Lance Armstrong says he’ll race in Giro d’Italia

Lance Armstrong has told organizers that he will race in the Giro d’Italia.

The announcement posted on the Gazzetta dello Sport’s website Thursday removed doubts that the seven-time Tour de France champion would miss the race after having surgery on a broken right collarbone last month.

The Gazzetta said the American contacted organizers Thursday from Colorado, where he is training.

The Giro runs from May 9-31.

“The recovery has been going well and the plan is to be there,” Armstrong’s spokesman Mark Higgins wrote in an e-mail to the Associated Press.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Seattle hires Cameron Dollar

Seattle University has hired Washington assistant and former UCLA guard Cameron Dollar as its coach.

The school announced that Dollar, 33, will replace Joe Callero, who left this month to take over at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The Redhawks are in the second year of a five-year transition to Division I.

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UCLA center J’mison Morgan has undergone arthroscopic knee surgery. The freshman had the procedure at UCLA Medical Center to remove torn cartilage from his right knee. His recovery is expected to take six weeks.

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Syracuse point guard Jonny Flynn signed with an agent, ending his college career after two seasons and taking a top player off the Orange for the second straight year. Other players made themselves available for the NBA draft but did not sign with agents, leaving open the possibility of their returns to school. Among them were St. Mary’s sophomore guard Patty Mills, Notre Dame junior forward Luke Harangody and Xavier junior Derrick Brown.

TENNIS

No. 2 Venus Williams ousted

Second-seeded Venus Williams was upset in the third round of the Family Circle Cup at Charleston, S.C., falling to 63rd-ranked Sabine Lisicki, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in a startling early exit that took even Williams by surprise.

Elsewhere, top-seeded Elena Dementieva, ranked No. 3, defeated Varvara Lepchenko, 6-1, 6-1 and next faces seventh-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, a 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-3 winner over Anastasia Rodionova, in a quarterfinal today.

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Roger Federer lost to Olympic gold-medal doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-4, 7-5, in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters.

HORSE RACING

Santa Anita winding down

Santa Anita’s 84-day meeting comes to a close this weekend, highlighted by two marathon turf features, the Grade II $200,000 Santa Barbara Handicap at 1 1/4 miles Saturday and the Grade II $200,000 San Juan Capistrano Handicap at 1 3/4 miles Sunday.

There’s also the last of the Free Fridays today, where general admission is free.

Black Mamba, a 6-year-old mare trained by John Sadler, is the horse to beat in the Santa Barbara Handicap.

Midships is the likely favorite for the closing-day feature.

-- Eric Sondheimer

ETC.

Fidrych death ruled accident

Former All-Star pitcher Mark Fidrych suffocated after his clothes became entangled with a spinning part on the truck he was working on, Massachusetts authorities said.

The state medical examiner’s office ruled the death an accident, according to a release from the Worcester District Attorney’s office.

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Boston Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge was hospitalized after suffering what the team described as a minor heart attack. The team said Ainge, 50, was taken to a Boston hospital but provided few other details. . . . Former NFL running back Travis Henry pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine in a federal drug case that could land him in prison for 10 years or more. . . . UCLA’s women’s gymnastics team fell short of qualifying for the Super Six team finals, losing a tiebreaker to Utah on the first day of the NCAA championships at Lincoln, Neb. Vanessa Zamirripa finished third in the all-around with a career-high 39.575 points. . . . Alex Cejka shot his best round in nearly two years, a seven-under-par 64, to take a one-stroke lead at the Verizon Heritage in Hilton Head Island, S.C.