Bad Knee Sidelines Sampras

Top-ranked Pete Sampras has pulled out of the Grand Slam Cup in Munich, Germany, because of an inflamed right knee.

Sampras was to have played Goran Ivanisevic in the quarterfinals today, and his withdrawal allowed the Croatian to advance in the $6-million tournament without playing.

Sampras said his leg started acting up at last weekend’s Davis Cup final in which he helped the United States defeat Russia.

In his opening match Wednesday, Sampras suffered a nosebleed but had few problems in beating Patrick McEnroe, 6-1, 7-6.

“It’s best for me to go home and rest for a few days,” Sampras said.

Thursday, Boris Becker beat Byron Black, 7-6 (7-1), 6-1, to reach the semifinals of the richest tennis tournament in the world. The winner gets $1.625 million.

In Saturday’s best-of-five semifinals, Becker will meet Todd Martin, who led Andrei Medvedev, 6-3, 3-6, 4-0, when the Ukrainian retired with a left-ankle injury.

In today’s quarterfinal, Yevgeny Kafelnikov faces Jacco Eltingh.

Boxing

Heavyweight Mitch Green was arrested after smashing up his manager’s office and causing $9,000 in damage, police in New York said.

Green, 38, apparently became enraged during a dispute with his manager, picked up a chair and began using it to destroy various pieces of equipment.

The fighter was arrested Wednesday and charged with second-degree criminal mischief, a felony that carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Green, perhaps best known for an early morning brawl with Mike Tyson, was in custody pending his arraignment.

Green was supposed to fight heavyweight contender Shannon Biggs at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 15, but Garden officials confirmed that Green was off the card.

Luis Ramon Campas, known as Yory Boy to his fans, faces Javier Altamirano in tonight’s 10-round main event at the Olympic Auditorium. The winner of tonight’s bout between Campas (62-1, 56 knockouts) and Altamirano (39-5-3, 33 KOs) is expected to face the winner of the WBO welterweight title fight in January or February between champion Eamonn Loughram and No. 1 contender Jose Luis Lopez.

Soccer

AC Milan and Slavia Prague advanced to the UEFA Cup quarterfinals in London, joining six other teams who qualified earlier this week.

AC Milan, an early favorite to win the cup--along with Barcelona of Spain and Bayern Munich of Germany--played a scoreless tie on a snowy field at Sparta Prague to advance on a 2-0 aggregate. Slavia Prague, on a goal in the 96th minute by Karol Poborsky, defeated French team Lens, 1-0.

Also advancing to the March 5 first-leg quarterfinals are Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Nottingham Forest of England, Holland’s PSV Eindhoven, Roma of Italy and French side Girondins of Bordeaux.

The second-leg quarterfinals are March 19 with the semifinals on April 2 and 16. The final two legs are May 1 and 15.

The NCAA soccer final four begins today in Richmond, Va., with Duke (15-6-1) seeking its fifth national title in a row. Duke faces Virginia (21-0-2) in one semifinal today, and Portland (16-2-3) meets Wisconsin (18-4-1) in the other.

Hockey

Pat Schafhauser, 24, of St. Paul, Minn., a member the Swiss national hockey team, was left paralyzed after crashing head first into the boards during a game in Nottwil, Switzerland.

The Minnesota Moose of St. Paul has won approval from the International Hockey League to relocate to Winnipeg at the end of the season.

College Football

Three starters for the Miami Hurricanes--running back Danyell Ferguson and wide receivers Jammi German and Yatil Green--took a limousine ride the night before the NCAA announced sanctions against the school, and police are investigating a sports agent’s role in the matter.

The limo was ordered through the office of Jim Ferraro, a Miami-based lawyer, agent and university booster.

If the NCAA determines Ferraro paid for the limo, the players would be declared ineligible.

Ferraro adamantly denies paying for the limo or trying to recruit any of the players as clients.

“I’ve never met these players,” Ferraro said.

Miscellany

Sun Bonds, the ex-wife of Barry Bonds, told a court in Redwood City that the San Francisco Giant star beat and kicked her, describing him as an egotistical wife-beater who wanted to control her life. She cried when she claimed the attacks by Bonds included one when she was eight months’ pregnant.

The testimony came at the start to the second phase of the couple’s divorce trial before San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Judith Kozloksi, who already upheld a 1987 prenuptial agreement in which the two agreed to keep their financial assets separate.

Sun Bonds hopes to show that her husband’s behavior kept her from making a living, a factor that can be considered in setting permanent spousal support.

“Barry was this big man that was loving me one minute, and the next minute he was beating me up,” she said.

Names in the News

Del Crandall, who managed the Milwaukee Brewers in the early 1970s and earlier was a catcher for the Milwaukee Braves, was named manager of the San Bernardino Stampede of the California League, a Dodger farm club.

Theodore Louis “Ted” Durein, former sports editor of the Monterey Herald who went on to become the paper’s executive editor, has died at the age of 86. Durein was credited with getting Bing Crosby to move his pro-amateur golf tournament, now the AT&T; National Pro-Am, from Rancho Santa Fe to Pebble Beach.

Michael Taylor, an assistant basketball coach at Cornell University, died from what police in Ithaca, N.Y., ruled was a suicide.