Tyson Throws TV Set in Prison

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was put in an isolation cell after a disturbance Saturday night at the Montgomery County Detention Center in Rockville, Md.

Several TV stations in Washington reported that Tyson became upset, either in his cell or a break room, and threw a television set. The set narrowly missed jail guards, and there were no injuries.

A hearing on the disturbance has been set for Monday.

Tyson, 32, was sentenced Feb. 5 to a one-year jail sentence for assaulting two men after a minor traffic accident in August.

Tennis

Venus Williams defeated Steffi Graf of Germany for the first time in three tries to reach the Hanover WTA final in Germany.

The second-seeded Williams broke Graf’s serve at 4-3 in the final set of a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory.

Williams will face top-seeded Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic in today’s final. Novotna beat Elena Likhovtseva of Russia, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.

Jim Courier’s happiness over reaching his first final in nearly a year was dampened because of a sprained foot that has him questionable for the St. Jude Indoor championship at Memphis, Tenn.

Courier sprained his left foot during the third set of a victory over John van Lottum of the Netherlands and then played four more games before winning the semifinal, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-4.

Courier will play third-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany, who reached his second final this year with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) victory over top-seeded Todd Martin.

Third-seeded Tim Henman of Britain outlasted Russia’s Marat Safin, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-0), in a semifinal of the ABN AMRO indoor tournament at Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Henman’s opponent today will be No. 2 Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, who defeated Britain’s Greg Rusedski, 6-4, 6-2, in the other semifinal.

Golf

Alison Nicholas shot a one-over-par 73 in the rain to win the Hawaiian Ladies Open by one stroke over Moira Dunn and Annette DeLuca at Kapolei.

The native of Gibraltar who now lives in England won $97,500 and finished with a 54-hole total of seven-under 209.

Larry Nelson, still working his way back from a herniated disk, shot a three-under 68 to move into a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the GTE Classic senior tournament at Lutz, Fla.

Nelson stood at four-under 138 after two rounds, one shot ahead of Jim Dent and Hale Irwin. Dent shot a 67 and Irwin a 69.

Motor Sports

Ricky Rudd gained the 24th pole of his career and first in 101 races for today’s Dura-Lube/Big Kmart 400 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham by getting around the 1.017-mile oval at 157.241 mph. The entire field was determined in one round of time trials after Friday’s scheduled opening session of qualifying was rained out.

Jeff Burton worked his way from 30th to the front, avoided a series of wrecks and ran off to an easy victory in the Alltel 200 Busch Series race at North Carolina Speedway.

Miscellany

Bjarte Engen Vik of Norway followed his Olympic gold medal one year ago in Nagano, Japan, by winning the opening event of the Nordic combined at the Nordic Ski World Championship at Ramsau, Austria. . . . Emma George of Australia broke her world pole vault record by soaring 15 feet 1 inch at the Sydney Grand Prix. . . . Pichit Siriwat of Thailand outpointed Joma Gamboa of the Philippines by a unanimous decision to retain the World Boxing Assn. junior-flyweight title at Bangkok, Thailand. . . . Hector Quiroz stopped former WBA and International Boxing Federation champion Tony Lopez with six seconds left in the first round of a junior-welterweight fight at Indio. . . . The third-ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball team rallied to beat No. 10 USC, 14-16, 3-15, 15-12, 15-10, 17-15.