Sports briefs 4/18/05

Basketball

* All-Star forward Jermaine O'Neal returned to the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, more than a month after he injured his right shoulder so severely that both he and the team feared his season was over.

O'Neal scored 16 points in the Pacers' 84-80 loss to the Miami Heat. He shot 4-for-15 from the field, and played 23 minutes.

Colleges

Oklahoma defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek is expected to be sidelined for at least four months after suffering a torn left biceps during Saturday's Red/White spring game, university officials said.

Sports Information Director Kenny Mossman said Dvoracek underwent surgery Sunday morning to repair the injury.

Dvoracek will be able to continue conditioning, but will be sidelined from contact for four to five months, OU head coach Bob Stoops said.

"We expect that Dusty will make a full recovery and are confident that he will be ready at the beginning of the season," Stoops said.

* Jeff Parrish picked up a pair of home runs and five RBIs to help Oklahoma State to a 8-5, come-from-behind win over Missouri on Sunday.

It was the Cowboys' (27-14, 8-7) third straight win over the Tigers (27-9, 8-4).

Olympics

Sweetening its bid with financial and promotional incentives, New York promised Sunday to market every Olympic sport -- for free -- in the seven years leading up to the 2012 Summer Games.

With 80 days to go before the July 6 vote to select the host city of the games, London also appealed directly to the sports federations, offering special hotel rates, price discounts, television exposure and other inducements. Paris, Madrid and Moscow made less direct pitches as the five cities vying for the 2012 Games presented their bids to the 28 international federations involved in the Summer Olympics.

With more than two dozen International Olympic Committee members in attendance, the meeting offered the last major showcase for the bid cities before the session in Singapore at which the host city will be selected.

Running

* Paula Radcliffe overcame stomach cramps to set a women's-only record for the London Marathon on Sunday and won by more than five minutes while Kenya's Martin Lel ran a personal best to capture a tight men's race.

Radcliffe finished in 2 hours, 17 minutes, 42 seconds for her third London victory. Five miles from the end, the Englishwoman was forced to rest for about 15 seconds because of cramping.

Lel finished in 2:07:26, with Jaouad Gharib of Morocco 23 seconds behind.

Tennis

Rafael Nadal won the Monte Carlo Masters on Sunday, beating defending champion Guillermo Coria 6-3, 6-1, 0-6, 7-5 for a big clay-court victory and his first Masters title.

The 18-year-old Spaniard became the first teenager in more than a decade to win at Monte Carlo and denied Coria his first ATP title this season.

Coria, seeded sixth, was appearing in his third consecutive Monte Carlo final after losing to Juan Carlos Ferrero in 2003 and defeating Rainer Schuettler last year.

* Former No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne showed she's back in top form Sunday, beating second-seeded Elena Dementieva 7-5, 6-4 to win the Family Circle Cup in her second tournament since returning from illness and injury.

Henin-Hardenne spent most of last year ranked No. 1, winning the Australian Open and gold at the Athens Olympics. But after the U.S. Open, she suffered a viral illness and then a knee injury while practicing in late December.