Mike Modano retires after 21 seasons in NHL

Mike Modano announced Wednesday that he is retiring after 21 seasons in the NHL, a career that includes a Stanley Cup championship along with 561 goals and 1,374 points — both records for U.S.-born players.

Modano ended his career as a banged-up player who had lost a step and his shot during his one-season stint with his hometown Detroit Red Wings. A skate sliced a tendon in his right wrist and limited him to 40 games. He had four goals and 15 points with the Red Wings.

In his prime, Modano was among the best hockey players in the world — he was shifty, speedy and had a dangerous wrist shot. He also played in three Olympics, helping the Americans win the silver medal in 2002.

“His speed was his strength,” former NHL player Chris Chelios said. “He had a great shot — hard and heavy — and he was tough to stop once he made a turn and generated speed.”

The Minnesota North Stars selected Modano, a native of Westland, Mich., No. 1 overall in 1988. After the franchise moved to Dallas, he helped the Stars win the Stanley Cup in 1999.

PRO BASKETBALL

Some progress made in labor discussions

A six-person meeting of NBA ownership and players’ union representatives Wednesday generated enough positives that union president Derek Fisher was set to take a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to attend Thursday’s upper-level session, basketball officials said.

Wednesday’s three-on-three gathering in New York came less than two weeks before the scheduled opening of training camps, with the regular season scheduled to begin Nov. 1.

Although pessimism has prevailed with regard to ending the owners-imposed lockout in time to start the season, an official familiar with Wednesday’s meeting said “enough came out of it” to persuade Fisher to attend.

— Lance Pugmire

Free-agent forward Kenyon Martin agreed to a deal with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association. By doing so, Martin won’t be able to return to play in the NBA if there is a 2011-12 season.

BASEBALL

Melvin will remain Oakland’s manager

The Oakland Athletics reached agreement on a three-year contract to keep Bob Melvin as their manager.

Melvin, 49, took over in an interim capacity for Bob Geren, who was fired in June.

Melvin previously managed the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie will sit out the rest of the season because of a broken right middle finger.

The 21-year-old rookie was injured while fielding groundballs during batting practice before Toronto played the Angels on Wednesday night. He was hitting .293 with nine home runs and 25 runs batted in in 43 games.

ETC.

NASCAR changes rules for Talladega

NASCAR tweaked two rules for next month’s race at Talladega Superspeedway, apparently in an effort to limit the two-car tandem racing that has dominated at its two fastest tracks.

The first change is an increase in the size of the restrictor plate to be used in the Oct. 23 race. The larger holes in the carburetor plates should lead to an increase of horsepower that could make the cars 2 to 3 mph faster.

NASCAR also ordered an adjustment on the pop-off valve in the cooling system that should lower the maximum water temperature in engines. A threat of overheating could prevent cars from staying hooked together for too long.

After nearly two years of not knowing when he would be able to play, Scott Verplank decided to have surgery to rebuild his left wrist and will be off the PGA Tour for about five months.

The surgery, performed Friday in Cleveland, came one month after Verplank was in contention on the back nine of the PGA Championship until his tee shot came up a fraction short on the 17th green and led to a double bogey.

Former University of Missouri running back Derrick Washington was convicted of sexually assaulting a former tutor who said he attacked her in her sleep.

A Boone County (Mo.) Circuit Court jury deliberated for 21/2 hours after a two-day trial before delivering its verdict. Washington faces a possible seven-year prison sentence.

The tutor and her former roommate testified that in June 2010, Washington entered the woman’s bedroom while she slept at her off-campus apartment and fondled her without permission. The roommate, also a former tutor for Missouri athletes, had a consensual sexual relationship with Washington.

National champion Jordyn Wieber leads the U.S. team that will compete next month at the world championships, which serve as the main qualifier for the London Olympics.

Wieber, 2008 Olympian Alicia Sacramone, Aly Raisman, Anna Li, Gabrielle Douglas, McKayla Maroney and Sabrina Vega were named to the team after a second selection camp outside of Houston. One of the seven will be an alternate.

Lance Armstrong made payments to an Italian physician banned for doping through a front company in Switzerland, an Italian newspaper reported.

The Milan-based daily Corriere della Sera said the seven-time Tour de France winner directed funds to a company in the Neuchatel region called Health and Performance.

Citing work by Swiss and Italian investigators, Corriere reported that Michele Ferrari, a banned Italian physician who was once Armstrong’s training advisor, was behind the “anonymous company now in liquidation.”

Ferrari was cleared on appeal in 2006 of criminal charges accusing him of distributing doping products to athletes, but he remains barred for life by the Italian Cycling Federation under a 2002 ruling.

The road cycling world championships are returning to the United States for first time in nearly 30 years. The UCI, cycling’s international governing body, selected Richmond, Va., to host the event in 2015. Oman had been in the running for the event before removing its candidacy earlier in the day.

The U.S. last hosted the worlds in 1986 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

European soccer’s governing body will ask FIFA to scrap the August dates for exhibition games on the international calendar, two officials with knowledge of the situation said.

The officials spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because an announcement by UEFA President Michel Platini is not expected until Thursday.

Europe’s 53 national federations agreed to the proposal in a meeting to discuss changes to the soccer calendar, which dictates when clubs must release players for international duty. European clubs have pressed UEFA and FIFA to drop August internationals, describing them as “nonsense” matches that disrupt training for the season.