IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Basketball

Top seeds secure big wins

NEW YORK: Top seeds North Carolina and Connecticut rolled to convincing victories in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday.

North Carolina, the South Region No 1 seed, used a second-half surge to defeat eighth-seeded Louisiana State 84-70, and West top seed Connecticut shot 58 percent from the floor to crush ninth-seed Texas A&M 92-66.

Ty Lawson, returning from a toe injury, scored 21 second-half points to power North Carolina to victory.

Tar Heels coach Roy Williams was particularly impressed with Lawson. "He showed why he was the Player of the Year in (our) league," he told reporters.

O'Neal the No 5 scorer

PHOENIX, Arizona: Shaquille O'Neal scored 13 points to help lift Phoenix to a 128-96 win over Washington and become the NBA's fifth all-time scorer.

O'Neal surpassed Moses Malone, moving into the top five spot with 27,411 career points. He also had 10 rebounds on Saturday.

"It was good, but I'm still kind of disappointed in myself," O'Neal said. "Mathematically, I've missed three years worth of games and I missed 5,000 free throws. If I was there, I'd probably be No 2 or No 3 right now."

Jason Richardson led with 35 points for the Suns, who extended their winning streak to a season high four games.

Boxing

Klitschko retains title

STUTTGART: Vitaly Klitschko retained his WBC heavyweight crown by defeating Cuban Juan Carlos Gomez on a technical knockout in the ninth round on Saturday.

Klitschko, who retired in 2005 after a series of injuries before reclaiming the WBC title in October by beating Samuel Peter, had to work hard to beat the bloodied Gomez.

"I knew Gomez very well and knew this was not going to be easy," said Klitschko in a post-match public address.

"After the sixth I became bit impatient but I knew he did not have much fuel after that."

Athletics

No action against Chambers

BERLIN: British sprinter Dwain Chambers will not face any punishment from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) after his autobiography detailed his doping program.

"There is no reason for us to take any action against the book or against himself (Chambers). If other people feel they were attacked it is in their hands to do something," IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss told reporters on Saturday.

The IAAF was investigating whether the book by European indoor sprint champion Chambers, who served a two-year doping ban, had brought the sport into disrepute.

Cycling

Chinese dominate bike comp

The fourth Anhui Huangshan Mountain Bicycle Festival concluded on Saturday in Qianxian at the foot of Mount Huangshan, a popular tourism destination in the area.

A record 500 cyclists from more than 20 countries and regions took part in the annual tournament organized by the Chinese Cycling Association and the Nordic Ways Company.

In the elite group, which was introduced to the tournament for the first time this year, China's Ren Chengyuan won the women's 40-kilometer race. Ren, who placed fifth at the women's mountain bike competition during last year's Beijing Olympics, held off a strong field.

Qin Pin from Gansu province won the men's version of the event.

Local riders also swept the amateur competitions, with Kuan Fengjie defeating Australian Piers Touzel to win the men's race. Touzel finished runner-up for the second year in a row. Sun Chen won the women's equivalent.

(China Daily 03/23/2009 page11)