Russia’s Khorkina Wins Gold

Russian gymnast Svetlana Khorkina, who three days earlier fell off the balance beam, costing her country a likely world championship in the team competition, came back Friday to win on the uneven bars in individual competition at the World Championships in Tianjin, China.

Khorkina, 20, said this would be her last World Championships, and that she would announce just after midnight on New Year’s Eve whether she would compete in the 2000 Olympics.

Since 1994, in Olympic, Goodwill Games, world or European championships, Khorkina has missed gold only once on the bars, finishing second in the 1994 World Championships.

Her gold medal Friday was one of four won by Russians. The women’s vault title went to Elena Zamolodchikova, the all-around bronze medalist, and on the men’s side, Alexei Nemov won in floor exercise and on the pommel horse.

Tennis

Venus Williams and Mary Pierce of France advanced to the semifinals of the Swisscom Challenge at Zurich, Switzerland. Williams breezed past sixth-seeded Julie Halard-Decugis of France, 6-2, 6-3, and Pierce ousted Dominique Van Roost of Belgium, 6-2, 6-4. . . . Nicolas Kiefer of Germany upset top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, 6-0, 6-4, to advance to the semifinals of the $800,000 CA Trophy tournament at Vienna. . . . Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand upset sixth-seeded Andrew Ilie of Australia, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), to advance to the semifinals of the $725,000 Heineken Open in Singapore.

Motor Sports

Joe Nemechek won his third pole of the season with a lap of 198.331 mph in qualifying for Sunday’s Winston 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. . . . Scotland’s Dario Franchitti, chasing rookie Juan Montoya of Colombia for the CART champ car driving title, won the pole for the Gold Coast Indy at Surfers Paradise, Australia, breaking his course record with a lap of 109.724 mph. . . . . . . Michael Schumacher, injured in a crash three months ago, returned to Formula One racing, participating in practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang. . . . Jay Sauter won the O’Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway at Forth Worth, his second consecutive NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory, and runner-up Greg Biffle took a narrow lead in the series championship. . . . Cody Unser, 12, daughter of Al Unser Jr., will return home to Albuquerque today after undergoing tests at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore as she continues to battle transverse myelitis, a rare disorder that struck her in February and left her paralyzed from the chest down.

Olympics

International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch, under pressure in Washington to push through reforms, said, “I am doing my best to make sure these recommendations will be approved.”

Samaranch was speaking a day after several lawmakers had expressed skepticism about the IOC’s reform efforts during a hearing of the House Commerce subcommittee.

Names in the News

Ohio State basketball Coach Jim O’Brien, now in his third year, got a four-year contract extension through 2007, at an annual salary of more than $833,000. The Buckeyes were 27-9 last season. . . . Tommy Morrison, a former World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion who was arrested last month on drug and driving charges, including a felony charge of possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute it, had the charges reduced to possession of cocaine.