Whitaker Faces Six-Month Ban for Drug Use

Former champion Pernell Whitaker could be facing a six-month suspension after testing positive for a banned substance before his last fight Oct. 17.

Whitaker’s co-manager, Shelly Finkel, confirmed the test results Saturday.

“We were told by the commission that the test came back positive,” Finkel said. “We’ve asked our lawyers to get all the papers, and we will respond.”

Finkel said Whitaker called results of the pre-fight urine test, “a joke.”

Whitaker scored a 12-round victory over Russian Andre Pestriaev on Oct. 17 at the Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Conn. The decision put Whitaker into a World Boxing Assn. welterweight title fight against Ike Quartey of Ghana next spring.

The New York Daily News reported that Whitaker is under administrative suspension and that he has 30 days to appeal and request a hearing before the Pequot Tribal Commission, which controls boxing at the casino.

The usual penalty for a first-time offender would be a six-month suspension, an unidentified commission member told the newspaper. Whitaker has no record of using banned substances.

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Heavyweight David Izon of Nigeria knocked out hometown hero Lou Savarese, driving him from the ring in a fifth-round barrage that capped the first boxing card at Harlem’s Apollo Theater.

Olympics

The policy-making board of the U.S. Olympic Committee voted unanimously at Orlando to put an American city into the running for another Summer Games.

If the full board of directors approves the motion today, as expected, one of 10 cities signed up as potential bidders, including Los Angeles, will be chosen in 2002 to campaign before the International Olympic Committee for 2012.

The IOC is set to select that city in 2005.

The time frame outlined by USOC President Bill Hybl and Executive Director Dick Schultz pushes the U.S. selection date back more than one year from a previous tentative schedule. Both said the extra time was needed because of the surprising amount of interest among prospective Olympic hosts.

Also signing up to bid are Arlington, Texas; Baltimore; Cincinnati; Houston; New York; San Francisco; Seattle; Tampa, Fla.; and Washington.

Before the start of the board meeting, U.S. Swimming confirmed that it had asked FINA, the sport’s international ruling body, to conduct frequent unannounced drug tests on all members of the Chinese team leading up to the world championships in January.

“We don’t want to lash out and throw stones,” U.S. Swimming President Carol Zaleski said. “But we want to solve the problem.”

Since 1990, 23 Chinese swimmers have tested positive for steroids, far more than athletes from any other nation.

Tennis

Pete Sampras, playing with an aching shoulder, defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, in the semifinal of the Paris Open, and will play Jonas Bjorkman for the title.

Bjorkman, seeded 12th, advanced to the final by defeating defending champion Thomas Enqvist, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5.

Bjorkman also gained a berth in the season-ending ATP Tour World Championships. Sampras had already made the field in the tournament in Hanover, Germany, beginning Nov. 11.

Top-seeded Francisco Clavet of Spain beat Davide Sanguinetti of Italy, 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-3), to advance to the final of the Colombian Open clay-court tournament at Bogota.

Clavet will face Ecuador’s Nicholas Lapentti, a 6-2, 7-5 victor over American Vincent Spadea. Lapentti won the 1995 tournament as a qualifier.

Top-seeded Jana Novotna beat defending champion Conchita Martinez, 6-4, 6-1, to advance to the Kremlin Cup final at Moscow against unseeded Ai Sugiyama, Japan’s top player.

Sugiyama, No. 30 in the world, eliminated Dominique Van Roost of Belgium, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Soccer

Japan improved its slim chance to qualify for the 1998 World Cup by beating South Korea, its co-host for the 2002 tournament, 2-0, at Seoul, on goals by Hiroshi Nanami and Brazilian-born Wagner Lopes.

South Korea (5-1-1) already has clinched first place in Group B of Asian qualifying and a berth in the 32-nation tournament next summer. Japan (2-1-4) is second with 10 points, two ahead of the United Arab Emirates (2-2-2), which plays at home today against Uzbekistan.

Tisha Venturini, Kristine Lilly and Michelle Akers scored as the U.S. women’s national team beat Sweden, 3-1, in an exhibition at Chattanooga, Tenn.

The U.S. team is 15-1 in 1997.

The third-ranked UCLA men’s team will face Duke in the final game of the UCLA Pacific Soccer Classic at 1 p.m. today on UCLA’s Spaulding Field.

Motor Sports

NASCAR used an obscure rule to add Ricky Craven to the lineup for today’s Dura-Lube 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

NASCAR added the usual four provisional starters to the rear of the field based on points, giving starting positions to Ricky Rudd, rookie Jeff Green, David Green and Chad Little. Nobody was eligible to take the sometimes-used fifth provisional that goes to a former series champion unable to qualify for the race. NASCAR decided to fill the field by adding Craven, the next entry eligible based on his 16th-place standing in this season’s car-owner points.

Miscellany

Chris Hanks of Cathedral High gained 461 yards and scored seven touchdowns in the Phantoms’ 68-13 Santa Fe League victory over St. Genevieve.

The top-seeded team of Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak advanced to the title match in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour stop at Salvador, Brazil. Arce and McPeak will face fourth-seeded Shelda Bede and Ardirana Behar of Brazil in today’s final.