Moceanu Captures Silver in World Gymnastics

Dominique Moceanu, 14, of Houston, won the silver medal in the balance beam Tuesday at the gymnastics World Championships at Sabae, Japan.

Except for the bronze in last weekend’s team competition, Moceanu’s silver was the only medal won by U.S. women. U.S. men won no medals.

Romania’s Gina Gogean won the floor exercise and China’s Mo Huilan won on the balance beam. In the men’s competition, Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus, a six-time gold medalist at the 1992 Olympics, took the 11th world championship gold of his career with a victory on the parallel bars. Ukraine’s Grigory Misutin shared the vault gold medal with Russia’s Alexei Nemov, and Germany’s Andreas Wecker won on the high bar.

The points that put the Americans .016 ahead of the Russians last weekend for the bronze came from the final vault by Moceanu, who graduated this year from U.S. junior champion to senior champion. She had the highest finish among U.S. women in the all-around competition Sunday with her fifth place.

Tennis

Chanda Rubin won her opening-round match in the Porsche Grand Prix in Germany by defeating Jana Kandarr, 6-1, 6-1.

American Louis Gloria nearly defeated defending champion Goran Ivanisevic in the Seiko Super Tennis tournament in Tokyo before losing, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 7-6 (9-7).

Top-seeded Yevgeni Kafelnikov of Russia was beaten by unseeded Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-4, in their first-round match at the Czech Indoor tournament.

Steffi Graf, under investigation for tax evasion, has dropped out of the Brighton, England tournament later this month and is unlikely to play again until a Philadelphia tournament in November.

Graf, who shares the No. 1 ranking with Monica Seles, took a late wild-card berth for the Oct. 17-22 Brighton International Championships, which she has won six times, but then decided not to accept.

The U.S. Open tennis championships will continue to be televised by CBS after the network signed a contract extension for at least another five years.

The United States drew Mexico as its first-round opponent in next year’s Davis Cup, with the best-of-five competition to be played in the United States.

Pro Basketball

Hakeem Olajuwon will not practice with the Houston Rockets for 10 days to two weeks after having surgery on his left elbow to remove a tiny fluid sack that was causing swelling and pain. Olajuwon will likely miss the McDonald’s Championship in London beginning Oct. 19.

The Washington Bullets lost newly-acquired guard Mark Price for at least three preseason games due to an inflamed left foot.

The offer made to restricted free agent LeRon Ellis by the Minnesota Timberwolves was matched by the Charlotte Hornets.

The New Jersey Nets signed veteran forward-center Rick Mahorn to a one-year contract.

Pro Hockey

The Pittsburgh Penguins will be without their top scoring defenseman, Sergei Zubov, for approximately four weeks because of a fractured left pinky.

Jurisprudence

Boxing promoter Don King’s insurance fraud trial started Tuesday with prosecutors calling him an insurance thief and his lawyer saying he was a benevolent banker who lent hundreds of thousands of dollars to his fighters.

Four North Carolina State football players who pleaded guilty after a fight at the apartment of a Wolfpack basketball player will not face additional discipline, football Coach Mike O’Cain said.

Names in the News

Lisa de Villiers, a 14-year-old South African runner, again has tested positive for steroids, six months after becoming the youngest track and field competitor in the world to be accused of using performance enhancing drugs.

Mike Easler, fired as hitting coach of the Boston Red Sox after refusing to work with replacement players, was named roving minor league hitting instructor for the Baltimore Orioles.

The Houston Astros traded left-handed pitcher Pedro Martinez to the San Diego Padres for infielder Ray Holbert.

Bernt Groon, the head of Sweden’s Athletics Federation, resigned because of the dismal economic results at this year’s World Championships.

Chick Hearn, play-by-play broadcaster for the Lakers, was selected to the American Sportscasters Hall of Fame.

Luis Lopez, 26, a 1992 Olympian and former University of New Mexico gymnast who was the NCAA high bar champion in 1991, died of leukemia.