Chambers helps Britain at Euro Championships

Dwain Chambers returned to Britain’s 400-meter relay Sunday, helping the team win the gold medal it was stripped of four years ago because of his doping at the European Championships in Gotebord, Sweden.

Chambers ran the first leg and the British foursome won in 38.91 seconds, ahead of Poland and France.

Anchored by Chambers, Britain won the race in 2002 in Munich, Germany, but had to surrender the title to Ukraine because of Chambers’ doping.

Alex Averbukh, who made history for Israel when he won the pole vault four years ago, repeated his feat by clearing 18 feet, 8 1/2 inches in tough conditions. His victory four years ago had made Averbukh the first Israeli to win a medal in track and field at any major meet.

Olympic champion Stefano Baldini of Italy regained the marathon title in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 32 seconds.

In the women’s 400-meter relay, Kim Gevaert of Belgium, who swept the 100 and 200 sprints, failed to win another medal when her teammates botched a handoff. Germany and France also dropped batons on the wet track and the gold medal went to Russia in 42.71 seconds.

Tennis

Federer wins Rogers

Roger Federer won his second Rogers Cup in three years, recovering in the second set and rallying past Richard Gasquet 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Federer improved his match record to 62-4 this year – his only losses to Rafael Nadal. He’s also reached the final of his last 17 tournaments since June 2005, one shy of matching Ivan Lendl’s Open era record of 18 in 1981-82.

•Elena Dementieva beat Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the JPMorgan Chase Open in Carson, Calif.

Dementieva is projected to move from sixth to fifth when the WTA Tour rankings are released today.

•Third-seeded Zheng Jie beat Anastasia Myskina 6-4, 6-1 in the Nordic Light Open in Stockholm, Sweden.

•Donald Young of Atlanta won the U.S. Tennis Association 18-and-under nationals, held in Kalamazoo, Mich., for the second consecutive year after opponent Jesse Levine couldn’t play because of food poisoning.

Young, the top-seeded player, earned a wild card into the U.S. Open singles main draw.

Colleges

Kansas, NCAA meet

•Kansas officials met with the NCAA for about seven hours in an effort to head off any harsher penalties than those the Jayhawks have already imposed on themselves for rules infractions.

The school’s only public comment was a brief statement by chancellor Robert Hemenway praising the committee for providing a fair hearing and saying a decision by the NCAA was expected in five to seven weeks.

•Former Ohio State football star Maurice Clarett was sprayed with pepper spray and struck after he surrendered following an early morning chase last week, his lawyer, Michael Hoague, said.

Officers said Clarett was driving erratically when they tried to pull him over Wednesday. He refused to get out of the sport utility vehicle he was driving, prompting several officers to remove him by force, police said.