Judah Keeps IBF Crown with TKO

International Boxing Federation junior-welterweight champion Zab Judah of Brooklyn made the fourth defense of his title a successful one with a 10th-round technical knockout of Reggie Green at Uncasville, Conn.

Judah improved to 26-0 with one no-contest. Green fell to 33-5.

On the undercard, Olympic silver medalist Ricardo “Rocky” Juarez made a successful pro debut by outpointing Puerto Rico’s Pascali Adorno in a four-round featherweight fight.

Super-middleweight Jeff Lacy, an Olympic teammate of Juarez’s, also was set to make his pro debut. But Lacy’s opponent, Kevin Butts, had a change of heart Saturday and took a bus home without telling promoters.

Winter Sports

U.S. speedskaters Jennifer Rodriguez of Miami and Derek Parra of San Bernardino won 1,500-meter races against Canada’s national team during regional qualifying at West Allis, Wis.

Rodriguez is the first Cuban-American to make the national team and is expected to be a medal contender at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Rodriguez and Parra are leading the individual standings after two days of qualifying for six spots on the women’s team for the World Allround Championships in Budapest, Hungary, next month.

Dmitry Shepel of Russia won a 1,500-meter race and leads the men’s standings entering the final event at the European Speedskating Championships at Baselga Di Pine, Italy.

Claudia Pechstein of Germany led the women’s standings after finishing second in the 1,500 and third in the 3,000.

Renate Goetschl of Austria won a women’s downhill and Regine Cavagnoud of France won a super-giant slalom in World Cup races at Haus Im Ennstal, Austria.

Alison Powers of the United States broke her left kneecap and will be out the rest of the season.

Johann Muehlegg of Spain won a World Cup classic cross-country ski race at Midway, Utah, in 41 minutes, 54.7 seconds--one minute ahead of the rest of the field.

Nicolas Fontaine of Canada won a World Cup freestyle skiing competition at Mont-Tremblant, Canada.

Adam Malysz of Poland won a World Cup ski jump at Harrachov, Czech Republic, setting a hill record with a first-round jump of 206.5 meters.

Magdalena Forsberg of Sweden won her sixth consecutive biathlon World Cup event at Ruhpolding, Germany.

Forsberg, the four-time defending World Cup champion, extended her lead in the standings over Olena Zubrilova of Ukraine, who finished fifth.

Soccer

U.S. national team veteran Michelle Akers, who announced her retirement from international play last year, was named the second recipient of the National Soccer Coaches Assn. of America award of excellence.

Chile held on for a 1-0 victory over Japan in its first league match of the Millennium Cup in Calcutta, India.

One person was reportedly killed from gunshot wounds when Nigerian police fired on a stampeding crowd before an African Cup qualifying match in Lagos, Nigeria, in which Nigeria beat Zambia, 1-0.

Miscellany

The New York Yankees settled one of their smaller potential arbitration cases by agreeing to a $1.6-million, one-year contract with reliever Ramiro Mendoza.

Jeff Green received $735,487 as the champion’s share of the NASCAR Busch Grand National series points fund at a awards banquet in the Regent Beverly Wilshire. This raised Green’s 2000 winnings to a series-record $1,929,937.

Jason Lezak of Irvine won the 100-meter freestyle in 47.78 seconds giving the U.S. its only victory on the opening day of a short-course World Cup swimming meet at Imperia, Italy.

The Ice Dogs scored all their goals in the third period to defeat the Tacoma Sabercats, 3-1, in a West Coast Hockey League game before 7,,634 at Long Beach Arena. Tomas Kapusta, Dimitri Kirilenko and Ralph Barahona scored for the Ice Dogs (20-8-9).