Winter Sports

Jenni Meno and Todd Sand of Costa Mesa won the pairs short program on the rink where the Winter Olympics will be held at Nagano, Japan, in February.

The defending champions spun side by side to the classical music “Pomp and Circumstances,� wrapping up their new program with a smooth death spiral after an upside-down lift. They received thundering applause when Meno’s head almost touched the ice in what has become a trademark move for the American couple.

Piedmont has become the third Italian region seeking the 2006 Winter Olympics, the Italian Olympic Committee said.

The northeastern regions of Friuli Venezia Giulia, in a joint bid with adjoining areas in Austria and Slovenia, and Veneto also have said they want the games.

Italy is allowed only one candidate, which means its Olympic Committee will have to choose by February.

Defending World Cup champion Samppa Lajunen of Finland won the season-opening Nordic combined event at Rovaniemi, Finland.

Lajunen, 18, jumped 94 meters for the third-best effort in ski jumping then won the 7.5-kilometer cross-country sprint by 11.5 seconds.

Because warming temperatures left the snow too soft, World Cup ski officials canceled Sunday’s scheduled men’s super giant slalom at Whistler, Canada, and tentatively scheduled both the downhill practice and race for today.

The jury will be on Whistler Mountain at 7 PST this morning for a final course inspection.

Jurisprudence

A NASCAR crew chief charged with sexual assault was released on $15,000 bail at Guelph, Canada.

Kevin Caldwell, 34, of Mooresville, N.C., and Josh Gibson, 22, of Huntersville, N.C., face sexual assault charges in an incident Nov. 22 in the Ontario city. Both men work on driver Ricky Craven’s Busch series car.

The men were charged after a 34-year-old Barrie woman reported she was assaulted early in the morning after all three had attended a wedding reception in Kitchener.

Donovan Bailey, Canadian sprinter and former Olympic gold medal winner who is charged with careless driving and leaving the scene of an accident after an accident last month, had a representative appear for him in court at Mississauga, Ontario.

Bailey has said he skidded on ice. A trial date will be set Dec. 18.

Miscellany

Third-seeded Andre Agassi defeated 211th-ranked Roberto Jabali, 6-1, 6-3, and advanced to the semifinals of the $50,000 HealthSouth USTA Challenger tennis tournament at McCambridge Park in Burbank.

Agassi is scheduled to play second-seeded Daniel Nestor of Canada today.

Nestor reached the semifinals by defeating Michael Sell, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Turkey, bidding for the 2008 Summer Olympics, started work on an 80,000-seat stadium at Istanbul.

The facility is expected to be built in three years at a cost of about $90 million.

Turkey lost bids for the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.

The Bob Hope Chrysler Classic golf tournament has increased its prize money $800,000 to $2.3 million for 1998. The tournament Jan. 14-18 now has a first prize of $414,000. Bermuda Dunes is the host course.