Jacquemod Gets First Cup Win

Ingrid Jacquemod of France won a downhill Friday at Santa Caterina Valfurva, Italy, for her first World Cup victory, with Lindsey Kildow of Vail, Colo., finishing fourth and maintaining her lead in the downhill standings.

The race was originally scheduled for Jacquemod’s hometown of Val d’Isere, but it was moved to the site of the upcoming world Alpine championships because of lack of snow at the French resort.

“Maybe it was better that they moved the races from Val d’Isere,” said Jacquemod, who covered the 1.6-mile course in 1 minute 40.29 seconds.

Defending World Cup downhill champion Renate Goetschl of Austria, still seeking her first victory this season, finished second, 0.11 of a second behind. Carole Montillet-Carles of France was third, 0.12 of a second back. Kildow was 0.44 of a second behind.

“Fourth is OK. I’m still leading the standings, but coming in fourth is like being the first loser,” said the 20-year-old Kildow, who leads Hilde Gerg of Germany, 275-265. Gerg finished fifth in 1:40.81.

*

Sven Fischer used perfect shooting and the backing of a home crowd at Oberhof, Germany, to win a World Cup biathlon sprint event.

Fischer, who didn’t miss a target despite gusting winds, finished the 10-kilometer race in 27 minutes 17. 3 seconds. He was followed by Norwegians Forde Andresen, 19.6 seconds back, and Egil Gjelland, 26.8 behind.

*

Siegfried Grabner of Austria won the men’s World Cup snowboard parallel slalom event, and Daniela Meuli led a sweep by Switzerland in the women’s event at St. Petersburg, Russia. Grabner, the defending World Cup champion, defeated Dejan Kosir of Slovenia for his first title this season.

Tennis

Top-ranked Roger Federer needed only 64 minutes to defeat Nikolay Davydenko, 6-3, 6-4, and advance to the final of the Qatar Open at Doha. Federer, tuning up to defend his Australian Open title, will play sixth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic in today’s final. Ljubicic advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Albert Costa.

*

Taylor Dent upset top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt, 7-6 (4), 6-3, in the quarterfinals at the Australian men’s hardcourt championships at Adelaide. The fifth-seeded Dent will play fourth-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela in today’s semifinals. Chela beat Jurgen Melzer, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-2.

Joachim Johansson beat Thomas Enqvist, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, to advance to the other semifinal. Johansson will play Olivier Rochus, who beat third-seeded Nicolas Kiefer, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), 7-5.

*

Top-seeded Carlos Moya and second-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan reached the semifinals of the Chennai Open at Madras, India. Moya beat Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-4, 6-4, and Srichaphan defeated Kristof Vliegen, 6-3, 6-4. Moya will play Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who beat Michal Tabara, 6-4, 6-4. Srichaphan will play Tomas Zib, who defeated Justin Gimelstob, 6-3, 7-6 (4).

*

Top-seeded Amy Frazier defeated Tatiana Panova, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2, to reach the semifinals of the ASB Classic at Auckland, New Zealand. Frazier will play fourth-seeded Shinobu Asagoe, who led Janette Husarova, 5-2, in the first set when Husarova retired because of an abdominal strain.

*

Defending Australian Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne withdrew from the first Grand Slam of the year because of a knee injury.

Craig Gabriel, a spokesman for the Sydney International, said Saturday that Henin-Hardenne had pulled out of the Sydney event and the Australian Open, which starts Jan. 17.

“She apparently hurt her knee just before New Year’s Eve while training in Florida,” Gabriel said.

*

Second-seeded Patty Schnyder won her ninth WTA Tour title today, defeating Samantha Stosur, 1-6, 6-3, 7-5, in the Australian women’s hardcourt final at Gold Coast.

Soccer

Soccer’s world and European governing bodies are organizing a charity match to raise funds for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster, FIFA said in Zurich, Switzerland. The associations “have decided to organize a solidarity match on a grand scale in a major European stadium in February,” FIFA said in a statement. It did not give details.

*

Paulo Da Silva scored on a header off a deflected corner kick in the 90th minute Thursday night at San Antonio to lift Toluca to a 2-0 victory over Necaxa in the Interliga. In the second game of the doubleheader at the Alamodome, America beat Jaguares de Chiapas, 2-1.

Olympics

Early Reese, U.S. Olympic Committee chief financial officer, resigned, ending a difficult four-year tenure during which he allegedly failed to disclose mismanagement and fraud by executives above him.

Reese was close with former USOC Chief Executive Lloyd Ward, who resigned in March 2003 after he was accused of helping his brother’s company land Olympic business.

Two years ago, then-Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell called for Reese to resign, alleging Reese kept many of Ward’s misdeeds private. In a telephone interview with Associated Press, Reese said his resignation had nothing to do with the past turmoil. He said he merely wanted to pursue other interests.

*

The agency in charge of construction for the 2006 Turin Olympics said it had completed each of the venues to be used for official test events this winter.

International Olympic Committee and other sports officials had expressed worries that certain venues might not be completed in time. The Turin Olympics are Feb. 10-26, 2006.