Markova Rallies to Win Russian Skating Title

Olga Markova became Russia’s figure skating champion Monday after a sensational optional program at St. Petersburg.

Maria Butyrskaya, who had led after the technical program, finished second. Irina Slutskaya was third.

College Basketball

Arkansas remained No. 1 as the top seven teams held their places in the Associated Press college basketball poll. UCLA, an impressive winner at Houston, moved up one spot to No. 8.

Hockey

The Quebec Nordiques suspended forward Claude Lapointe after he refused to attend practice for the second day in a row.

Lapointe, who has four goals and 12 assists in 22 games, is locked in a contract battle with the club.

For the first time since the fans started voting eight years ago, center Wayne Gretzky of the Kings led all players in NHL All-Star balloting, according to figures released by the league.

Gretzky, who will be playing in his 14th All-Star game, received 236,578 votes. Toronto goalie Felix Potvin had 231,993.

The Eastern Conference all-stars will play the Western Conference on Saturday, Jan. 22, at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Baseball

New York Yankees prospect Brien Taylor, the top pick in the 1991 amateur draft, will have arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder.

Taylor, a 22-year-old left-hander, suffered dislocation of the shoulder during a fight on Dec. 18 in North Carolina. Taylor was charged with simple assault and communicating threats, both misdemeanors, and is due in court Jan. 13.

Miscellany

Tailback Napoleon Kaufman has agreed to return to the University of Washington for his senior year, KING-TV in Seattle reported. It quoted unidentified sources close to Kaufman as confirming he will return to school rather than enter the NFL draft.

Kaufman finished his junior season with 1,299 yards, a Washington record.

Reserve New York Knick guard Hubert Davis will be sidelined for six weeks because of a broken right hand.

One of the world’s top harness racing horses, Park Avenue Kathy, was killed and three others were injured in a fire that broke out in their horse van in Barberino del Mugello, Italy. Park Avenue Kathy was a 7-year-old, U.S.-born trotter who won many of Europe’s most important races.