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Soccer
Portsmouth first EPL club to go into bankruptcy
Portsmouth became the first Premier League team forced to seek bankruptcy protection from creditors, enabling the insolvent business to restructure financially. The last-place club in the world's richest league has debts of around $105 million. Portsmouth will suffer a nine-point penalty, all but sealing its relegation from the top flight.
ALGARVE CUP: Former Florida Gators star Abby Wambach scored both U.S. goals as the Americans beat Norway 2-1 in Portugal.
ET CETERA
TENNIS: Top seed Venus Williams reached the final of the Mexican Open in Acapulco, beating Edina Gallovits 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. Williams, with 42 WTA titles, most among active players, faces No. 8 seed Polona Hercog in today's final. Juan Carlos Ferrero made the men's final when Juan Monaco retired with a rib injury. … Ivo Karlovic beat No. 7 seed and Tampa resident James Blake 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the Delray Beach International Championship.
TRACK: The U.S. Indoor Championships are this weekend in Albuquerque, N.M., with sprinters Bernard Lagat and Allyson Felix among those competing. … Cuba said it won't attend the Central American and Caribbean Games in the summer in Puerto Rico because it is unhappy with visa restrictions and other regulations.
NHL: Red Wings forward Kirk Maltby will have right-shoulder surgery and will miss four to six weeks.
Times wires
GYMNASTICS
OFFICIALS: strip china of Olympic medal
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — China should be stripped of its bronze medal from the 2000 Olympics because one member of the squad has been found to be underage, international gymnastics officials said Friday.
If China loses its medal, the United States stands to benefit.
Dong Fangxiao was 14 during the Games in Sydney, Australia, according to an investigation by the International Gymnastics Federation. Gymnasts must be 16 during the Olympic year to compete.
A second gymnast on the squad, Yang Yun, also was suspected of being underage. But there was insufficient evidence.
The FIG "canceled" Dong's Sydney results and forwarded its investigation to the International Olympic Committee. It is up to the IOC to decide if China should lose any medals; the IOC has said previously it would take "necessary measures" if any gymnasts were found to be underage.
The United States was fourth at the Sydney Games.
"I'm happy to know that justice is being served," said Dominique Dawes, a member of the 2000 U.S. squad. "There are rules in place and, if they are broken, there should be penalties."
The U.S. Olympic Committee declined to comment.
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