UPI NewsTrack Sports July 24, 2008

11 suspended after WNBA brawl

NEW YORK, July 24 (UPI) -- Ten players and one coach were suspended Thursday by WNBA officials reacting to an on-court brawl involving the Los Angeles Sparks and the Detroit Shock.

The fight took place late in Tuesday's game in Detroit that Los Angeles won 84-81. Detroit's Plenette Pierson and the Sparks' Candace Parker were trying to get position when Parker ended up on the floor and Pierson taunted Parker.

Parker then appeared to throw a punch and both benches cleared, video of the episode showed.

As tempers appeared to be cooling Los Angeles's Lisa Leslie fell while being restrained by Shock Assistant Coach Rick Mahorn and DeLisha Milton-Jones hit Mahorn in the back.

The incident led to a series of suspensions. For Detroit, Pierson was suspended for four games, Mahorn for two and Kara Braxton, Tasha Humphrey, Sheri Sam and Elaine Powell for one game each. For Los Angeles, Shannon Bobbitt and Murriel Page were suspended for two games each and Leslie, Minton-Jones and Parker for one game each.

Given the number of players involved the suspensions will be staggered, the WNBA said. Burghardt takes Tour's 18th stage

SAINT ETIENNE, France, July 24 (UPI) -- Marcus Burghardt outdueled Carlos Barredo to claim Thursday's 18th stage of the 2008 Tour de France and Carlos Sastre retained the overall race lead.

Burghardt and Barredo separated themselves from the rest of the riders two-thirds of the way through the 118-mile run from Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint-Etienne and had only each other to ride against for the stage.

They battled through the final miles, each waiting of the other to make a change. It wasn't until the final 250 yards when Burghardt make a final push that Barredo couldn't quite catch. Both riders were credited with a stage time of 4 hours, 30 minutes, 21 seconds. Roman Feillu was third and Christophe Le Level fourth, both 3 minutes, 33 seconds behind the leaders.

Sastre was 37th in the stage but retained the overall lead by 1 minute, 24 seconds over Frank Schlenk with Bernhard Kohl another 9 seconds back and Cadel Evans a second behind Kohl.

There are three stages remaining this year's Tour de France. Friday's race is a 99.3-mile route from Roanne to Montucon.

Iraqi team barred from 2008 Olympics

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, July 24 (UPI) -- Iraq's seven-member team has been barred from the Beijing Summer Games by the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC announced Thursday that the Iraqi team -- two athletes who were to complete in rowing and two from track and field along with a weightlifter, an archer and judo participant -- wouldn't be allowed to take part in the Olympics, which begin Aug. 8.

"The IOC would like to see Iraq's athletes in Beijing, and is disappointed they have been so ill-served by their own government's actions," the committee said in a release.

The IOC Charter demands that all committees be free of political influence. The Iraqi Olympic Committee was disbanded by the national government in May. Iraqi leaders alleged corruption in the national Olympic committee as a reason for the action.

The IOC, however, saw it as political interference, which led to Thursday's barring of Iraq's team.

"Over the last five years, the IOC and the wider Olympic family have provided funding and training opportunities to support the Iraqi (national organizing committee) and more than 50 Iraqi athletes and coaches. The Iraqi government's actions have destroyed this progress," the IOC release said.

Double eagle puts Backstrom tied for first

MOSCOW, July 24 (UPI) -- Joakim Backstrom, fueled with a double eagle, was among four golfers tied for first Thursday after one round of the Russian Open Golf Championship.

Backstrom, David Carter, Fredrik Henge and Roope Kakko each had 7-under-par 65s and are one stroke ahead of Darren Fichardt. Another 10 golfers are at 5-under.

Backstrom started Thursday on the back nine and was 2-under when he reached the 561-yard 15th hole. His drive left him 233 yards from the pin and his 4-iron from there ended up in the hole.

"It was slightly into the breeze from the right so I thought that a hard 4-iron would do it," Backstrom said. "I hit it well and it pitched on the green and then disappeared but because there were few people sitting around the green and they didn't really react.

"They gave me a clap but not the kind of reaction that you would expect … so I wasn't sure what happened. But when I walked up to the green it was there in the hole."

Backstrom ended the round with six birdies, two bogeys and the double eagle for his 65. Carter and Henge each had seven birdies while Kakko fired 10 birdies but also had three bogeys.

2 plead guilty in NBA scandal

NEW YORK, July 24 (UPI) -- Two Pennsylvania gamblers received short prison terms Thursday for their part in a National Basketball Association betting scandal.

U.S. District Judge Carol Amon, sitting in the Brooklyn borough of New York, imposed a 14-month sentence on James Battista, Newsday said. She gave Thomas Martino a year and a day.

The defendant at the heart of the case, former NBA referee Timothy Donaghy, is to be sentenced next Tuesday. Donaghy resigned from the NBA in July 2007, shortly before he admitted that he made calls aimed at affecting the point spread of games.

Amon refused to allow Martino and Battista to serve their sentences under house arrest.

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