3 Cuban Baseball Players Denied Political Asylum

Three Cuban baseball players who had defected and been courted by U.S. sports agents were among the 65 boat people forced to leave the Bahamas and return to their Communist homeland Monday.

More than 100 other Cuban detainees who also were denied political asylum will be sent home in the coming weeks, said Vernon Burrows, the Bahamas’ deputy immigration director.

The group included baseball players Angel Lopez, 25; Jorge Diaz, 23; Michael Jova, 17, and pitching coach Orlando Chinea, 41. They and first baseman Jorge Luis Toca, 23, fled Cuba by boat in March and were rescued by a Bahamian fishing crew. Toca is married to a Japanese citizen and was granted a Japanese visa in April.

All were banned from Cuban baseball last year because Cuban officials suspected they were planning to defect. Once in the Bahamas, the players were recruited by Florida-based sports agent Joe Cubas and a rival agency, KDN Sports Inc.

The Bahamas refused to grant them political asylum after interviewers from the U.N. High Commission for Refugees concluded that the refugees hadn’t been politically persecuted in Cuba.

Jurisprudence

Former Miami Dolphin safety Gene Atkins was arrested and charged with hiring three men to firebomb the home of a former business partner. Atkins, 33, was charged with attempted second-degree murder, arson and battery conspiracy.

Atkins hired three men to burn down the home of former business associate Alfred Simmons, Miramar, Fla., police said. Simmons was unharmed.

Boxer Julio Cesar Chavez, 35, returned to court days after lawyers said he was confined to a wheelchair by an ankle injury and testified as a key witness for prosecutors at promoter Don King’s insurance fraud trial in New York.

Chavez showed no signs of the sprained ankle prosecutors alleged he suffered while jogging in Mexico a week ago.

The government alleges that King cheated Lloyd’s of London out of $350,000 by falsely claiming he paid Chavez that amount in nonrefundable training expenses and advances before a canceled fight in 1991.

Chavez testified that he was never paid the $350,000 by King before the scheduled fight against Harold Brazier. The fight was canceled after Chavez suffered a cut while sparring.

Former University of North Carolina linebacker Kivuusama Mays pleaded no contest to assault charges stemming from a fight involving a North Carolina freshman outside a Chapel Hill nightclub in December.

Brian Irving, 26, of San Francisco, pleaded guilty to gambling conspiracy charges in Chicago for betting thousands of dollars on Northwestern basketball games that prosecutors say were fixed. Irving is the third of four defendants in the case to plead guilty.

Tennis

In the deciding doubles match, Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge downed Todd Martin and Richey Reneberg, 6-2, 6-2, to lead Australia to a 2-1 victory over the United States in the opening day of the World Team Cup at Dusseldorf, Germany.

In the clay-court tuneup for the French Open, Reneberg, replacing injured Michael Chang, beat Woodbridge, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), and Mark Philippoussis defeated Jim Courier, 6-3, 6-4.

Marc Goellner of Germany rallied to beat South Africa’s Wayne Black, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, in the first round of the rain-marred Raiffeisen Grand Prix at St. Poelten, Austria.

Miscellany

Christopher Cairney, who has filed a lawsuit against USC after being fired as director of tutor services, was the subject of a lengthy Pacific 10 Conference compliance committee hearing Monday in Palo Alto, though no Pac-10 response is is expected before June.

Athletic Director Mike Garrett was among those representing USC in the hearing, designed to give Cairney a chance to respond to USC’s report of an NCAA violation by Cairney for allegedly improperly assisting an athlete with a paper. Cairney claims USC was seeking revenge for his allegations of widespread improprieties in the tutoring program.

Novelist Tom Clancy, heading a group trying to purchase the Minnesota Vikings for $200 million, was granted a one-week postponement to answer questions before the NFL finance committee.

Jill Kristoff hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning as Wisconsin Stevens Point defeated Chapman, 3-1, for the NCAA Division III softball championship at Salem, Va.

Religious right and conservative Republican leaders embraced Green Bay Packer defensive lineman Reggie White for speaking out against homosexuality.

“Where are the free-speechers?” asked Gary Bauer, president of Family Research Council, the conservative group that sponsored a luncheon in White’s honor. “They should be here to support Reggie White’s rights, but not one of them has rushed to a microphone.”

Johnny Miller and Nick Faldo were inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. . . . Charlie Hall, who played cornerback for the Packers in the 1970s, was found dead of an apparent heart attack in a South Carolina motel, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.