No Invitation for Montgomery

Promoters in England withdrew an invitation to Tim Montgomery to compete in a British meet because the sprinter refused to hold a news conference explaining his ties to coach Charlie Francis.

Fast Track, which promotes British meets, had been in talks with Montgomery -- who holds the 100-meter world record -- about running in the Birmingham Grand Prix on Feb. 21.

The invitation was contingent on Montgomery coming to England this week for a news conference to address his association with Francis, the former coach of disgraced Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson.

“In the end he wasn’t comfortable doing that,” Fast Track spokesman Andrew Wallace said Monday. “The decision was made not to invite him. We would have loved to have him in the meeting but not at the expense of the integrity of the meeting.”

Montgomery and his girlfriend, three-time Olympic champion Marion Jones, received criticism within their sport for their links to Francis. He was Johnson’s coach when the runner tested positive for steroids and was stripped of his 100-meter gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Jones and Montgomery said last week they had split with Francis.

Pro Football

San Francisco 49er cornerback Mike Rumph rejected a plea agreement and decided to go to trial at Miami on a charge of drunken driving.

Rumph turned down an offer that would have kept him out of jail. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Beth Bloom told Rumph before jury selection that if convicted, he could be sentenced to a maximum of six months in jail, followed by a year of probation.

Bob Ferguson was hired as general manager of the Seattle Seahawks, taking over for Mike Holmgren, who relinquished the job to concentrate solely on coaching the team. Holmgren stepped down as general manager in December.

Tight end Steve Heiden rejoined the Cleveland Browns, signing a two-year contract.... Philadelphia signed punter Dirk Johnson to a three-year contract.... Green Bay hired Joe Philbin as assistant offensive line coach.

Miscellany

Alpine skier Janica Kostelic won the combined event at the Alpine World Championships at St. Moritz, Switzerland, the first gold medal at a world championships for the three-time Olympic champion. It was Croatia’s first medal ever at the worlds.

Nicole Hosp of Austria won the silver medal and Marlies Oester of Switzerland took the bronze.

USA Gymnastics will stage a women’s elite competition involving teams from the U.S., Canada and Australia on March 22 at Titan Arena on the campus of Cal State Fullerton. The Pacific Challenge will feature two U.S. teams with athletes from the combined senior and junior national teams. Participants will be announced later this month.

Tennis

Maja Matevzic of Slovenia beat Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-3, to advance to the second round of the Diamond Games at Antwerp, Belgium. She will next face top-seeded Venus Williams.

Spain’s David Ferrer beat American Alex Kim, 6-2, 6-3, to advance to the second round of the Vina del Mar Open at Vina del Mar, Chile. Spain’s Felix Mantilla also advanced, beating Alberto Martin, 6-1, 6-4.

Passings

John Hyder, the second winningest basketball coach at Georgia Tech, died Sunday at Atlanta. He was 90. Hyder won 292 games with Georgia Tech between 1959 and 1971.