U.S. Women Gymnasts Falter on Bars at Championships

Bar events continued to trouble American gymnasts at the world championships in Ghent, Belgium.

After the men suffered one of the most dramatic collapses in the sport’s history on the high bar the previous day, the U.S. women found themselves struggling on the uneven bars, making mistakes that might well have cost them medals in Friday’s all-around competition.

Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina clinched gold for her third world title with 37.617 points, followed by little-known compatriot Natalia Ziganshina with 37.305 and Romania’s Andreea Raducan, third with 36.949.

Tasha Schwikert, the U.S. national champion, opened on the uneven bars, where she shot up too close on a toe-up, becoming almost stationary and losing momentum. The American scored only 8.950 and finished fifth (36.881).

Third heading into the bars, her last apparatus of the day, Tabitha Yim of Irvine looked poised to become the first American to win a medal in a worlds all-around since Shannon Miller took gold in 1994.

But the teenager delivered her poorest performance of the day, earning only 8.950 to drop her into seventh with 36.680.

Only moments earlier, Mohini Bhardwaj of Los Angeles had fallen off the apparatus during a transition to the high bar, scoring 8.487 for a total of 35.036.

Tennis

So sick with a throat infection that she lost track of the score, Jennifer Capriati jeopardized her No. 1 ranking with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 quarterfinal loss to Sandrine Testud at the Sanex Championships in Munich, Germany.

Lindsay Davenport can finish the year in the top spot by beating Kim Clijsters in the semifinals.

In the semifinals, Testud faces Serena Williams, who beat Belgium’s Justine Henin, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

Yevgeny Kafelnikov drew closer to an elusive Masters Series title, defeating Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-3, in the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters.

In the semifinals, Kafelnikov will face Andreas Vinciguerra of Sweden, a 2-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6) winner over Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands.

Sixth-seeded Sebastien Grosjean of France easily advanced, defeating Hicham Arazi of Morocco, 6-2, 6-2, and will play Tommy Haas of Germany, a 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 winner against Thomas Johansson of Sweden.

Motor Racing

Proving that if given good equipment he can be competitive, Kenny Wallace won the pole for the Pop Secret Microwave 400 Winston Cup stock car at Rockingham, N.C., in a Chevrolet fielded by Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Wallace, in the DEI car as a fill-in driver for the injured Steve Park, ran a fast lap around North Carolina Speedway at 154.690 mph to earn his third pole and first since 1997.

Ricky Craven qualified second for Sunday’s race in a Ford, running a lap at 154.351. Rookie Casey Atwood, plagued by speculation that his job with Evernham Motorsports is in trouble, was third in a Dodge.

Miscellany

Warning that key construction projects are at risk because of repeated delays, the IOC wants assurances that venues will be completed on time for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Denis Oswald, the IOC official overseeing the Athens Games, sent a letter to organizers and asked them to deliver a construction timetable when IOC inspectors return Nov. 21 for a review.

A copy of the letter was obtained by the Associated Press.

Marcus Taylor’s driving jumper with 2.3 seconds remaining gave Michigan State an 89-87 victory over the Magic Johnson All-Stars in an exhibition game at East Lansing, Mich.

The 42-year-old Johnson played the entire game and finished with a triple-double--16 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists.

The All-Stars had four former Spartans in the starting lineup, including Johnson and Shawn Respert, the leading scorer in school history.

The Avengers waived troubled quarterback Todd Marinovich. Marinovich, undergoing court-ordered treatment for heroin addiction, said last month he had decided to leave the Arena Football League team to concentrate on a return to the NFL.

Utah State forward Spencer Nelson will miss the season after an operation to repair a torn ligament in his left knee revealed additional damage to another ligament.

Germany’s illbruck team survived two protest hearings at Cape Town, South Africa, with its early lead in the Volvo Ocean Race intact. The jury did fine the team about $1,500 for having a seaweed-cutting device mounted on its boat.

Passings

John J. Walsh, the coach who guided the University of Wisconsin to eight NCAA boxing championships and 35 individual titles has died at 89.

Warren Amling, an All-American offensive lineman at Ohio State in 1945, has died at 76.