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r-T- ibe iionoluluAdveruser 1 nursday, July XI, 2003 OS cucunc mot as stfmiricr Ri "tk Jbk JUL Serena Williams, Armstrong top ESPYs I Lance Armstrong, left, leans on U.S. Postal Service teammate Floyd Landis during a training session yesterday. The next day, Vinokourov won the last alpine stage to the town of Gap. He is starting to believe he could be wearing the winner's yellow jersey at the finish in Paris on July 27. "Lance was a bit stronger than me last year.

I didn't even try to beat him," said Vinokourov, whose stage victory Monday was his first on the Tour. "But going into the Pyrenees, the gap isn't very big and I am in good condition." Armstrong himself conceded after placing third at L'Alpe d'Huez mat he's perhaps not as strong as onds over 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich, the silver medalist at Sydney, a minute over American rider Tyler Hamilton and more than two minutes over Spaniards Mayo and Francisco Mancebo. With those rivals close behind, Armstrong said it "may be the most important time trial Fve ever done in the Tour." Before today's 11th stage from Narbonne to Toulouse, Mancebo of the Ibanesto.com team, is fourth overall, 1:37 back. Ullrich, said to be a rider who gets stronger in the Tour's second half, is 2:10 back in 6th, just behind fifth-placed Hamilton, who has a 1:52 deficit to Armstrong. Third-placed Mayo, just 1:02 back, proved he's a danger when he rocketed up the 21 hairpin bends to L'Alpe d'Huez to win the stage where Armstrong triumphed just two years earlier.

The 1987 Tour winner Stephen Roche said L'Alpe d'Huez "confirmed what everybody's been thinking about Armstrong: That he may not be as strong as he should be." Armstrong wrote it off as just a bad day and blamed his teammate Manuel Beltran for leading him too fast up the first part of the climb. That was a rare mistake from his U.S. Postal team that otherwise has been peerless. "He's at least as strong as anyone else, with the strongest team, so I still think he'll win," said Australian Matthew Wilson of who's riding in his first Tour. Defending champion Mikhail Youzhny beat Nicolas Lapentti, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, and No.

15 Alex Corretja saved four match points and beat Olivier Rochus, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5. Sixth-seeded Fernando Gonzalez defeated Spanish teenager Rafael NadaL 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, ninth-seeded Tommy Robredo rallied to beat Lars Burgsmueller, 6-7 (7), 6-3, 7-5, and Jarkko Nieminen stopped Alberto Martin, 6-2, 4-6, 64. END QUOTE Carmelo Anthony, who helped Syracuse win the NCAA basketball championship before leaving for the NBA, was named male college athlete of the year at last night's 11th annual ESPY Awards at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles: 1 want to tnanfc inyself, Iput in all the hard work, day in and day out" 4-tirne defending champion leads by only 21 seconds Ey JoSin Leicester Associated ftes NARBONNE, France Halfway through the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong has yet to dominate cycling's showcase race as he has in the past He didn't shine in the Alps and their monstrous climbs although he rode well enough to take the overall lead. And he's ahead by only 21 seconds after the 10th stage, with another four days looming on the punishing ascents of the Pyrenees. The talk among some riders as they headed into yesterday's rest day was mat the four-time champion is not the dominant force he once was as he goes for a record-tying fifth Tour win.

"It's perhaps the first time in four years where coming out of the Alps he's left a glimmer of hope," said Christophe Moreau, who is 4 minutes, 4 seconds behind Armstrong and 12th overall. "If not what we expected. Maybe he'll deliver a knockout blow in the Pyrenees or be knocked out himself." Armstrong's closest rival, Alexandre Vinokourov, powered away on the legendary climb to the ski resort of L'Alpe d'Huez on Sunday, finishing second to Iban Mayo of Spain. U.S. tops Advertiser News Services The World Cup champion U.S.

national team held the top spot in the first women's world soccer rankings, issued yesterday by FIFA. Each of the top four teams in the rankings of world soccer's governing body including Norway, Germany and China were designated as the top seeds in today's draw for this year's World Cup. The other 12 teams in the World Cup tournament are Argentina, Brazil, Ghana, Nigeria, France, Russia, Sweden, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and North Korea The Americans had 2,169 points in the rankings determined by a mathematical formula based on results of all 3,086 international games dating back to the inaugural match between France and the Netherlands on April 17, 1971. Norway, which defeated the United States in overtime to win the 2000 Olympic gold medal, was second with 2,159 points, and European champion Germany had 2,152. China, which lost on penalty kicks to the US.

in the 1999 final, had 2,1 10 points. "We're honored to be the first team to be ranked No. 1," U.S. Soccer president Dr. Bob Contigulia said after the rankings were announced at The Home Depot Cen By Beth Harris Associated Press LOS ANGELES Serena Williams was honored as female athlete of the year and female tennis player at the 11th annual ESPY Awards last night, a year after she accepted the same trophies on behalf of older sister Venus.

Tiger Woods repeated as male golfer for the fourth consecutive year, giving him a total of 15. He didn't attend the show hosted by comedian Jamie Foxx at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre. He is in England for the British Open, which began today. Cyclist Lance Armstrong was chosen male athlete of the year over Barry Bonds, Tim Duncan and Woods, who had won the past three years. Armstrong is hying to win his record fifth Tour de France this month.

