Australia’s Thorpe Sets Another World Record

Ian Thorpe of Australia powered to his second world record in three days Tuesday in the World Championships at Fukuoka, Japan.

Michael Phelps of the U.S. also smashed a world record, breaking his mark in the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:54.58.

Thorpe’s two records are his 10th and 11th in individual long-course events. He won three Olympic gold medals at Sydney, Australia, last year and already has three world titles at Fukuoka.

Thorpe won the first 800 contested at the World Championships, in 7 minutes 39.16 seconds, clipping nearly 2.5 seconds off the world record he set in March.

Phelps, from Baltimore, also led a 1-2 U.S. finish in the 200 butterfly. Olympic champion Tom Malchow took the silver.

Haley Cope of the U.S. won the 50 backstroke in 28.51.

Pro Basketball

The Portland Trail Blazers are on the verge of sending veteran guard Steve Smith to the San Antonio Spurs for free agent Derek Anderson. To make the salaries match, the Spurs also will send veteran guard Steve Kerr to Portland.

The Detroit Pistons signed three frontcourt players, including Corliss Williamson for $33 million over six years, and added a fourth by reaching agreement with Rodney White, the ninth pick in the draft last month. The other players signed were 7-footers from Yugoslavia, Zeljko Rebraca and Ratko Varda, both of whom will play center. . . . The Charlotte Hornets took two steps toward strengthening their backcourt, signing free agent Bryce Drew to a three-year, $4.5-million deal and agreeing to terms with Stacey Augmon, who played for the Trail Blazers last season. . . . Chicago Bull guard Jamal Crawford will be out for the upcoming season because of a torn knee ligament.

Manute Bol, the NBA record holder for blocked shots in a season, has left Sudan and is trying to return to the U.S.

Bol had been trying for eight months to leave his native Sudan, the scene of an 18-year civil war. Bol is now in Cairo, dealing with the red tape involved in coming to America.

Golf

Vijay Singh was the big winner and British Open champion David Duval finished second in the $234,000 Telus Skins Game at Markham, Canada. Singh had nine skins worth $117,000 in the two-day event.

Retief Goosen and Ian Woosnam defeated Swedes Pierre Fulke and Patrik Sjoland by one shot for the clinching point as the Rest of the World team beat the Nordics, 5-1, in the SAS Invitational at Stockholm.

Michael Campbell has withdrawn a threat to boycott the New Zealand Open in January to protest a tenfold increase in ticket prices to support the appearance of Tiger Woods.

Miscellany

Defender Lubos Kubik of the Dallas Burn was banished from Saturday’s MLS All-Star game at San Jose, banned from the Burn’s next three Major League Soccer games and fined $5,000 by the league after a confrontation with referee Richard Heron.

The incident occurred at Chicago on Saturday, when Kubik, who was not playing, ran onto the field to join other Dallas players in protesting a penalty kick Heron had awarded to Chicago.

Tom Watt has been hired as an assistant coach by the Mighty Ducks. Watt spent last season as a special assistant scout for the team. He last coached in the NHL with Vancouver during the 1990-91 season. . . . The Colorado Avalanche signed free-agent defenseman Todd Gill.

Olympian Nick Rogers, who was working in a hardware store before his breakthrough race last year, was a surprise addition to the U.S. world championships team when two 5,000-meter runners ahead of him, Alan Culpepper and Matthew Lane, were scratched from next month’s meet.

IOC President Jacques Rogge reportedly ruled out reductions in the list of banned drugs for athletes, a position at odds with that of his predecessor. “With all due respect to Juan Antonio Samaranch, he is not aware of the reality in sports medicine and doping,� Rogge told the El Mundo newspaper in Madrid.

Top-seeded Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia was beaten in the first round of the Idea Prokom Open, losing, 7-6 (3), 6-4, to Federico Luzzi of Italy at Sopot, Poland. In the women’s event, third-seeded Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia beat Tatiana Garbin of Italy, 6-1, 6-1. . . . Top-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain reached the third round of the Generali Open at Kitzbuehel, Austria, beating wild-card Alexander Peya of Austria, 6-2, 6-1.

Roscoe Harris, a basketball player at Villanova in the early 1990s, was stabbed to death when he confronted a man after his girlfriend was shot by a BB gun in Jersey City, N.J.

Vanderbilt linebacker Doug Wolford is facing a felony assault charge after a fight with a Northwestern football signee who was visiting the Commodores’ campus.

The Insight.com Bowl, which originated in Tucson, will be played at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix through 2005.