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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Armstrong holds on to third place

Luis-Leon Sanchez of Spain, left, reacts as he wins the 8th stage.  (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
From Staff And Wire Reports

Cycling: Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong remains in third place in the Tour de France, after Spain’s Luis Leon Sanchez won the eighth stage Saturday in a sprint ahead of three other breakaway riders at Saint-Girons, France.

Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy earned the yellow jersey for the second straight day by finishing in a pack with Armstrong and his Astana teammate Alberto Contador. The 2007 Tour winner is six seconds back, with Armstrong eight seconds back.

Armstrong went straight to the team bus after the stage and did not speak to reporters. He posted on Twitter: “St8 done. Tough but not 2 challenging. Had antidoping control AGAIN. Couldn’t pee so it took forever. Sucked! Now I’m starting to wonder tho”

Teammate Levi Leipheimer is 39 seconds off the pace in fourth place overall.

Kerr increases lead to two strokes

Golf: Former champion Cristie Kerr scrambled for a 1-over 72 to take a two-shot lead over Eun Hee Ji of South Korea after three rounds of the U.S. Women’s Open in Bethlehem, Pa.

Kerr, the 2007 champion, was at 2-under 211.

Futures Tour player Jean Reynolds started two strokes off the lead, but stumbled and is tied for third at 2-over 215.

Stricker comes up big: Steve Stricker has vaulted into second place at the John Deere Classic, tying a course record and matching the lowest score of his career with a 10-under 61 that left him three strokes behind Darron Stiles through two rounds in Silvis, Ill.

Stiles (65), the first-round co-leader with Lee Janzen, was on top at 13-under 129.

Tim Petrovic (67) and Jerry Kelly (64) were behind Stricker at 9-under, and two-time U.S. Open champion Janzen (70) was in a crowd at 8-under, including former Pullman resident Kirk Triplett (67).

Price leads at 3M Championship: Nick Price birdied the final hole as part of a 4-under 68, and has a one-shot lead over Gene Jones (68) and Andy Bean (69) after the second round of the Champions Tour’s 3M Championship in Blaine, Minn.

McNair laid to rest in Mississippi

Football: Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young didn’t expect to speak during his mentor’s funeral. He wound up summing up the emotional day in Hattiesburg, Miss., with just a few words.

“Steve was like a hero to me, and heroes are not supposed to die,” Young said before stopping to rub his eyes as he talked about the man he knew from football camps as a teenager and called “Pops” – Steve McNair, his predecessor with the Titans.

McNair was shot and killed on the Fourth of July by his girlfriend, 20-year-old Sahel Kazemi, who then shot herself in the head.

Nearly 5,000 turned out to say goodbye to McNair in one of the biggest funerals in the recent history of Mississippi, McNair’s home state.

Cougs’ Thompson, U.S. team move on

Basketball: The United States, featuring Washington State University men’s basketball player Klay Thompson, used a fourth-quarter rally to defeat Croatia 81-77 and advance to the title game at the FIBA U19 World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand.

Thompson contributed five points, four rebounds, an assist and two blocked shots.

The U.S. will face Greece in the final, which defeated Australia 84-69. Incoming Cougar freshman Brock Motum finished with nine points and four rebounds for Australia.

Canada lost a seventh-place game to Puerto Rico, 67-65, despite 20 points from incoming Gonzaga freshman Mangisto Arop. Kelly Olynyk, also headed to Gonzaga, scored 12 points for Canada.

•WSU’s Koprivica, Serbia win title: Washington State University men’s basketball player Nikola Koprivica was part of the Serbian team that captured the gold medal at the World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia.

Serbia defeated Russia 73-51 to take the title.

U.S. women win: A monster 28-point, 18-rebound performance from Tina Charles propelled the U.S. women to an 83-64 win over Russia to win the title at the World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia.

Bryan brothers keep U.S. in Davis Cup

Miscellany: Bob and Mike Bryan beat Roko Karanusic and Lovro Zovko to keep the United States alive in the Davis Cup, cutting Croatia’s quarterfinal lead to 2-1 in Porec, Croatia.

The Bryan brothers cruised to a 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 doubles win on the indoor clay at Zatika Hall.

James Blake will try to tie the series when he meets Croatia’s Marin Cilic in the first reverse singles today. Mardy Fish is to play against Ivo Karlovic.

Peirsol breaks record: Aaron Peirsol broke the world record in the 200-meter backstroke at U.S. nationals in Indianapolis, beating previous owner Ryan Lochte.

The Olympic silver medalist touched in 1 minute, 53.08 seconds, bettering Olympic champion Lochte’s old mark of 1:53.94 set in Beijing.

U.S. men tie Haiti in soccer: Stuart Holden scored in the first minute of second-half injury time, giving the United States a 2-2 tie with Haiti in Foxborough, Mass., in its final first-round game at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Sturm keeps title with unanimous decision: Felix Sturm retained his WBA middleweight title, beating Khoren Gevor in a unanimous decision at the Ring Arena in Nuerburg, Germany.

Adamek wins by TKO: Tomasz Adamek successfully defended his International Boxing Federation cruiserweight world championship with a fourth-round technical knockout of Bobby Gunn in Newark, N.J.

Agbeko retains title: Joseph Agbeko retained his International Boxing Federation bantamweight title with a unanimous decision over Vic Darchinyan in Sunrise, Fla.