Navratilova, Graf Partners at Wimbledon

Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf, who faced each other on Centre Court in three consecutive Wimbledon finals in the 1980s, will team up to play doubles at Wimbledon this year, a spokeswoman for Navratilova’s agent said Saturday.

Navratilova retired from singles competition at the end of the 1994 season. She left Wimbledon on a high note last year with a stirring run to the final, falling short of her 10th Wimbledon singles title with a loss to Conchita Martinez.

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Top-seeded Martinez and second-seeded Gabriela Sabatini will face each other for the 14th time in their career today in the $430,000 Bausch & Lomb Championships final at Amelia Island, Fla.

Sabatini earned her berth in the final with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over eighth-seeded Sabine Hack of Germany. Martinez advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over third-seeded Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria.

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Third-seeded Thomas Muster of Austria defeated Emilio Sanchez of Spain, 6-2, 6-4, at Lisbon, and will play Alberto Costa of Spain for the title in the Estoril Open. Costa beat Fabrice Santoro of France, 6-1, 6-0.

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The Easter Bowl Junior Tennis Championships makes its California debut beginning today at the Riviera Resort and Racquet Club in Palm Springs.

The field of 384 will compete in six divisions of Boys and Girls 18s, 16s and 14s. Of the 384 players, 61 are from California, including Stanford-bound Ryan Wolters of San Jose, the top-seeded player in the Boys 18s; and Kevin Kim, ranked No. 2 in the Boys 16s but competing in the 18s.

In the Girls 18s, seven Southern California players are seeded, including Amanda Basica of Lomita (fourth), Krissy Hamilton of Agoura Hills (sixth) and Amanda Augustus of Palos Verdes (seventh).

Amateur Athletics

Anti-doping programs in the United States have failed, and the nation’s athletes face unfair competition from drug-using competitors abroad, top officials of the U.S. Olympic Committee said.

In a panel discussion at its board of directors’ meeting at Orlando, Fla., the USOC’s medical leaders called for greater emphasis on random drug tests conducted at very short notice away from competition.

George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees, was re-elected to the governing board of the U.S. Olympic Foundation, the long-range financing program for U.S. Olympic teams.

Soccer

Helicopters hovered overhead while hundreds of armed police and troops surrounded the stadium as Zambia beat Gabon, 1-0, in an Africa Cup of Nations match at Lusaka, Zambia.

Relations between the two nations have been strained since a 1993 plane crash off the Gabon coast killed 18 members of Zambia’s national squad on their way to a World Cup qualifier.

Zambia accused Gabon of obstructing investigations into the disaster, and many soccer fans believe Gabon was involved in a cover-up after shooting down the plane by mistake.

Miscellany

Carlos Navarro of Los Angeles, last year’s 112-pound champion, overwhelmed Jason Pires of New Bedford, Mass., to win the 119-pound title in the U.S. Boxing Championships at Air Force Academy, Colo.

UCLA’s Kareema Marrow won the all-around title and the Bruins won the women’s West Regional gymnastics title at Corvallis, Ore.

The No. 2-ranked UCLA softball team twice came from behind to upset top-ranked Arizona, sweeping two Pacific 10 Conference games, 8-5 and 4-2, before a record 1,327 at UCLA’s Easton Stadium.

Kevin Jackson decisioned Rustem Kelehsaev in the 198-pound division and the United States defeated Russia, 20-18, to capture the World Cup of Freestyle Wrestling championship at Chattanooga, Tenn.

Names in the News

Unheralded Maurice Greene upset Carl Lewis in the 100 meters in a wind-aided 9.88 seconds to highlight the final day of the 68th Texas Relays at Austin. Lewis finished third behind Greene and Raymond Stewart.

Armond Hill, who spent most of his eight years in the NBA playing for the Atlanta Hawks, was hired as basketball coach at Columbia. He had been an assistant at Princeton.

Former Louisiana State forward Howard Carter, who has been playing basketball in France, was charged with buying and using drugs after police arrested him in Le Havre, France, and seized a dose of heroin, police said.

Dave Husted earned the second jewel in professional bowling’s triple crown, beating Paul Koehler, 266-245, in the title match of the Bowling Proprietors Assn. of America’s U.S. Open at Detroit.

Morocco’s El Arbi Khattabi won the Trevira Twosome 10-mile road race at New York’s Central Park with a time of 46 minutes 44 seconds, and afterward denied a charge that he was illegally aided by two men in a car. Delilah Asiago of Kenya won the women’s race at 52:33.

Liz Baylis of the Richmond Yacht Club and her seven-woman crew finished second in the final race to claim the 1995 U.S. Women’s Challenge championship at Newport Beach by three-quarters of a point over Cheryl Lanzinger of Seattle Yacht Club.