Briefly

Toney outpoints Ruiz, wins heavyweight title

James Toney did almost as he promised, outpointing but not knocking out John Ruiz to win the WBA heavyweight title Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Toney, a former champion at three other weights, scored a unanimous decision that wasn’t particularly close. It was just the third heavyweight bout for the 36-year-old Toney, who has been fighting since 1992. He became the fourth-oldest heavyweight champ and only the third one-time middleweight champion to take boxing’s top crown.

One of the other middleweight-turned-heavyweight winners was Roy Jones, who also beat Ruiz. Jones was at ringside broadcasting the fight, in which Toney looked fearsome – and flabby.

Toney wore down the natural heavyweight to win 116-111 on two cards, 115-112 on the other.

Tennis

Clijsters’ win streak ends

Kim Clijsters’ 17-match winning streak ended when she lost to Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the J&S Cup semifinals in Warsaw, Poland.

Kuznetsova, seeded second, will play for the title today against Belgium’s Justine Henin-Hardenne, who defeated Serbia-Montenegro’s Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 7-5.

•Top-ranked Roger Federer withdrew from the Italian Open in Rome because of inflammation in both feet, leaving Andy Roddick the top-seeded player for this major French Open tuneup.

The Swiss star has not played since losing to 18-year-old Richard Gasquet of France in the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters on April 15. The defeat snapped Federer’s 25-match winning streak, the longest in men’s tennis since 1984.

•Romania’s Andrei Pavel reached the finals of the BMW Open in Munich, Germany, with a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-4 victory over Tommy Haas, who smashed his racket during a loss in which he was trying to become the first German in 11 years to win this clay-court event.

The Romanian reached his first final in two years and will face top-seeded David Nalbandian of Argentina, who needed just 58 minutes to oust Finnish qualifier Jarkko Nieminen, 6-3, 6-0 in the other semifinal.

Track and field

Wariner loses race

Jeremy Wariner can beat anyone in the world at 400 meters – except his former teammate.

In a duel of Olympic gold medalists, Williamson outran Wariner in the stretch to win the feature race in the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa.

Williamson also beat Wariner in a meet at Baylor a week ago and was the only runner to beat him in the 400 last year, when the lanky sprinter in the dark glasses burst onto the international scene by winning the gold medal in the Athens Olympics.

Williamson finished in 45.24 seconds, while Wariner ran 45.42. Wariner led in the final curve, but Williamson turned it on once they hit the straightaway and Wariner couldn’t match him.

Arkansas ran a world-best in the women’s 3,200 relay to deny Michigan an unprecedented sweep of the meet’s distance relays, and Olympic silver medalist Matt Hemingway won the high jump, though with a disappointing performance.

•Marion Jones won her first race in 11 months, sprinting to victory in the 100 meters at the IAAF Grand Prix in Forte-de-France, Martinque.

Jones led from the start and paced an American sweep in the event, finishing in 11.28 seconds, ahead of Wyllesheia Myricks and Melissa Barber, who each finished in 11.35.

Jones boyfriend, Tim Montgomery, struggled in the 100, finishing fourth in a race won by former world record holder Maurice Greene in 10.03.

France’s Ronald Pognon was second in 10.09, and American Dwight Phillips was third in 10.14. Montgomery finished in the same time as Phillips.

Hockey

Canada, Russia struggle

Defending champion Canada and Russia struggled in winning their opening games at the hockey world championships in Innsbruck, Austria.

Canada, trying to win a third straight world title for the first time since 1950-52, held off Latvia 6-4 behind three goals by Rick Nash at Innsbruck’s Olympiahalle, site of two Olympic tournaments.

Russia, which defeated Sweden in last week’s European Hockey Tour final, beat Austria 4-2 after the host nation tied the score midway through the last period in Vienna.

The United States, bronze-medal winners at last year’s worlds, faces Slovenia today.

Miscellany

Governor Osborne?

Former Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne plans to seek the Republican nomination for governor instead of a fourth term in Congress.

The 68-year-old Osborne made the announcement in his hometown of Hastings, Neb., at Hastings College, his alma mater.

•Chelsea won its first English league soccer title in 50 years, beating Bolton 2-0 behind two second-half goals by Frank Lampard.

Lampard’s goals in the 60th and 76th minutes on the road backed the shutout goalkeeping of Petr Cech and gave Chelsea an unbeatable 14-point lead in the Premier League.

•Nephat Kinyanjui won the Country Music Marathon in Nashville, Tenn., making up a 25-second deficit in the final 2 miles for another victory by a Kenyan in this race.

He won in 2 hours, 15 minutes, 37 seconds. Defending champion Luke Kibet of Kenya finished second in 2:16:04, edging Yuriy Hychun of Ukraine by six seconds. Kenyans have won all six Country Music Marathons.

Irina Safarova of Russia was first in the women’s division in 2:33:53, defeating two-time champion Aurica Buia of Romania, who finished in 2:35:40.

•The U.S. Olympic Committee board of directors decided to double the money it gives directly to athletes, effective July 1 and lasting through the end of the year.

“The decision was a right thing for the United States Olympic Committee to do,” USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth said. “We say the athletes first.”

Neither Ueberroth nor USOC chief executive Jim Scherr would say how much money was involved. Those who receive the funds must meet certain criteria determined jointly by the USOC and the national governing body of the sport. The support is provided to help pay for living and training expenses.