Briefs: Raich, Kostelic slalom to victory

Winter sports

Raich, Kostelic slalom to victory: Benjamin Raich and Janica Kostelic added to their World Cup overall titles by winning their races at Friday's finals in Are, Sweden.

Raich won the men's giant slalom, taking the season title for the second straight year, and Kostelic captured the last women's slalom of the season.

The Olympic giant slalom champ, Raich was second to Italy's Massimiliano Blardone after the opening leg, but the Austrian skied an aggressive second run to win in a combined time of 2 minutes, 22.50 seconds.

Bode Miller, who won Thursday's super-G and finished second in Wednesday's downhill, went off course on the first run. The American, who won the overall title last season, appeared to hit a bump on a turn and struck a gate hard with his left shoulder. He slammed his face against his knee and bit his tongue.

Daron Rahlves and Ted Ligety placed sixth and seventh. It was the last individual World Cup race of Rahlves' career — he will race at the U.S. championships before retiring.

Kostelic's win put her one victory away from breaking the women's record for total points in a season.

Maltais wins Cup race: Canada's Dominique Maltais edged American Lindsey Jacobellis to win the World Cup snowboardcross event in Furano, Japan. Michal Novotny of the Czech Republic won the men's event, defeating Switzerland's Marco Huser in the final.

NASCAR

Black driver qualifies: Bill Lester qualified for Sunday's Nextel Cup Golden Corral 500 in Hampton, Ga., becoming the first black driver in 20 years to start a race in NASCAR's top division and just the sixth in the sport's 58-year history. Willy T. Ribbs was the last in 1986.

"It's overwhelming," said Lester, 45, who moved from California to Atlanta a few years ago to pursue his stock car racing ambition. "It's the culmination of a very long dream. This night means a lot to me."

Lester drove his Dodge around 1.54-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway at an average speed of 190.502 mph. That was 19th fastest among 53 drivers who competed for 43 starting positions.

"I saw Bill before the race and I wished him luck," said Kasey Kahne of Enumclaw, who nipped Ryan Newman for the pole. "It's exciting and I hope Bill gets a lot more opportunities."

College football

Arizona loses scholarships: Arizona will lose four scholarships for the 2006 season because of poor academics after the NCAA rejected an appeal.

The Wildcats will still have 81 players on scholarships and UA can sign a full allotment in 2007.

Tennis

Blake, Sharapova advance: James Blake played his way into the world top 10 rankings for the first time, and into the semifinals of the Pacific Life Open with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Igor Andreev.

Blake will face No. 2 Rafael Nadal, a 7-5, 6-0 winner over Marcos Baghdatis,

Maria Sharapova beat comeback queen Martina Hingis 6-3 6-3 to move into the final in Indian Wells, Calif. Sharapova will face Elena Dementieva, who rallied to a 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory over Justine Henin-Hardenne.

Soccer

Two charged in scandal: The chairman and lawyer of La Louviere soccer club have been charged with financial wrongdoing as part of Belgium's match-fixing probe.

Team chairman Filippo Gaone and lawyer Laurent Denis formally were charged late Thursday after police searched 20 homes and offices, seizing documents, computers and mobile phones. Five others were questioned.

The federal prosecutor filed theft, fraud and forgery charges against Gaone. Denis was accused of helping him channel money illegally from La Louviere to Gaone-owned companies.

Gaone and Denis were arrested as part of a probe into allegations a Shanghai crime ring paid thousands of dollars to fix games in Belgium.

Abbott new MLS president: Mark Abbott was promoted to president of Major League Soccer. Abbott had been the chief operating officer of MLS.

Seattle Times news services