Overtime

Boxing

Police Club hosts Silver Gloves event

The North Augusta Police Athletic League Boxing Club will host South Carolina's Silver Gloves Boxing Championships in Clearwater, tonight at 7 p.m.

Admission is $10 and children 6 and under are free. For more information, call (803) 593-1775.

Horse Racing

Zipless Chippy is retiring from track

In Rochester, N.Y., Zippy Chippy, who never visited the winner's circle, won't be holding up the rear at county fairs anymore. Hollywood is dangling a carrot, and his owner-trainer is retiring the 0-for-100 horse.

With a possible movie in the works, a producer suggested it might be best to keep the not-so-zippy Zipster off the track, said owner Felix Monserrate, who declined to elaborate on the deal.

So when the balky brown thoroughbred turns 14 next year he will switch to lighter duties at Finger Lakes Race Track, the home track that banned him in 1998 as a blight on bettors. As an outrider pony, he will escort horses in the post parade and lead them to the gate.

Zippy Chippy fell short of the futility record of 105 losing starts set in the 1950s by Thrust, another gelding. He clocked his 100th straight loss in September, finishing last in an eight-horse field at the Three-County Fairgrounds in Northampton, Mass.

His awful run turned him into something of a celebrity. In 2000, People magazine included him on its list of that year's most interesting personalities.

Zippy Chippy finished second eight times, third 12 times and earned $30,572, largely paying his own way, said Monserrate, who acquired him in a 1995 trade with his breeder for an old van.

Steroid Ban

Collins slapped with 8-year suspension

In Denver, sprinter Michelle Collins was suspended for eight years for a doping violation linked to the BALCO scandal and will forfeit results that include 2003 indoor world and U.S. titles in the 200 meters.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said that a three-member panel of the American Arbitration Association concluded Collins, 33, used various performance-enhancing substances that allegedly were provided by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative.

Though Collins never tested positive for banned substances, the appeals panel concluded she used the drugs for several years.

USADA based its case on patterns observed from blood and urine tests Collins had in recent years, along with documents seized from BALCO.

Skiing

Miller disqualified for improper attire

In Val D'Isere, France, Bode Miller was disqualified for wearing a giant slalom suit instead of downhill gear while finishing fifth in a World Cup training run.

Miller, winner of both downhill races this season and the World Cup overall leader, left the course by the time the disqualification was announced. The move has no bearing on his participation in Saturday's race.

Giant slalom suits are fitted with plastic padding to protect skiers when they hit gates in the technical disciplines. The padding makes them more aerodynamic and faster than the more porous downhill outfits.

Hermann Maier was fastest in 1 minute, 58.90 seconds on a course where he won four years ago.

Soccer

Lazio forced to play without fan support

In Nyon, Switzerland, the Italian team Lazio was ordered to play its next European game without fans as punishment for a November game marked by racial taunts from the stands.

This is the third time Lazio has been punished for racial misconduct, European soccer's governing body said.

In last month's game against Partizan Belgrade, fans taunted Partizan's Pierre Boya, a striker from Cameroon. The fans clashed with police, ignited flares and threw objects during a Nov. 25 UEFA Cup game in Rome.