Agassi’s Top Spot Threatened by Re-Injury

Andre Agassi re-injured a chest muscle Thursday at the Eurocard Open at Essen, Germany, forcing a layoff that could cost him his No. 1 tennis ranking.

Agassi said the injury, which he first suffered at the Davis Cup semifinal against Sweden a month ago, flared up in the first set against MaliVai Washington, who won the match, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Agassi said he hoped to play again in the ATP Tour World Championship, Nov. 14-19 in Frankfurt, but Agassi probably will lose his top ranking to Pete Sampras, who is only 282 points behind.

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Funeral services for Bobby Riggs, who died Wednesday at 77, will be held Monday at 11 a.m. at the Encinitas Mortuary, a few miles from his home in Leucadia. After the service, there will be a celebration of Riggs’ life at his tennis club in Encinitas.

Golf

Billy Mayfair survived a punishing first round of the $3-million Tour Championship with a two-under-par 68 at Tulsa, Okla.

Despite a bogey on the 18th hole, Mayfair had a one-stroke lead over Brad Bryant, Vijay Singh and Payne Stewart. They were the only players to break par on a blustery day at Southern Hills that featured wind gusts to 30 m.p.h. and greens so fast that Nick Price had two short pitch shots at No. 9 spin 12 feet off the green en route to a triple bogey and a 77.

Justin Leonard and Bob Tway were at even-par 70.

College Basketball

Eddie Sutton agreed to a new contract to keep him as Oklahoma State’s coach until 2002. . . . Maylana Martin, a 6-foot-3 center from Perris High and the state’s top girls’ scorer last season at 33 points a game, said she will attend UCLA next year. . . . The NCAA is investigating the Texas El Paso women’s program, the El Paso Times reported.

Jurisprudence

Herve Filion, 55, called the “Babe Ruth of harness racing,” and three others were indicted by a Westchester (N.Y.) County grand jury on charges they schemed to fix races at Yonkers Raceway.

The indictments are a follow-up to charges filed in August that Filion allegedly conspired with a gambling kingpin to throw races.

Two other drivers, Darron Ryder, 29, and Frederick Grant, 44, also were charged in the indictment.

Former lightweight champion Bobby Chacon pleaded not guilty in Superior Court to a felony narcotics charge of allegedly selling drugs out of his home in Pacoima.

Chacon, 43, and Yolanda Maria Medina, 37, were arrested last month at Chacon’s home. Authorities said both were selling drugs.

An accountant supported boxing promoter Don King’s claim that, under the terms of a contract, he was entitled to collect insurance for a canceled fight.

Richard Hummers testified to that effect during the federal mail-fraud trial in New York.

The insurance money, $350,000, was paid after King claimed he lost that amount in non-refundable training expenses paid boxer Julio Cesar Chavez in 1991.

Colombian boxing champion Fernando Caicedo, a junior-lightweight, pleaded not guilty to charges of possessing almost $150,000 in counterfeit U.S. currency.

Caicedo, 26, was arrested Oct. 15 when he arrived at Miami International Airport from Cali, Colombia.

Danny Sullivan, the 1985 Indianapolis 500 winner and now a commentator for ABC sports, pleaded not guilty in a domestic violence case in Aspen, Colo. Sullivan is accused of choking and pushing estranged girlfriend Juli Nini on Sept. 14 after she refused to move out of his home.

Soccer

Goalkeeper Chris Snitko carries a shutout streak of 575 minutes into second-ranked UCLA’s game against No. 4 Brown at Spaulding Field tonight at 8.

The game is part of UCLA’s 11th annual MetLife Soccer Classic being played today and Sunday. The Bruins have a 14-1 record and an 11-game winning streak. Brown is 10-0. Cal State Fullerton plays Washington at 6.

Prep Football

The CIF Southern Section and Compton School District are investigating whether Kumasi Simmons, the Compton Centennial High football player who was kicked off the team and arrested for striking referee Ken Smotrys in a game last Friday at Beverly Hills, was eligible to play football at all.

Simmons spent the last three years at Chino Hills Ayala High and transferred to Centennial in September, although his parents, Lenny and Linda Randle, did not move and no transfer form was completed. Rules require that a transfer student have a bona fide change of address to gain eligibility.

The Randles say they plan to file an injunction to seek reinstatement of their son’s eligibility.

Hockey

Russia’s Central Army club was suspended from international competition by the International Ice Hockey Federation for playing holdout NHL star Alexei Yashin.