Rocca Wins Third Slalom of Season

Italian Giorgio Rocca won his third slalom of the season, and American Bode Miller lost the World Cup overall points lead after failing to qualify for the second heat Thursday at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

Miller was subsequently fined $762 for refusing to take a boot test. He was randomly selected after the first run to take the test -- which checks whether the height of the base of the boot is permissible.

Rocca won after Austrian Benjamin Raich, the leader after the first run, missed a gate on the second.

Reigning overall champion Miller ran into a gate and then some bumps to finish 54th in the first heat. Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal now leads the overall standings with 450 points. Miller has 442 and Raich 430.

Miller had fallen in his last two races -- both giant slaloms. He called the test illogical, saying he had already taken off the boots by the time he was told to undergo the test, and could have adjusted the height by then if he wanted.

“It’s really typical,” Miller said of the FIS’s equipment rules. “With drug testing it’s the same way.”

Rocca was timed in 1 minute 35.98 seconds on the steep Kranjska Gora slope. Canadian Thomas Grandi was second in 1:36.62. American Ted Ligety was third in 1:36.65.

World Cup overall champion Anja Paerson overcame poor track conditions at Spindleruv Myln, Czech Republic, and skied to her second consecutive slalom victory.

The Swede, fastest in the opening leg set, had a slightly slower second run down the bumpy and rough Cerna course.

Paerson won with an aggregate time of 1 minute 38.49 seconds. She exulted in her whopping 0.49 edge over archrival and runner-up Janica Kostelic of Croatia, winner of the giant slalom Wednesday.

Marlies Schild wound up third, 1.27 seconds back, for her second podium finish in as many days.

Paerson won the only other slalom race this season -- at Aspen, Colo., on Dec. 11. She leads the slalom standings with 200 points, 40 more than Kostelic. Kathrin Zettel of Austria is third with 105 points.

Julia Mancuso was the top American with a ninth-place finish. Skiing with substitute boots because her custom-fit pair were left in a hotel room in Canada earlier this month, Mancuso was 25th after the opening leg. But she had the fastest second run, covering the course in 50.10 seconds to climb 16 spots.

BASEBALL

Cuba Says It Will Donate

Money if It Can Compete

Hours after U.S. baseball officials reapplied for a permit that would allow Cuba to join next year’s inaugural World Baseball Classic, the island’s communist government said it would donate any money received at the tournament to hurricane victims.

Officials from Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players’ Assn. reapplied to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, seeking permission for Cuba to play in the 16-team tournament, scheduled for March 3-20.

The permit is required because of U.S. laws and regulations governing certain transactions with Cuba, and the Bush administration last week denied the first request, seemingly because Cubans would have received money.

“Although we have never competed for money, in order to offer options the Cuban Baseball Federation would be willing for the money associated with participation in the classic to go to those displaced by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans,” a statement read on Cuban government television said.

Major League Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney said a new application was submitted Thursday. The commissioner’s office and the union had said they planned to address government concerns and ensure that no money would go from U.S. entities to the Cubans.

Earlier in the day, Puerto Rican athletic officials said San Juan should withdraw as a host city if the Cubans aren’t allowed to participate.

Houston Astro special assistant Matt Galante will manage Italy’s team at the WBC.

The New York-born Galante will be joined by a few other Italian-Americans on his coaching staff.

Former Met closer John Franco will be the pitching coach, and former Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina and Jim Mansilla, who coached Italy in the 1984 Olympics, also will be on the staff.

The Minnesota Twins agreed to a contract with Rondell White that guarantees the designated hitter $3.25 million for one year and could be worth up to $8.5 million over two seasons if he plays regularly. White, who spent the last two seasons in Detroit, should help make up for the loss of Jacque Jones, who agreed to a deal with the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday.

Second baseman Mark Bellhorn agreed to an $800,000, one-year deal with San Diego, giving the Padres another member of the 2004 Boston Red Sox team that won the World Series.

Bellhorn probably will replace Mark Loretta, who was traded to Boston this month for catcher Doug Mirabelli. Other candidates to play second base for the NL West champions are Josh Barfield and Bobby Hill.

The Seattle Mariners took a chance on outfielder Matt Lawton, agreeing to a $400,000, one-year contract with a player who will start next season under suspension because of steroid use.

The commissioner’s office announced Nov. 2 that Lawton tested positive for steroids. He will sit out the first 10 days of next season.

Bernie Williams is staying with the New York Yankees, agreeing to a $1.5 million, one-year contract that allows him to earn an additional $1.5 million in performance bonuses.... The Boston Red Sox announced they had reached a preliminary agreement on a one-year, $650,000 contract with backup catcher John Flaherty, who played for the Yankees last season.... Right-handers Steve Sparks and Dave Borkowski were among five players who agreed to minor league contracts with the Astros. Infielders Danny Klassen, Eric Munson and Kevin Orie also agreed to deals.

SOCCER

Keller, Lilly Named

Top Players for the U.S.

Veterans Kasey Keller and Kristine Lilly won U.S. Soccer’s awards for players of the year.

Keller, the men’s national goalie, won it for the third time, the first player to do so. He also was honored in 1997 and 1999.

Lilly is also a repeat winner, having won the award in 1993. In the 12 years between awards, Lilly appeared for the United States 235 times and scored 85 goals. She has played in 299 national games for the U.S. team, the most international appearances for any player, male or female.

Under-20 men’s national team midfielder Benny Feilhaber and women’s defender Lori Chalupny won the Young Male and Young Female Awards.

Christine Sinclair, a member on the Canadian women’s national team who led the University of Portland to the NCAA championship earlier this month, won the Honda Award as the nation’s top female college player.

Sinclair set an NCAA record with 39 goals this season and led Portland with two goals in a 4-0 win over UCLA in the title game.

MISCELLANY

East German Swimmer

Wants Record Erased

Former East German Olympic swimming champion Petra Schneider would like to wipe out her national record because of doping.

Schneider still holds the 400-meter medley German mark of 4 minutes 36.10 seconds, set in 1982, two years after she won an Olympic gold medal in Moscow.

“My record was influenced by doping,” Schneider told a German television network. “It’s a record of the past. I’d like the current list to be reset at zero.”

Another former Olympic champion, Ute Geweniger, also conceded that doping played a role in records set during East German times. But she told the program Kontraste she wanted to keep her 200 medley German record because it also was based on “hard training.”

Investigations into doping allegations against seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will continue into next year, World Anti-Doping Agency President Dick Pound said.

“It’s not going to go away,” Pound told Reuters. “We’re dealing with all the spins out there right now, but behind the scenes there are investigations quietly proceeding.”

Armstrong, 34, who retired after the 2005 Tour de France, has denied taking performance-enhancing drugs.

UCLA gymnast Tasha Schwikert had surgery on her right shoulder and will sit out at least two months. Schwikert, a sophomore, is the reigning NCAA all-around champion. UCLA begins its season Jan. 3 in a six-team meet in Hawaii.