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■ BASKETBALL

Bowen suspended one game

The San Antonio Spurs' Bruce Bowen was suspended one game by the NBA on Friday for kicking Chris Paul, ending his NBA consecutive games streak at 500. Bowen began his streak, the longest in the NBA, on Feb. 28, 2002. He has started every game since but will miss the Spurs' visit to Detroit on Friday. The altercation happened after Paul was called for a foul with 5:15 left in the third quarter of the Spurs' 100-75 loss to New Orleans on Wednesday. Besides his streak, Bowen will lose about US$37,000. The 36-year-old Bowen is averaging 5.8 points and 2.7 rebounds this season. He was on the NBA All-Defensive team the previous seven seasons and was runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year the last three seasons.



■ BASKETBALL

SuperSonics reach deal

The Seattle SuperSonics and Oklahoma City have reached a preliminary agreement on a lease at the Ford Center pending NBA approval of the team's relocation. The 15-year deal calls for the SuperSonics to pay the city US$1.6 million annually for use of the building and reimburse US$409,000 per year to replace revenue from naming rights for the arena currently paid by local car dealerships. "I'm very pleased with the deal," City Manager Jim Couch said. "I believe that this is the right decision for the city to go forward with this deal. ... We think that this is a very solid deal for the city of Oklahoma City." Couch said that the city had to make some concessions to the SuperSonics that wouldn't have been included in leases with larger cities, but the agreement should be a "break even proposition or a slightly increased cash position" for Oklahoma City.



■ BOXING

Ex-champ to run for mayor

Former world boxing champion Alexis Arguello will run for mayor of Managua in November as candidate of the leftist Sandinista party headed by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, a senior party official said on Friday. Arguello, 55, a three-time world champion and member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, is currently deputy mayor of Managua, his hometown. Arguello, who began his pro career in 1968, held the World Boxing Association featherweight, World Boxing Council super featherweight and WBC lightweight championships.



■ HORSE RACING

Olah dies of heart failure

Louis Olah, a 1.4m, 40kg jockey who later became a giant in the thoroughbred industry among the jockeys and owners whose colorful silks he cleaned for more than 40 years, died on Saturday in Queens, New York. He was 79 and lived in Howard Beach. The cause was heart failure, said his daughter, Donna Trubia. Olah, who had a modest 22-year career as a jockey, made a rather unusual move upon retirement in 1967. He took a job washing the silks of jockeys who raced at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga. The Keeper of the Silks or the Colors Man, as he became known, Olah was in charge of 4,000 silks provided by horse owners like the Phippses, the Whitneys and the Vanderbilts. "I wash 'em, I dry 'em and I hang 'em back up so the guys can wear them again," Olah told the New York Times in January. "I've always been a horse racing fan and I just thought this would be the perfect job for me, a way to stay in the game." Olah was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and raised in Staten Island, New York. 

■ CRICKET

Suspended sentence for star

Sri Lanka spinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi yesterday was handed a four-year suspended jail sentence for driving carelessly and killing a woman pedestrian in 2003. Judge M.N.A Gaffoor also ordered him to pay a fine of 500,000 rupees (US$4,716) that would go to two charities. Lokuarachchi, 25, who has played 21 one-day internationals and four Tests, pleaded guilty to killing the pedestrian and injuring her son in a late-night car crash in August 2003. The judge said the player would not have to serve time as he was "suspending" the sentence for five years. If the offence is repeated within the next five years, the player would be jailed for the four-year term.



■ SOCCER

Bayern suspend defender

Bayern Munich have suspended defender Martin Demichelis until further notice after he refused a request to play in midfield in yesterday's match against Energie Cottbus, the Bundesliga leaders said on Friday. The Argentina international had "lost the plot" and the club had no alternative but to leave him behind in Munich and ban him from training, coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said on the club's Web site. The 27-year-old had played in defensive midfield against Schalke 04 and Karlsruhe SC earlier this month but refused to play there again, he said. "A player can't choose which position he wants to play in," Hitzfeld said. "This is not a musical request program and it remains a decision exclusively for the coach."



■ SOCCER

Police drop rape probe

British police on Friday dropped the rape investigation against Manchester United defender Jonny Evans. The Northern Ireland international was accused of assault by a 26-year-old woman at the club's Christmas party in December. But the Crown Prosecution Service said it would take no further action against the 19-year-old Evans or the accuser. "We take any allegation of rape extremely seriously and all rape cases are reviewed by specialist prosecutors," said Carol Jackson, a prosecutor with the rape and family abuse unit. "After carefully examining the evidence in this case, we have decided that there is not enough evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction." Evans has played three times for the Red Devils, including two Champions League appearances. He was sent on loan to Sunderland in January.


■ SOCCER

Blatter predicts success

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has predicted success for his proposed "6+5" rule which would limit soccer clubs' ability to pick overseas players. The plan is intended to increase opportunities for homegrown talent by forcing clubs to field at least six players eligible to play for the domestic national team. It would currently be illegal under European labor laws, but Blatter says he is confident of success. "It is indeed an issue which worries the family of football and it should eventually be implemented with the help of European institutions," Blatter said after a meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee on Friday. "Of course we don't want to clash directly with existing laws in the European Union concerning the free movement of workers,"Blatter said. "It is also about the education and training of young people.