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Chang Has Happy Birthday in Memphis

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From Staff and Wire Reports

Michael Chang celebrated his 25th birthday Saturday night by overcoming some early mistakes and beating Todd Martin, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, in the semifinals of the St. Jude Classic at Memphis, Tenn.

The top-seeded Chang will face Australian Todd Woodbridge in today’s final. Woodbridge, half of the world’s top doubles team, defeated Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman, 6-1, 7-5.

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Fourth-seeded Lisa Raymond overpowered Italy’s Francesca Lubiani in 41 minutes for a 6-1, 6-0 semifinal victory in the IGA Tennis Classic at Oklahoma City. Raymond will face top-seeded Lindsay Davenport, who bounced back from losing the first set in 19 minutes to defeat No. 3 Kimberly Po, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.

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Boxing

Arturo Gatti came back from a first-round knockdown to retain his International Boxing Federation junior-lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Tracy Harris Patterson at Atlantic City, N.J. . . . James Toney continued his mastery of Mike McCallum, winning a unanimous decision and capturing the lightly regarded World Boxing Union cruiserweight title at Montville, Conn. Toney (54-3-2) has twice beaten McCallum (49-5-1) and also fought him to a draw in 1991. . . . Nate Miller (30-4, 26 knockouts) successfully defended his World Boxing Assn. cruiserweight title by stopping Alexander Gurov in the second round at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Track and Field

Gail Devers overcame a hamstring injury to win the 60 meters in a battle of Olympic medalists at the Mobil Invitational meet at Fairfax, Va.

Devers, the 1992 and 1996 Olympic champion in the 100 meters, was clocked at 7.07 seconds to beat Gwen Torrence, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist at 200 meters, and fellow American Olympian Carlette Guidry. Torrence ran 7.12 and Guidry 7.14.

Another Atlanta Olympic champion, Allen Johnson, won the 60-meter hurdles for the third consecutive year.

Texas El Paso’s Obadele Thompson set a world indoor record in the 55-meter dash with a time of 5.99 seconds at the Western Athletic Conference indoor championships at Air Force Academy, Colo.

Winter Sports

Luc Alphand’s sixth victory of the season and second in two days came as the Frenchman won a World Cup downhill at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Alphand is leading the overall, downhill and super-G standings. . . . The U.S. doubles team of Christian Niccum and Matt McClain won its third consecutive world junior luge championship at Oberhof, Germany. Maryann Baribault of La Canada finished second in the women’s event. . . . Canadians Pierre Lueders and Dave Maceachern claimed the World Cup two-man bobsled season championship when they won the season-ending competition at Nagano, Japan. . . . Japan’s Junichi Inoue won the 500-meter sprint, beating countryman Manabu Horii by only .02 seconds in a World Cup speedskating race at Innsbruck, Austria. Norway’s Adne Soendral won the 1,000.

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Miscellany

A second man accused of being involved in the sexual abuse of teenage hockey fans at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens pleaded not guilty to 11 charges during a bail hearing. John Paul Roby, 54, a part-time usher at the arena for 25 years, faces six counts of indecent assault and five counts of gross indecency in connection with alleged sexual assaults on teenage boys at the arena.

Kenneth E. Johns Jr., the white mayor of Sewickley, Pa., quit his job as a high school track coach for telling a black student he’d send the Klu Klux Klan for a visit if she didn’t join his team.

Motor Racing

Mark Martin passed Dale Jarrett late in the Goodwrench Service 200, winning his third consecutive Busch Grand National race at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham. . . . Connie Kalitta (top fuel), Kenji Okazaki (funny car) and Warren Johnson (pro stock) were the leaders after qualifying in the ATSCO Nationals at Chandler, Ariz. . . . Driver Davy Jones was released from an Indianapolis hospital where he was treated for injuries suffered in a crash last month while practicing for the Indy Racing League’s race at Disney World Speedway in Florida.

Names in the News

Former USC baseball player and Norwalk councilman Bob White, 77, died of cancer Friday. White was an outfielder for the Trojans from 1940-42 and also played briefly in the New York Yankee farm system. . . . Tom C. Colley, a lineman on the USC football team in the late 1940s, died Monday at age 71. . . . Don Jordan of Los Angeles, 63, who won the world welterweight boxing title at the Olympic Auditorium in 1958, died Monday of injuries suffered during a mugging in San Pedro. . . . Covington (Ky.) Catholic swimmer Nate Dusing set a national high school record in the 100-yard butterfly. Dusing’s time of 47.10 seconds broke the previous mark of 47.60.

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