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■ Boxing
Erdei stops Danny Santiago
Unbeaten Zsolt Erdei stopped American Danny Santiago in the eighth round on Saturday in Dusseldorf, germany, to defend his WBO light heavyweight title for the seventh time. The Hungarian (26-0) put Santiago on his back with a right hand 2 minutes into the round. Another hard right moments later staggered the American and the referee stopped the bout. Santiago (29-3-1) was ranked 14th and considered an easy challenge for Erdei, who has had the title for three years. Santiago won the first round, but was floored by a left hand with 20 seconds into the second. Erdei dominated from that point on. "I would like to fight a big name in the US next, or a unification fight," Erdei said. "But if keep my title another two, three years, that would be OK too."

■ Handball
Spain advances to quarters
Rolando Urios scored seven goals on Saturday for defending champion Spain to beat Hungary 33-31 and advance to the handball world championship quarter-finals in Frankfurt, Germany. Germany, Poland, Iceland, France and Denmark also qualified on Saturday, while Olympic champion Croatia advanced on Thursday. The final spot is between Russia and Hungary. Spain, which had previously lost to Denmark, improved to 3-1 in Group Two. Hungary lost despite eight goals from Ivo Diaz and is now 2-2. Croatia beat the Czech Republic 31-29 and has won all four games to top Group Two. Blazenko Lackovic had nine goals for Croatia, while Filip Jicha and Jan Sobol each had eight for the Czechs (0-4). Denmark beat Russia 26-24 to improve to 2-2 and advance. Soren Stryer scored six times and Danish keeper Kasper Hvidt stopped a penalty near the end.

■ Figure skating
Kostner wins woman's title
Carolina Kostner nailed six triples in Warsaw on Saturday to become the first Italian to win the woman's title at the European Figure Skating Championships. In her first competition since tearing a ligament in her left ankle and trailing Sarah Meier of Switzerland by 0.03 points, Kostner scored a personal-best 114.33 in the free skate to take gold. Kostner finished with 174.79 points. Meier had 171.28 and Kiira Korpi of Finland was third on 151.19. "I feel awesome. I had a lot of fun skating tonight," Kostner said. "I know myself and I knew that I had a chance to win if I do my program." Wearing a rose-colored dress, the 19-year-old Kostner skated an elegant, flowing program to the Memoirs of a Geisha soundtrack. She hit a triple flip, triple toe loop, double loop combination to open her program and showed brilliant skate work.

■ Rugby Union
Portugal down Morocco
Portugal fended off Morocco 16-15 and moved a step closer to qualifying for its first rugby World Cup on Saturday. Morocco, also bidding to make its World Cup debut, had to win by six points after losing the first leg 10-5 in Casablanca the previous weekend. Its second try -- to Portugal's one -- allowed Morocco to trail by one point with 15 minutes to play but it couldn't score again at University of Lisbon. Portugal will meet Uruguay in a home-and-away series in March for a berth in World Cup Pool C with New Zealand, Scotland, Italy and Romania. Hicham Eziyar booted Morocco ahead with an early penalty, then the home side took over, Cardoso Pinto leveling with a penalty in the 16th minute, and No. 8 Vasco Uva scoring a converted try in the 34th.

■ Horse Racing
Barbaro encounters setback
A custom-made cast was removed and Barbaro underwent a surgical procedure on his right hind leg on Saturday, the same leg the Kentucky Derby winner shattered eight months ago in the Preakness. It is the first time in weeks the right hind leg has been the focus of concern. For months, it was the left hind leg that put Barbaro's recovery in jeopardy because of laminitis, the often-fatal hoof disease. "They did some procedures on the one he originally injured," co-owner Roy Jackson told the Associated Press on Saturday night. "He had a little bit of a bruise, an abscess."

■ Skiing
Miller undecided on Are
US alpine star Bode Miller hinted on Saturday he may not compete at the world championships which begin in Are, Sweden this week. "I still don't know if I'm going to Are," Miller said after the first leg of the men's slalom, in which he was eliminated. "Last year I injured my knee on the runs there," he said. Two season ago Miller became the first US skier since 1983 to win the World Cup's coveted overall trophy. However since that season, during which he also claimed world titles in the downhill and super-G and the World Cup super-G crown, he has failed to build on that success.

■ Figure Skating
Meissner bags national title
World champion Kimmie Meissner capitalized on her nearest rival's error to capture her first national title at the US Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Washington on Saturday. Leading after the short program, Meissner could only finished third in the free skate section but her performance was still strong enough to capture the title when her closest challenger, Emily Hughes, fell on one of her jumps. Hughes's mistake resulted in an automatic one-point deduction and that turned out to be the difference between the two skaters. The 17-year-old Meissner wound up with 181.68 points, while Hughes, who turned 18 on Friday, finished on 180.86.

■ Snowboarding
Jacobellis crashes again
Lindsey Jacobellis had the gold medal within her grasp. All she had to do was clear one final jump and cross the finish line. But instead of grabbing gold, she ended up grabbing her head. Sound familiar? But this wasn't the Olympics -- it only looked like it. Jacobellis repeated her famous crash at the Turin Games last year, wiping out at the finish and allowing Joanie Anderson to win the snowboarder X on Saturday at the Winter X Games. Jacobellis, a three-time snowboarder X champ, had the red-faced moment of the Turin Games, costing herself a gold medal with a showboating move that led to a crash on the final jump.

■ Cycling
Landis requests delay
Floyd Landis, the embattled US cyclist who won last year's Tour de France but tested positive for testosterone, has asked French anti-doping officials to delay proceedings against him, the Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday. A spokesman for Landis told the newspaper that his defense team wants to complete his appeal of charges from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) before facing the French inquiry rather than deal with both at once. WADA president Dick Pound said earlier this month that WADA had asked the French agency AFLD to suspend their hearing.

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