Fast Break
OLYMPICS
Hamm withdraws from Beijing
Paul Hamm had the best medical care there is, and the drive and determination to make yet another spectacular comeback.
What he didn’t have was enough time.
With only about a week of training time left, the reigning gold medalist withdrew from the Beijing Olympics on Monday because he won’t be healthy enough to compete. Besides persistent pain from the right hand he broke two months ago, he also has a strained his left rotator cuff.
Alternate Raj Bhavsar will take Hamm’s place in Beijing.
OLYMPICS
U.S. basketball team arrrives
The U.S. men’s basketball team is striving to be confident heading into the Beijing Games while avoiding the complacency that has sabotaged it in recent Olympics.
That was the message from coach Mike Krzyzewski after he and the star-studded team arrived Monday in the southern Chinese casino enclave for its final preparations for the Beijing Games.
The team is “trying to be very confident, but that doesn’t mean overconfident,” Krzyzewski said.
LeBron James joined the team’s first practice in Macau. His right ankle was taped as a precaution after he sat out the Americans’ first tuneup against Canada on Friday with a sprain.
Football
The wait is finally over for Powe
The Southeastern Conference has cleared long-suffering Mississippi recruit Jerrell Powe to play this season, three years after he signed with the Rebels.
Powe, 21, was diagnosed with dyslexia and mild attention deficit disorder and qualifies for academic help because of his learning disabilities.
The NCAA twice denied him eligibility before declaring him a partial qualifier last August with the stipulation that he must complete a year of college before joining the team.
He passed 24 credit hours during the last academic year.
Boxing
Upon further review…
The California State Athletic Commission in Sacramento changed its original decision on the James Toney-Hasim Rahman fight from a technical knockout to a no decision.
Toney stopped Rahman in the third round of their July 16 rematch of former heavyweight champions in Temecula, Calif., after Rahman told the ringside doctor that he couldn’t continue because of a cut over his left eye.
The original decision was a technical knockout win for Toney. Rahman later appealed, and after a review, the commission said Monday it was changing the technical knockout to a no decision.