HORSE RACING
Skip Away wins Suburban Handicap
Skip Away confirmed Friday that he has risen to the top of his class, battling back to win in the homestretch over Will's Way and Formal Gold in the 111th running of the Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park in New York. Skip Away opened the year with four straight losses since the day last October when he defeated the great Cigar by a head in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. That was his sixth victory of 1996, and it clinched his selection as the champion 3-year-old colt. But this season, he did not win until May 31. On Friday, he won by 1 1/2 lengths over Will's Way, with Formal Gold another three-quarters length back. Skip Away ran the mile and a quarter under Shane Sellers in 2:02 1 / 5 . . . Touch Gold, his left front foot inflamed, was declared out of the $1 million Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park on July 20 and might not be ready for the $1 million Haskell at Monmouth Park on Aug. 3.
TENNIS
Rosewall wants to turn down power
Australian legend Ken Rosewall said tennis can do without powerful oversized rackets, lighter, faster balls, the changes in serving and rallying rules that erode technique and threaten to turn the sport into a video game. If Rosewall were a tennis czar, he would change some rules and alter racket standards to reduce the impact of pure power. He said it's time to restore touch, grace and cleverness on court. Rosewall believes tennis veered down the wrong alley in the early 1980s when the game's ruling bodies allowed the introduction of larger rackets made of super-strong composite materials that wiped wood rackets off the courts. ``It's beyond comprehension to think that the game could get that much faster,'' Rosewall said. ``I think it's an equipment problem that got out of hand before the ruling authorities could stop it.''
COLLEGES
Miami trustee quits over new logo
A University of Miami (Ohio) trustee has quit in protest over the logo being designed for the school's new RedHawks nickname. Bill Gunlock said he resigned because the school is developing a logo without the Miami Indian head used when the nickname was Redskins. The university decided last year to drop the 66-year-old nickname after the Miami Tribe requested the change. Gunlock was the most vocal critic of the change but voted for it in April after being assured the Indian head logo would remain as the logo of the university . . . Baylor starting quarterback Jeff Watson was suspended indefinitely after he was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and public intoxication in Waco . . . Oral Roberts wasted no time finding a successor to Bill Self as basketball coach, giving the job to assistant Barry Hinson. Hinson, an aide to Self for four seasons, took the job vacated a day earlier when Self left for Tulsa . . . Michigan State has begun an internal investigation into its wrestling program after fired assistant coach Joe Pantaleo told the NCAA of alleged rules violations, the Lansing State Journal reported.
FOOTNOTES
Nevada biting bill would aid kids
A Senate bill to let the Nevada Athletic Commission seize all of a boxer's purse for biting opponents or other foul behavior was worked over Friday in the Nevada Assembly in Carson City, Nev. Assembly members voted unanimously for an amendment to SB488 that would send 40 percent of the purse to a state domestic violence fund, 40 percent to a child abuse prevention fund and 20 percent to the commission . . . A 12-year-old California girl pinned four of her five boy opponents and became USA Wrestling's first female national champion in a co-ed bracket. Teresa Gordon-Dick of Redwood Valley, Calif., won the Greco-Roman gold medal Thursday in the 100-pound class of the 11- and 12-year-old division of the USA Wrestling Kids National Tournament in Waterloo, Iowa . . . Gary Dickinson captured his seventh senior title by defeating Earl Anthony 247-202 in Thursday's stepladder finals of the PBA Northwest Senior Classic in Beaverton, Ore. Dickinson and Anthony, despite having 55 combined years of PBA experience, had never met before in a championship match . . . Keith Rucker, a defensive tackle who recently signed with the Washington Redskins, has been accused of beating his estranged wife in Phoenix . . . Beau Venturi, wife of golfer and CBS broadcaster Ken Venturi, died Thursday of brain cancer in Marco Island, Fla. Mrs. Venturi's age was not announced . . . Bernard Tapie was sentenced to 18 months in jail in Marseille, France, for siphoning money from the championship soccer team he once owned.