Three years ago, he was chosen comeback athlete after bearing testicular cancer. Serena Williams recently defeated Venus to win her second straight Wimbledon title. She's 40-1 at major tournaments since the 2001 French Opea She defeated Venus for the female tennis player award, one of 17 categories decided for the first time by fan votes on the Internet. Williams was the only double winner during the two-hour show. She beat out Lisa Leslie, Annika Sorenstam and Connecticut basketball player Diana Taurasi for the female athlete award, which pits athletes from different sports against one another.

Williams thanked her divorced parents, who didn't attend. They really broke their backs and their wallets and everything else for me and my sister to have this opportunity," she said. Bonds was chosen major league baseball player for the second straight year. Leslie, hobbled by a knee injury, repeated as WNBA player. Sorenstam won her second consecutive award for female golfer.

Gail Devers ended Marion Jones' five-year domination of the female track and field athlete award. Jones' boyfriend, Tim Montgomery, won the men's track award. Duncan, who helped the San Antonio Spurs win a championship, was named NBA player, beating out Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers, among others. Bryant skipped the media gauntlet on the red carpet before the show, but sat in the audience smiling and laughing with his wife, Vanessa. Prosecutors in Colorado have yet to decide whether to file criminal charges against Bryant, who's been accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman.

"WHY'S RENT A USED. -QERNT FILLED VIDEO WHEN YOU CAN BUY A NEW first women's world soccer rankings 4 Associated Press when he won from 1999-2002. He's hardly had an easy Tour. He battled stomach flu in the weeks before the race, was bruised in a crash on the Tour's second day and struggled Sunday with a faulty brake up the cruel climb over the Col du Galibier. Armstrong's race could have been over had he not reacted quickly to another crash.

Rider Joseba Beloki skidded right in front of him on sun-melted tarmac Monday, and Armstrong only managed to avoid him by plowing into a field next to the road. Beloki spoiniiie terfinals on Saturday. Cuba clinched the second spot in Group due to its win over Canada. Costa Rica will face El Salvador, a 1-0 winner in the late game over Martinique. Canada, which beat Costa Rica last Saturday, was eliminated.

Costa Rica made it 2-0 on Steven Bryce's goal in the 72nd minute. Bryce came in as a substitute two minutes before he scored. Erick Scott made it 3-0 at the 76th minute. OLYMPICS Tickets for Greece going fast More than 473,000 tickets for the 2004 Olympics were purchased during the first round of sales. The 473,222 tickets sold exceeded targets for the one-month period ending June 12.

Organizers had hoped to sell at least 300,000 of the 3 million tickets available to the public. A lottery was held to distribute tickets for events where demand exceeded capacity. An additional 23 million tickets were reserved for Olympic spon- flAIIIEOW 7 Relaxation Brand New Ladies! 350 Ward 200 l-ft fWfl 24 Hours7 Days M-yiJ www (wnorawinnwiw cant New Rakuen Private Rooms Opea 24 Boars Free Parking 593-C666 13M Young Ste 214, Young Strrrt Center VJLJP. Relaxation Best Place In Town Iittenuitiontil Jacnzzi Avail ii hie HM.men Icar broke his right leg, wrist and elbow, ending his Tour. The Tour is always hard," said George Hincapie, one of Armstrong's US.

Postal Service teammates. "We're looking forward to the Pyrenees. We're in the yellow jersey that's the main objective. There's a lot more competition, we knew that coming in, but Lance is getting better every day." If not the first time Armstrong has started a Tour slowly. Last year, he was second overall, 26 seconds behind then-leader Igor Gonzalez Galdeano of Spain, by the first of me two rest days.

Twelve days later, he won the Tour by 7 minutes, 17 seconds over runner-up Beloki, his second-biggest margin of victory. Armstrong beat Switzerland's Alex Zuelle by 7 minutes, 37 seconds in 1999, when he came back from cancer to win his first title. And in 2001, he was 20 minutes, seven seconds behind by the 10th stage. Leading up to his first two Tour wins, Armstrong was well out in front after the 10th stage leading by more than four minutes in 2000 and seven minutes in 1999. Armstrong's next big day on this Tour comes at tomorrow's individual time trials, when riders race against the dock.

Armstrong, a bronze medalist in the event at the 2000 Sydney Games, has already scouted out the hilly 29.1-mile course that should suit strong climbers like him. His coach, Chris Carmichael, says that if all goes well, he expects Armstrong to gain 30 sec sors and International Olympic Committee officials. Organizers expect to make $206 million from the ticket sales. TEKXSS Top-seeded Moya ousted: Top-seeded Carlos Moya and Wimbledon semifinalist Se-bastien Grosjean lost in the second round of the Mercedes Cup yesterday in Stuttgart, Germany. Moya was defeated, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2), by Tomas Behrend, and the fourth-seeded Grosjean failed to make the transition from the Wimbledon grass to the slow red clay in Stuttgart, losing to Filippo Behrend kept Moya under pressure, rallying from 5-6 in the first set and overcoming a 2-5 deficit in the tiebreaker.

In other matches, David Ferrer defeated 16th-seeded Ivan Ljubi-dc, 7-6 (3), 6-1, and fifth-seeded Jiri Novak beat Sargis Sargsian, wow LIVE GIRLS! IVAWTASY BOOTHS SHOWS PROM 11am PiwmttoMMlMEii0WMhi 1M1 KAPtOUkNI BLVD. 1 BLOCK FROM COWVlHrww WMm, mem Head Video Kailua 25 Kaneohe Bay Dr. Ik, If ii ter in Carson, site of the final. "I know our players will be FIFA is instituting the women's rankings in an effort to boost the popularity of women's soccer, officials said. "The bad news about the rankings no surprises," FIFA official Marius Schneider said.

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