Arbitrator Says Yashin Still Owes the Senators a Season

The NHL said it has won its case against Ottawa Senator holdout center Alexei Yashin, a decision that means he owes the team another year of service.

The league, which confirmed the decision Wednesday, would not release any other details of the case, except to say the decision was rendered by arbitrator Lawrence Holden of Boston.

The high-scoring Yashin played four seasons of his five-year contract with the Senators before sitting out the 1999-2000 season. He contended he would become a restricted free agent July 1 because the terms of his deal concluded June 30.

The NHL claimed the contract, worth $3.6 million for last season, would not be complete Friday because the Russian star had not worked during the fifth year of the deal.

A second arbitration hearing is scheduled for July over the league’s contention that the Senators should receive $7 million in damages because Yashin’s refusal to report to Ottawa hurt the club’s performance on the ice as well as in sales of tickets and merchandise.

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The Kings exercised their option on center Bob Corkum’s contract for next season, the team said. Corkum, 32, had five goals and six assists in 45 games with the Kings last season. . . . Former Edmonton coach Ron Low is set to rejoin former Oiler boss Glen Sather with the New York Rangers, the Hartford Courant reported. The newspaper said Low will be introduced as the replacement for fired coach John Muckler within the next week. . . . The expansion Minnesota Wild signed free agent Wes Walz, a Swiss player who has been with four NHL teams and played with the Long Beach Ice Dogs last season. . . . Right wing Joe Murphy signed a one-year contract to remain with the Washington Capitals.

Boxing

Promoter Cedric Kushner testified at Newark, N.J., that he paid International Boxing Federation officials $100,000 for a rematch between Axel Schulz and then-heavyweight champion George Foreman.

Kushner told a federal jury in the racketeering trial of IBF founder Robert W. Lee that he was angered when Lee’s longtime ratings chairman, C. Douglas Beavers, told him privately that a rematch would cost $100,000.

Kushner was asked to make the payment after arguing that the IBF executive board mandate a rematch of the controversial April 1995 bout that Foreman won in a split decision.

Mike Tyson has been summoned to appear before the British Boxing Board of Control on Aug. 9 after his controversial defeat of Lou Savarese in Glasgow last Saturday.

The board wants to question Tyson about the punches he threw after the referee had stopped the bout in the first round and about his post-fight comments, directed at world champion Lennox Lewis.

Meanwhile, Tyson and British promoter Frank Warren finally settled a $630,000 jewelry bill out of court.

The former heavyweight champion bought a diamond watch and bracelet from a jeweler in London five months ago. The jeweler took the pair to court when he had not been paid.

Track and Field

Competing on the track where he set the world 100-meter record a year ago, a surprised Maurice Greene finished fourth at the Athens Grand Prix in Greece.

“I thought I was ready to run. I lost. I tried. It happens,” the visibly upset Greene said after running 10.16 seconds--.08 behind winner Greg Saddler.

The two-time world champion said he would not let the defeat get him down.

“I’m going to go to Rome and redeem myself,” Greene said. “I will run 9.8 in Rome.”

Greene, who had hoped to better the world record of 9.79 he set a year ago, will compete Friday at the Golden Gala in Rome.

Soccer

Christine Sinclair had three goals and three assists and Canada earned another shot at the United States with a 12-0 victory over Guatemala in the Women’s Gold Cup at Louisville, Ky.

Mexico lost, 3-0, to China in the second game of the doubleheader and was eliminated from the eight-nation tournament.

In the semifinals Saturday, China will play Brazil in the first game, then Canada will play the United States for the third time this year.

Rivaldo scored on a penalty kick in the 85th minute at Rio de Janeiro to give Brazil a 1-1 tie with Uruguay in a qualifying game for the 2002 World Cup. Venezuela beat Bolivia, 4-2, in San Cristobal for its first victory in the competition.

Miscellany

K One King, the Oaklawn Handicap winner, has been withdrawn from the July 9 Sempra Energy Hollywood Gold Cup at Hollywood Park because of an injury.

Beth Harrell, a former women’s swimming coach at South Carolina, sued Athletic Director Mike McGee, contending she was forced from her job when she complained about being sexually harassed by two male coaches. . . . The University of Minnesota settled a lawsuit with an employee who said the athletic department created a hostile work environment for gays. The university agreed to pay Richard Marsden, an academic advisor in the department, $80,000, provide him with a parking spot and help him upgrade his job title.

Three U.S. crews--from Washington state, Virginia and Massachusetts--were among the winners on the opening day of racing at Henley Royal Regatta on the Thames River in England.

The IOC cleared an unidentified member accused of accepting excessive hospitality by bidders for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.