Briefs | College Basketball: Kentucky guard John Wall suspended

College basketball

Kentucky guard must sit out exhibition, regular-season opener: Kentucky point guard John Wall will be cleared to play if he meets conditions set by the NCAA.

The school announced Friday that the 6-foot-4 freshman must sit out an exhibition game and the regular-season opener and repay almost $800 in expenses incurred during unofficial visits to schools during his junior year at Word of God Christian Academy. Wall's status had been up in the air as the NCAA investigated his relationship with Brian Clifton, his former AAU coach.

Clifton was a certified agent for a period during Wall's recruitment, and the NCAA looked into whether Wall accepted illegal benefits from Clifton during that time.

Wall will miss an exhibition game against Campbellsville on Monday and the Nov. 13 opener against Morehead State.

Connecticut women are No. 1 in preseason poll: Connecticut picked up where it left off last season — unanimous No. 1 in the Associated Press media poll.

UConn received all 40 first-place votes from a national panel. The Huskies were the unanimous choice atop the poll the final 15 weeks last season, winning their sixth national championship to cap a 39-0 run. UConn coach Geno Auriemma returns four starters from that team, including Maya Moore, last season's AP player of the year.

No. 2 Stanford was among three Pac-10 teams in the Top 25. The Cardinal was joined by No. 16 Arizona State and No. 18 California.

Connecticut was also No. 1 in the preseason in 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and last year. Since the 1989-90 season, the top team in the preseason has won six NCAA titles.

Tennis

Williams sisters are in semifinal matches: The Williams sisters might be headed for an all-American final matchup at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar.

Defending champion Venus Williams lost her first two group matches but advanced on sets thanks to Svetlana Kuznetsova's 6-3, 6-2 victory over Elena Dementieva in a matchup of Russians. Serena Williams had already made the semis.

In today's semifinal matches, Serena Williams faces Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and Venus Williams takes on Jelena Jankovic of Serbia. Serena has secured the year-end No. 1 ranking in the world.

Olympics

U.S. television rights: Encouraged by the improving economy in the United States, the International Olympic Committee plans to begin negotiations on U.S. broadcast rights for the 2014 and 2016 Games next year.

Jacques Rogge, IOC president, said the bidding could begin soon after the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

The IOC earlier this year indefinitely postponed the U.S. rights negotiations because of the global economic downturn. The American TV rights are the most lucrative single source of IOC marketing revenue.

NBC paid $2.2 billion for rights to the Vancouver Games and 2012 London Olympics.

Sailing

BMW Oracle prevails on rudder issue: America's Cup challenger BMW Oracle Racing won a favorable judgment in a New York court in its long, bitter legal fight with defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland.

In a ruling on a technical matter, Justice Shirley Kornreich of the New York State Supreme Court said the rudder of BMW Oracle Racing's 90-foot trimaran will be excluded when the boat's load waterline is measured. The Americans had said the Swiss stipulated the boat be measured with its rudder attached, which would make it exceed its 90-foot waterline, opening it up for disqualification.

Horse racing

Jockey Brimo hospitalized: Jockey Julia Brimo, 33, was listed in critical condition at a Lexington, Ky., hospital after a spill in the first race at Keeneland.

NYRA bans Mullins for six months: The New York Racing Association barred trainer Jeff Mullins from Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga for violating its barn rules by giving one of his horses an unknown substance and providing conflicting information.

NYRA officials said they will not allow Mullins to transfer his horses to anyone else — a common practice among suspended trainers — to circumvent the ban.

Seattle Times news services