Devers Withdraws From Track Event at SkyDome

Because of a calf injury, Olympic 100-meter champion Gail Devers has withdrawn from the undercard of the Michael Johnson-Donovan Bailey 150-meter match race Sunday at SkyDome in Toronto.

Devers, who was to compete in the women’s hurdles race, joins Ukrainian pole vaulter Sergei Bubka and Cuban high jumper Javier Sotomayor, who both recently pulled out of the meet.

Event officials said Devers will be replaced by world indoor champion Michelle Freeman of Jamaica for the hurdles event against Olympic hurdles champion Ludmila Engquist.

Bubka was replaced by U.S. record holder Lawrence Johnson, and Sotomayor will be replaced by Swedish star Patrik Sjoberg, who will go against Olympic champion Charles Austin of the U.S.

Hockey

The Kings signed right winger Pavel Rosa, 19, who led Canadian junior hockey in scoring last season, to a three-year contract. Rosa, chosen by the Kings in the second round of the 1995 draft, led the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 63 goals, 90 assists and 153 points.

Rosa, who also led his team to the Memorial Cup championship, is only the fifth player to lead the QMJHL in goals, assists and points, joining Mario Lemieux, Dale Hawerchuk, Pat LaFontaine and Daniel Briere.

Jurisprudence

New York Knick rookie John Wallace surrendered to police in Greece, N.Y., after his girlfriend, Michelle Bolger, claimed that he punched her in the face and choked her during an argument over one of their two children.

Wallace, 23, showed up at a police station, accompanied by a lawyer, and was charged with harassment, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 days in jail. He was released on his own recognizance.

NBA players Larry Johnson of New York and Stacey Augmon of Portland have been accused of assault and harassment by Laura Tate, a New York woman who said she is several months pregnant with Johnson’s child.

A furniture store has filed a theft charge, accusing Cincinnati Bengal fullback Jeff Cothran of refusing to return or pay for $2,100 worth of furniture he rented in October.

Hal Arenstein, Cothran’s lawyer, said that Cothran defaulted on an installment loan and that the case is a civil matter that the player plans to settle.

Water Polo

The United States defeated Greece, 5-3, on penalty shots and finished atop Group B at the Water Polo World Cup, setting up a semifinal match against Russia at Athens.

Chris Humbert scored five goals for the American team in regulation play, which ended in an 8-8 tie. Tasos Papanastasiou scored three times for Greece.

Both teams were undefeated and forced into a penalty shootout after tying for first place with five points each.

Miscellany

The Cincinnati Bengals guaranteed they will stay in town through the 2026 season by signing a lease on a new stadium, to be named after team founder Paul Brown, in Hamilton County, Ohio.

John Maessner entered the game in the 73rd minute and put a hard shot past goalie Brad Friedel in the 81st minute to give D.C. United (8-3) a 3-2 win over the Crew (6-6) before 12,299 at Columbus, Ohio, in a Major League Soccer game.

Giampiero Maini, Maurizio Rossi and Alessandro Iannuzzi scored goals to lead Vicenza over Napoli, 3-0, in overtime to win soccer’s Italian Cup, the first trophy in the team’s 95-year history.

Names in the News

Four months after he was accused of sexually harassing two of his players, Syracuse University women’s tennis Coach Jesse Dwire was suspended without pay for three months.

Former Olympic boxer Duane Bobick remained in critical condition after he was injured in an accident at the paper mill where he works at Little Falls, Minn.

Bobick was working Tuesday slitting apart rolls on the paper machine winder when the knife he was using got caught and his arms were pulled into the machinery, according to a statement from the Hennepin Paper Co.

Scott Pierce is listed in good condition at a Detroit hospital after his boat flipped during qualifying for the Gold Cup Hydroplane races on the Detroit River.