Angry Cubans Withdraw From World Boxing Event

In a dramatic protest, two-time Cuban Olympic champion Felix Savon refused to report to the ring and American Michael Bennett was awarded the heavyweight gold medal in the World Amateur Boxing Championships on Thursday night at Houston.

Moments later, Cuban boxing official Raul Villanueva angrily withdrew Cuba from the tournament, claiming that four Cuban fighters had been treated unjustly before Thursday night’s finals card. Cuban light-middleweight Jorge Gutierrez was scheduled to fight on tonight’s card.

The Cubans were angered Thursday night when Timour Gaidalov of Russia outpointed Cuban welterweight Juan Hernandez, 5-3, in the fourth fight of the night.

The Cubans protested the fight, claiming the Russian illegally put tape on his hand wraps. Gaidalov’s hand wraps were ruled legal and then the Cubans protested on general grounds.

Light-flyweight Brian Viloria of Hawaii charged through all four rounds and then did a hula dance on the winner’s stand after he defeated Maikro Romero of Cuba for the gold medal.

Tennis

In the hunt for her fifth singles title this year, Venus Williams advanced to the semifinals of the Pilot Pen tournament at New Haven, Conn., with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over qualifier Magui Serna.

Williams will play third-seeded Monica Seles in the semifinals. Seles advanced with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Amanda Coetzer. Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport defeated Amelie Mauresmo of France for the first time in three matches, 6-1, 6-2.

Sixth-seeded Marat Safin of Russia, who will face Pete Sampras in the first round of the U.S. Open next week, had his power game working while defeating American qualifier Bob Bryan, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), to advance to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Pro Tennis Championships at Brookline, Mass. Second-seeded Marcelo Rios of Chile, down two break points in the ninth game of the final set, rallied to defeat Daniel Nestor of Canada, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-4.

Top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia reached the Hamlet Cup quarterfinals with a 7-6 (8-6), 6-0 victory over Fabrice Santoro of France at Commack, N.Y.

Thomas Johansson of Sweden withdrew from the Hamlet and from the U.S. Open because of myocarditis and viral pericarditis, which affect the lining of the heart.

Little League Baseball

Japan will have a shot at redemption in the Little League World Series.

The team from Osaka defeated poor-fielding Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, 12-2, and advanced to Saturday’s championship game at Williamsport, Pa. Kashima of Japan lost, 12-9, to Toms River, N.J., in the championship game last year.

Toms River’s game with Phenix City, Ala., in the U.S. final was suspended in the top of the second inning because of rain with Toms River leading, 2-0. It will resume this morning.

Hockey

Doug Risebrough, who has spent the last 25 years as a player, coach and executive in the NHL, reportedly will be named the first general manager of the expansion Minnesota Wild, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The St. Louis Blues signed goaltender Roman Turek to a multiyear contract. Turek, 29, was acquired by the Blues from Dallas for a compensatory pick, 66th overall, in the 1999 NHL entry draft in June. . . . Free-agent defenseman Jason Bowen, who played in the Edmonton organization last season, signed with the Colorado Avalanche.

Jurisprudence

An Indiana state police sergeant faces internal charges that he improperly interviewed a witness and then disclosed that information to Bob Knight during a police investigation of a restaurant fight involving the Indiana University basketball coach.

Sgt. J.D. Maxwell, who is a friend of Knight and has officiated games at the coach’s basketball camp for four years, will answer the charges at a disciplinary hearing Sept. 2.

Former Indianapolis Colt quarterback Art Schlichter is facing charges of placing bets with a Las Vegas bookie while serving time in prison on other gambling charges.

Heavyweight boxing contender Ike Ibeabuchi, in jail on sexual assault charges, now faces additional charges and a judge at Las Vegas increased bail to $3 million from $2 million.

Miscellany

Insurance executive Dennis Gilbert, a former player agent, contributed $383,780 to be used in the construction of a baseball field on the campus of Southwest Community College in South-Central Los Angeles. The scarcity of baseball facilities in the area has prompted many promising players to look elsewhere for baseball.

The NCAA classified 15 Division I schools, among them UC Irvine, as fully certified.

Certification that the schools operate their athletic programs in conformity with NCAA rules was required for all Division I members at the association’s convention in 1993. Since then, 273 of the 310 schools in the largest NCAA division have been certified.

A report that a former University of Michigan basketball player accepted money from a booster could trigger a further NCAA investigation, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The newspaper said former Michigan guard Louis Bullock, a second-round NBA draft pick, ignored a school directive to avoid Ed Martin and accepted money from him.

Brazil, Finland and South Korea will join the United States in the U.S. Women’s Cup ’99 soccer tournament.

The Americans will play South Korea on Oct. 3 at Columbus, Ohio, in a doubleheader also matching Brazil and Finland.

Greg Manning, a former Maryland basketball star, was hired as athletic director at Georgia State on Thursday, reuniting him with his former coach, Lefty Driesell.

Former Hawaii and Eastern Washington University football coach Dave Holmes, 75, has died of what appeared to be a heart attack at Spokane, Wash. . . . Tim Durando, who played quarterback at Oregon in the 1970s, has died of cancer at Wasco, Calif. He was 42.