FanFare 8/11/02

Basketball

Mavericks assistant coach Del Harris announced Saturday that he is withdrawing his name from consideration for the Nuggets' head coaching job and will remain with the Mavericks.

Arvydas Sabonis was in Portland, Ore., this week to chat with Trail Blazers president Bob Whitsitt and could be contemplating a return to the team. Sabonis, who took last season off in Lithuania and Spain, had dinner with Whitsitt and the coaching staff Wednesday night and then worked out Thursday with Blazers Damon Stoudamire and Ruben Patterson, The Oregonian reported Saturday.

Colleges

Jeremy Bloom joined his Colorado teammates for the first day of full-squad, two-a-day drills on Saturday. Bloom is challenging NCAA rules that prohibit him from playing receiver for the Buffaloes while earning money from endorsements he signed as a World Cup moguls skier. A hearing on his request for an injunction is scheduled Monday.

Gymnastics

Tasha Schwikert had little trouble winning her second straight title in the U.S. Gymnastics Championships on Saturday night. She finished with 75.550 points, well ahead of Tabitha Yim (74.625). Ashley Postell was third at 73.425. Cuban-born Annia Hatch, competing in her first U.S. championships, was fourth with 72.650.

Horse racing

Pat Day became thoroughbred racing's all-time richest rider, as he guided With Anticipation to a head victory over 2-1 favorite Denon in the $500,000, Grade 1 Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap before 33,342 at Saratoga. It was another 1 1/4 lengths back to Volponi in third. By winning the Sword Dancer, Pat Day's mount earned $300,000, enabling him to surpass Chris McCarron and become racing's all-time winningest jockey in purse money won. Day now has $264,580,968. McCarron retired last month with career earnings of $264,351,679.

Tennis

Top-ranked Lleyton Hewitt beat unseeded Fernando Gonzalez 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-2 to advance to the final of the Cincinnati Masters Series. The Australian star will face Carlos Moya today in the championship match. The 16th-seeded Moya beat Spanish countryman Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-4. Hewitt, preparing for his U.S. Open title defense, has won four titles this year, including Wimbledon and the Masters Series event in Indian Wells, Calif.

Lindsay Davenport, making a comeback from knee surgery, reached her first final of the year with a 6-3, 6-4 semifinal victory over Ai Sugiyama in the JPMorgan Chase Open. In today's final, she'll face 12th-seeded Chanda Rubin, who beat No. 4 Jelena Dokic 6-0, 6-2 in 41 minutes.

-- From wire reports