coach George Seifert said former UCLA receiver J.J. Stokes, the club’s top draft choice, was hurting the team and himself with his ongoing contract holdout. . . . The Dallas Cowboys signed top draft pick Sherman Williams to a four-year contract worth more than $2 million. . . . 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.

Tennis

Andre Agassi continued toward his first tournament title since becoming the world’s top-ranked player with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Mauricio Hadad of Colombia in the quarterfinals of the Legg Mason Classic at Washington.

Agassi, who hasn’t won a tournament since moving to the top of the computer rankings 14 weeks ago, will meet fourth-seeded Todd Martin, in one of today’s semifinals, and defending champion Stefan Edberg will face No. 13 Patrick Rafter of Australia in the other.

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.

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 faces France this weekend in the Fed Cup semifinals at Wilmington, N.C.

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

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 Talladega Superspeedway.

Names in the News

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.

Jeremy Williams of Long Beach stopped Quinn Navarre at 2:06 of the second round in a scheduled 10-round heavyweight fight in New Orleans. . . . Toraino Singleton, 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.