Samuelson, Bates split up

Figure skating: American ice dancers Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates are splitting up and looking for new partners after more than a decade together.

The two finished 11th at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics after winning bronze at the U.S. championships in Spokane.

Samuelson and Bates sat out the 2010-11 season after Bates injured his Achilles tendon in an accident at practice.

They teamed up in 2001 and trained during most of their partnership with Yuri Chesnichenko and Yaroslava Nechaeva in Ann Arbor, Mich.

In April 2010, Samuelson and Bates moved to Canton, Mich., to be coached by Igor Shpilband and Marina Zoueva.

Associated Press

Welliver wins fight in China

Boxing: Chauncy Welliver is officially a big man in China.

The Spokane heavyweight won his third championship belt – the WBC’s Asian Boxing Council heavyweight title – when New Zealand’s Lawrence Tauasa failed to answer the bell for the fourth round of their scheduled 12-round fight Tuesday in Huili City.

A sellout crowd of more than 4,000 watched the fight live, with several thousand more watching outside the arena on big-screen television. The fight was broadcast to an estimated Chinese TV audience of 17 million.

Ranked ninth worldwide by the World Boxing Council, Welliver won his 14th consecutive fight and fifth by stoppage to run his record to 49-5-5. Tauasa saw his record drop to 31-9.

Welliver also owns the WBC’s Continental Americas title and is the World Boxing Organization’s Asia Pacific champion.

John Blanchette