Germany's Ralf Bartels watches the flight of his gold medal winning throw, in the final of the Men's Shot Put during the European Athletics Championships in Goteborg, Monday. (AP Photo)

GOTEBORG, Sweden, Aug. 8--Russia and Germany won the opening gold medals of the European Athletics Championships with victories in the women’s 10,000m and men’s shot put.
Just four centimeters separated the top three in the shot, and German world bronze medalist Ralf Bartels left it late, his sixth and final throw of 21.13m edging out Belarussian Andrei Mikhnevich and Joachim Olsen of Denmark, AFP reported.
Russia’s Inga Abitova produced a stunning final lap in her race, outsprinting Norway’s Susanne Wigene and fellow Russian Lidiya Grigoryeva to win in 30min 31.42sec - her best performance over 10km by more than a minute.
Pre-race favorite Elvan Abeylegesse pulled up with three kilometers to go, the Ethiopian-born Turk leaving the pace-setting to Lornah Kiplagat of the Netherlands who faded badly over the last 400 meters.
Earlier, Francis Obikwelu, 100m silver medallist at the Athens Olympics and European record holder at 9.86sec, had a terrible start to his second round heat but once he caught his stride, made mincemeat of his rivals to win with ease in 10.28sec.
But returning British drugs offender Dwain Chambers, whose European gold four years ago was handed to Obikwelu after the Briton failed a doping test and was handed a two-year ban, struggled, finishing third in his heat in 10.39sec.
The Londoner struggled after a slow start, never made headway through the field and was forced into a violent dip at the line to make sure of getting through the heat won by Dariusz Kuc of Poland.
Frenchman Ronald Pognon, who along with Obikwelu and Chambers is the only other sprinter on show here to have raced a sub-10sec race, qualified in 10.19sec, coasting home even after a false start.
His ease over the line allowed him a cheeky look across into the next lane at Britain’s Olympic relay gold medallist Mark Lewis-Francis, who finished second in 10.33sec.
Obikwelu, who will also compete in the 200m, was in confident mood.

Shane Battier (l) of the US is guarded by Liu Wei of China (c) while LeBron James jumps during the China Basketball Challenge at the Guangzhou Gymnasium, in southern China's Guangdong province, Monday. (Reuters Photo)

BEIJING, Aug. 8--China coach Jonas Kazlauskas bemoaned Yao Ming’s absence from the national team after the US thrashed China by 46 points in a world championship warm-up match in Guangzhou, a the China Daily newspaper reported on Tuesday.
“Yao is definitely what we need right now. We had some really tough games in Europe and back home. Without Yao, the team lost its confidence and leadership,“ Kazlauskas was quoted as saying, Reuters reported.
The 7ft-5in NBA All Star broke his left foot playing for the Houston Rockets in April, an injury that has clouded Team China’s preparations for the world championships starting in Japan on August 19.
Yao was a late withdrawal for the Guangzhou clash--a game in which China’s lack of depth was badly exposed by a resurgent US eager to atone for poor displays in recent international meetings.
Minus Yao, China has performed abysmally in the lead-up to the worlds, losing six of seven matches in a European warm-up tour last month. An injury to former NBA player Wang Zhizhi, another fellow 7-footer touted to spearhead China’s Japan campaign alongside Yao, has placed further pressure on Kazlauskas.
“Right now, this is the hardest time for the national team... the constant injuries are pushing us to the limit,“ the Latvian coach said.
“I need six or seven more games to adjust the team but there are only three left in my schedule, so I hope Yao can join the team and make a difference,“ Kaslauskas said.
After a long layoff, Yao joined national team training last week. While expected to be fit for the worlds, he has few remaining chances to gain match fitness.
Yao has been named in the national team for the Stankovic Cup on August 11 in Jiangsu province. The six-nation tournament with Greece, France, Germany, Brazil and Australia would be Yao’s last run-out before the worlds.

LONDON, Aug. 8--The European football governing body UEFA on Monday barred Israel from hosting international soccer matches until further notice because of the violence that has wracked the region.
In a letter sent to the Israel Football Association, UEFA said all games scheduled to be played in Israel “shall be played outside of Israeli territory.“
“The IFA and its clubs shall be responsible for providing alternative venues in their function as host FA or hostclub according to the regulations of the competition concerned,“ said the letter from UEFA secretary general Lars-Christer Olsson, AP reported.
The ban applies to international and club games, meaning that Israel’s Maccabi Haifa will need to find an alternate venue for the second leg of the Champions League third qualifying-round series Aug. 22 against Liverpool.
Liverpool is home for the first leg Aug. 9, and coach Rafa Benitez has said it was “totally unacceptable“ to travel to Israel.
It also affects the game between Israeli club Betar Jerusalem and Romania’s Dinamo Bucharest in a second-leg UEFA Cup game, originally scheduled to be held in Beit-ul-Moqaddas on Aug. 24.
Hezbollah guerillas have been firing rockets into northern Israel.
The UEFA administration shall continue to monitor the safety and security situation in Israel. This decision is final,“ the letter said.
Between October 2001 and April 2004, all of Israel’s home games in FIFA and UEFA-sanctioned tournaments were played outside the country, though a handful of international exhibitions were played in Israel.

