At Least Three Stabbed in Denmark Soccer Brawl

Riot police fired tear gas into a crowd of brawling English and Turkish soccer fans Wednesday after at least three people were stabbed in violence surrounding the UEFA Cup final at Copenhagen.

Turkey’s Galatasaray defeated Arsenal, 4-1, in a penalty shootout after the game ended in a 0-0 tie after overtime. Galatasaray is the first Turkish club to win one of Europe’s two major championships.

Police Chief Superintendent Mogins Lauridsen said a Dutch man who was stabbed in the stomach was in serious condition, and a Turkish man and an English fan suffered superficial stab wounds in the fighting that broke out in the late afternoon.

At least 26 people were arrested and five others were seriously injured in the afternoon melee. Lauridsen said those charged with the most serious crimes would face a hearing, and the others would be deported.

At least 24,000 Turkish and English fans flocked to Copenhagen to watch Wednesday night’s match.

The fighting broke out when hundreds of supporters of both teams started chasing one another around a downtown square, throwing bottles and uprooting tables and flagpoles as helmeted riot police arrived and fired tear gas.

During celebrations in Turkey, nine people were wounded by stray bullets as guns were fired in joy despite warnings by police.

Tennis

Pete Sampras lost to Arnauld Di Pasquale of France, 6-4, 6-4, in the second round of the German Open at Hamburg, cutting short his clay-court preparation for the French Open.

Sampras, coming back from a thigh injury that sidelined him for more than a month, had hoped to use the tournament as a tuneup for the only Grand Slam tournament he has not won. The French Open starts May 29 in Paris.

Third-seeded Venus Williams looked sharp as her comeback continued with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Chanda Rubin in the Italian Open at Rome.

After sitting out for six months because of injuries, Williams returned to action last week, losing in straight sets to Amanda Coetzer of South Africa in the quarterfinals at Hamburg.

College Basketball

Providence College expelled three basketball players and barred a fourth from varsity sports for a year as punishment for an off-campus fight with other students last month.

The Rhode Island school will not release the names of the students who were disciplined, but basketball players David Murray, Donta Wade, Llewellyn Cole and Jamaal Camah were charged by police in the April 10 incident.

The University of Minnesota learned that the NCAA has found enough evidence of rules violations, mostly in the men’s basketball program, to warrant an official inquiry.

The announcement was largely procedural and had been expected since an academic cheating scandal broke at the university last spring. The university undertook its own investigation after former tutor Jan Gangelhoff came forward to say she had written more than 400 papers for as many as 20 basketball players between 1993 and 1998.

Tim Buckley, who spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Ball State, is back with the Cardinals as their head coach. Buckley replaces Ray McCallum, who was named coach at Houston on April 19.

Jurisprudence

Fred Taylor of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Ike Hilliard of the New York Giants are suing sports agent William “Tank” Black, claiming he defrauded the players out of millions of dollars.

The lawsuit somewhat mirrors federal criminal charges alleging that Black and his associates defrauded Taylor and Hilliard, said Miami attorney Lance Harke, who filed the lawsuit in federal court at Gainesville, Fla.

Federal marshals were fanning out across the Midwest looking for Art Schlichter, the former Indianapolis Colt and Ohio State quarterback whose gambling problems ended his NFL career and led to years of legal troubles.

At least a dozen marshals were mounting an intense effort to find Schlichter after learning he recently tried to obtain a handgun from a friend, authorities said.

Federal authorities on Monday charged Schlichter, 40, with money laundering.

Miscellany

Susie O’Neill of Australia broke Mary T. Meagher’s 19-year-old world record in the 200-meter butterfly, winning in 2 minutes 5.81 seconds at Sydney to shave 0.15 off swimming’s longest-standing world mark. . . . Lisa Leslie had 16 points and 10 rebounds to help the Sparks to an 85-59 victory over the Sting in a WNBA exhibition game at Charlotte, N.C. . . . The men’s cross-country and track and field programs at Jackson State were put on five years’ probation by the NCAA for numerous violations dating to 1994. . . . Mario Cipollini of Italy won a sprint finish to win the fourth stage of the Giro d’Italia cycling race. . . . Donovan Bailey of Canada said he plans to end his sprinting career in the 2001 World Championships at Edmonton. . . . A request for a July 15 bout in Las Vegas between WBC super-lightweight champion Kosta Tszyu and aging former champion Julio Cesar Chavez was pulled at the last minute amid indications the Nevada Athletic Commission wouldn’t license the fight. . . . Hiddenbrooke Golf Club in Vallejo, Calif., has been selected to host the Samsung World Championship of Women’s Golf tournament Oct. 9-15.