Cycling

　　COPENHAGEN: Li Na of China took the women’s Keirin final with Clara Sanchez of France second and Rosealee Hubbard of Australia third as the World Track Cycling Championships began Wednesday.

　　Brad McGee won the 4,000-meter individual pursuit gold medal, beating Luke Roberts in an all-Australian final.

　　Racist taunts

　　LONDON: UEFA said yesterday it will investigate racist abuse against French striker Thierry Henry in Arsenal’s 4-0 Champions League victory at PSV Eindhoven.

　　Henry said objects like coins and cigarette lighters were thrown at him from the stands with fans also shouting racial slurs during Wednesday’s match.

　　PSV could be fined or banned from hosting future Champions League matches.

　　Ronaldo’s wife

　　MADRID: Milene Domingues, the wife of Real Madrid’s Brazilian superstar Ronaldo and a soccer player herself, has signed for Rayo Vallecano’s women’s team, the club confirmed yesterday.

　　Fan charged

　　BIRMINGHAM, England: A Birmingham soccer fan who ran on to the pitch during his club’s match with Aston Villa Sept. 16 was charged in court Wednesday.

　　Michael Peter Harper, 26, of Solihull, central England, was charged with affray — or fighting — and making an incursion onto the playing area.

　　No shorter season

　　WARSAW: UEFA Technical Director Andy Roxburgh played down the possibility of a shortened English league season, a proposal pushed by England’s national coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.

　　Eriksson has called for a winter break in the English Premier League and placed part of the blame for England’s fitness problems during this summer’s World Cup on the long season.

　　Cuban married

　　DALLAS: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, one of the U.S.’s wealthiest bachelors, is off the market. He was married Saturday to Tiffany Stewart in Barbados.

　　The private ceremony was to have been held in Jamaica, but the uncertainty about Tropical Storm Isidore prompted the move to Barbados, event planner Russell Holloway said Wednesday.

　　Tennis

　　HONG KONG: Juan Carlos of Spain won his first-round match against Stefan Koubek of Austria 6-2,6-4 at the US$400,000 Salem Hong Kong Open yesterday.

　　Rain halted play Tuesday night when Carlos led 6-2, 2-2. When play finally resumed Wednesday night, they managed to sneak in just one point. The left-handed Koubek held his serve but trails second seed Ferrero 6-2, 2-3.

　　Also yesterday, top seed Marat Safin of Russia defeated Lars Burgsmuller of Germany 6-2, 6-2, and No.3 seed Carlos Moya of Spain beat Jan-Michael Gambill of the United States 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.