Sun, Apr 19, 2009 page19

• Sports Briefs

  • AGENCIES
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  ■BOXING

  Gamboa grabs interim title

  Undefeated Yuriorkis Gamboa of Cuba captured the interim WBA featherweight championship, stopping Venezuela’s Jose Rojas in the 10th round of a bout scheduled for 12 in Primm, Nevada, on Friday. Gamboa, now 15-0 with 13 KOs, pinned Rojas in a corner and was pummeling him when referee Jay Nady halted the one-sided bout at 1:31 of the 10th round. Gamboa, the WBA’s No. 1 contender, had a lump under his left eye, while Rojas, rated No. 2, had a large lump under his right eye. Rojas now has a record of 25-7-1 with 17 KOs. In another fight, unbeaten Selcuk Aydin of Germany took a 12-round, split decision over Said Ouali of Las Vegas for the World Boxing Council International welterweight title.

  ■GOLF

  Todd aces same hole twice

  Brendon Todd of the US became the first player on the Nationwide Tour to ace the same hole twice in one tournament, achieving the remarkable feat in Athens, Georgia, on Friday. Todd holed out with an eight-iron at the 147-yard, par-three 17th in the second round of the Athens Regional Foundation Classic. “It’s still hard to believe,” he told reporters after carding a one-under 71 in the US$550,000 event on the PGA Tour’s satellite circuit. “It’s a bit surreal,” he said. “I guess it’s like catching lightning in a bottle.”

  ■GOLF

  No Cinderella story

  Actor Bill Murray hooked a tee shot so badly during a Pro-Am event on Friday that the ball sailed across a street next to the hole and hit a woman in her front yard. She was knocked to the ground and had to go to the hospital. Murray was on No. 9 at the TPC Tampa Bay in Lutz, Florida, during the first round of the Outback Pro-Am when he hit Gail DiMaggio as she was watching the tournament. He was playing with Hal Sutton, Jeff Sluman and Fred Paglia. They continued while Murray’s caddy took him in a cart to the woman’s yard, where paramedics were attending to her. Tournament officials said DiMaggio was lying on the ground, but conscious and moving. “I wasn’t sure I was in bounds or not,” Murray said. “And I saw this NBC golf cart coming at me and he said: ‘I hate to be the one to tell you this but you hit a lady. She’s down on the ground.’ That is, you know, sobering.” Murray said DiMaggio was taken to a local hospital. “She was overjoyed when she saw me because she said she had come out to see me and her husband had just said: ‘I hope he hits it over here,’” said Murray, who did not finish his round. After signing his scorecard he joked with reporters that DiMaggio isn’t the first spectator he’s hit.

  ■CYCLING

  Hamilton tests positive

  Olympic gold medalist Tyler Hamilton has tested positive for a banned substance and retired from cycling, the American said on Friday. Hamilton said he is battling depression and admitted taking an over-the-counter homeopathic anti-depressant containing the steroid DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone), which is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances. “There are times when you are at such a low, low point anything that you can do — if it was taking a hammer and hitting yourself over the head — you’d do it to feel better,” he said during an emotional teleconference. Hamilton acknowledged he tested positive for DHEA during an out-of-competition test on Feb. 9 while training for the Tour of California. The 38-year-old denied he used the steroid to enhance his athletic performance, citing, in part, his next-to-last finish in the race.
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