■ BOXING
Bute unbeaten, seizes title
Unbeaten Lucian Bute stopped Alejandro Berrio in the 11th round in Montreal on Friday to seize the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super middleweight title. The Romanian-born, Quebec-based Bute, who opened his pro career with 15 consecutive knockouts, improved to 21-0 with 17 victories inside the distance. The 27-year-old southpaw rocked Colombia's Berrio with a left, then followed up with a barrage of blows before referee Marlon Wright called a halt. Berrio, 31, was making his first defense of the title he won in March when he travelled to Germany and knocked out Robert Stieglitz, a boxer who had beaten him in 2005. Berrio fell to 26-6. Bute had become the mandatory challenger for Berrio's belt with a 12-round unanimous decision over Australian Sakio Bika on June 15.
■ TENNIS
Mirza ends season early
India's Sania Mirza has opted to end her season early to recover from injury and prepare for next year. "It's been a long and hard year for me where I had to make comebacks from two serious injuries and surgery," Mirza told the Times of India newspaper yesterday. "I am mentally tired and my body is crying out for a break. I am looking forward to a rest and then a great season next year." The 20-year-old had planned to end her season after playing in Austria and Canada in the coming weeks but a strained abductor muscle picked up in her first round loss at the Zurich Open on Monday has forced the world No. 30 to revise her plans. The Indian No. 1 underwent surgery in March after suffering a ligament injury in her right knee at the Qatar Open.
■ ICE HOCKEY
Lemieux finally getting paid
Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Mario Lemieux will get US$21 million as part of the team's settlement of its 1998 bankruptcy. "He's finally getting paid from his playing contract that he signed in 1992," team spokesman Tom McMillan said on Friday. Lemieux was owed US$32 million in deferred compensation from that contract when he retired as a player in 1997. But the team sought bankruptcy protection the next year, after running up US$120 million in debt under former owners Howard Baldwin and Roger Marino. Lemieux put together a group that purchased the bankrupt team and agreed to discount his debt claim to US$25 million. Lemieux took a US$20 million equity stake in the team and was paid US$5 million, which he also invested in the franchise. Lemieux won't get additional money from his playing contract, and is believed to be the only unsecured creditor to get less than 100 percent of money owed, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported on Friday.
■ CYCLING
Biological passports mulled
The creation of a biological passport will top the agenda at a two-day international meeting on doping and cycling in Paris. The International Cycling Union (UCI) said it planned to collect blood and urine samples from all riders next year to create a medical profile that would then be compared to the data registered in doping tests. UCI representatives, French Minister of Sports Roselyne Bachelot, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president Dick Pound will meet tomorrow and on Tuesday to tackle the issue of doping in cycling. Round tables will take place at the French Olympic National Committee's headquarters.
■ SOCCER
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