SPORTS NEWS

Boonen hits early season form with Tirreno stage win ROME (Reuters) - Belgian Tom Boonen burned off his rivals in a sprint finish to claim the second stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico Thursday ahead of German Paul Martens and Italian Daniele Bennati. Vonn title bid hit by crash GARMISCH-PARTERNKIRCHEN, Germany (Reuters) - Lindsey Vonn's bid for a third successive overall World Cup title was hit when she crashed out of the giant slalom on Thursday and Maria Riesch kept her outside hopes alive. Mavericks drop Nets to win 13th straight DALLAS (Reuters) - The Dallas Mavericks rallied after a stuttering start to extend their league-leading winning streak to 13 games with a 96-87 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday. Nadal to make grass return at Queen's LONDON (Reuters) - Spaniard Rafa Nadal is set to play his first competitive match on grass since winning the 2008 Wimbledon title at the Queen's Club tournament in June. Schumacher is the best, says Alonso MANAMA (Reuters) - Michael Schumacher was mobbed by the media and welcomed back by fellow champions on his return to the Formula One paddock on Thursday in search of an unprecedented eighth title. Austria season a near miss, not failure says Raich GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany (Reuters) - Austria have failed to win a downhill this season, came away from the Vancouver without a single medal in men's Alpine skiing yet could still end up with the overall world champion thanks to Benjamin Raich. Unstoppable Contador seizes lead in Paris-Nice MENDE, France (Reuters) - Twice Tour de France champion Alberto Contador seized control of the Paris-Nice race when he snatched a solo win in the fourth stage to lead a Spanish 1-2-3 Thursday. Ex-Mets Lenny Dykstra wants bankruptcy case dismissed NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lenny Dykstra, the former star baseball center fielder, has asked a federal judge to dismiss his bankruptcy case. USF1 could face sanctions for absence MANAMA (Reuters) - Formula One's governing body left the door open to sanctions against the USF1 team on Thursday for their non-participation in this year's championship. FIL makes donation to help rebuild dead luger's house BERLIN (Reuters) - The International Luge Federation (FIL) has donated 10,000 euros to the family of the Georgian luger who died at the Vancouver Olympics to help rebuild their house which was destroyed by fire. RSS to HTML Increase Web Traffic