Hernan Crespo

MILAN, Italy, Aug. 8--Argentina striker Hernan Crespo signed a two-year deal with Inter Milan on Monday, transferring from English champion Chelsea.
The 31-year-old forward returns to his former club on a free transfer, although Chelsea has reserved the right to recall the player at the end of the first season, AP reported.
Crespo played for Inter in 2002-03 before transferring to Stamford Bridge in a 16.8 million pound ($26.20 million) deal in Aug. 2003.
Chelsea had said that it would not sell Crespo--under contract for another two years--unless it received a suitable offer, despite the striker’s stated desire to return to Italy. Crespo spurned Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s offer of an improved contract to stay with the London club last month.
Crespo is married to an Italian and owns a house outside Milan.
Crespo is Inter’s third big preseason signing. The club has already lured Italy defender Fabio Grosso from Palermo and France midfielder Patrick Vieira from Juventus on four-year deals.
Crespo spent last season on loan at AC Milan. He has also played for Italian sides Lazio and Parma--where he won the UEFA Cup in 1999.

TORONTO, Aug. 8--Third seed Argentine David Nalbandian went out of the Toronto Masters in the first round on Monday when he was beaten 6-1 6-2 by gray-haired Italian Davide Sanguinetti.
The burly Nalbandian was completely outclassed by the 33-year-old qualifier, who needed just 58 minutes to collect his first win in three attempts on Canadian hard courts, Reuters reported.
In other first-round action, fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia eased passed Spain’s Nicolas Almagro 7-5 6-1 and fifth seed James Blake needed just 56 minutes to crush the hopes of home town favorite 17-year-old Canadian Philip Bester 6-4 6-1.
In contrast, Argentina’s Jose Acasuso needed more than two hours and an epic second set tie-break to beat Germany’s Bjorn Phau 7-5 7-6 (20-18).
The tie-break equaled the longest on the ATP Tour record books. It marks the fifth time a singles tie-break had gone the record distance first reached by Bjorn Borg and Premjit Nall at Wimbledon in 1973.
Sanguinetti had just three career wins over top 10 opponents and the 24-year-old Nalbandian--currently a career-high number three in the world rankings--represents the biggest scalp claimed by a man who spent last week playing at a Challenger event in Recanati, Italy.
The tournament moves into top gear on Tuesday when world number one Roger Federer and French Open champion Rafael Nadal return to action for the first time since the Wimbledon final.
Federer will open his account against Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu while Nadal takes on Chile’s Nicolas Massau.

GRAND BLANC, USA, Aug. 8--The ultimate goal for Tiger Woods is to surpass Jack Nicklaus’ record for victories in professional majors. Along the way, he also hopes to break Sam Snead’s mark for PGA Tour wins.
Woods won his 50th PGA Tour title Sunday, shooting his fourth straight 6-under 66 for a three-stroke victory over Jim Furyk in the Buick Open, AP reported.
“I’ve had a lot of wonderful things happen to me in my career so far on tour in 10 years,“ he said. “It’s been a great ride.“
Woods reached a season-low 24 under and made a career-high 28 birdies in the tournament to hold off Furyk--who closed with a 64--for his fourth win of the year. Woods earned $864,000 to push his tour-leading total to $5,127,563.
He picked up his latest win after his emotional victory in the British Open and before he shoots for his 12th major in two weeks at the PGA Championship, where he hopes to close in on the record he covets: Nicklaus’ 18 pro major championships.
Woods became the seventh member of the PGA Tour’s 50-win club and improved to 21-for-21 when leading by more than one stroke after three rounds. The 30-year-old Woods beat Nicklaus’ record pace to the milestone, which Nicklaus reached in 1973 at 33.
Snead is atop the PGA Tour’s career wins list with 82, ahead of Nicklaus (73), Ben Hogan (64), Arnold Palmer (62), Byron Nelson (52) and Billy Casper (51).
Woods said “hopefully“ he’ll have enough success to catch Snead.
Woods has made 196 PGA Tour starts as a pro and 210 overall. Nicklaus won his 50th title in his 280th start overall--and 262nd as a professional.
Vaughn Taylor, who finished five shots back, is in awe of Woods.