Sports in brief

Times wires
Friday, April 1, 2011

College football

Rebel gets sixth season

Mississippi DL Kentrell Lockett, All-SEC in 2008 and 2009, was granted a sixth season of eligibility by the NCAA. Lockett redshirted as a freshman in 2006. Last season, he missed the opener due to a heart condition then tore his left ACL in the fourth game. The Rebels hope he will be ready for fall drills.

NFL

Broncos star's trial off

Charges against Broncos DE Elvis Dumervil resulting from an altercation with a parking lot attendant before a home game last season were dropped. The league's sack leader in 2009 was set to go on trial Tuesday for assault and disturbing the peace. On Oct. 24, the injured Dumervil forgot his player credential and wasn't allowed into the stadium despite showing his driver's license.

Draft: Florida C Mike Pouncey is one of 20 prospects invited to New York for the first round April 28.

Winter sports

Mancuso wins again

Julia Mancuso extended her record with a 12th U.S. title, the giant slalom in Winter Park, Colo. Last year, Mancuso broke Andrea Mead Lawrence's record that stood for 55 years. Friday, she trailed Sarah Schleper by 1.52 seconds after the first run. But she overtook her on the second to finish in a combined 2:21.61, 0.61 faster than Schleper, for her third straight U.S. giant slalom title.

Et cetera

Olympics: The international federations for softball and baseball are working on a joint proposal in hopes of getting both back by the 2020 Games. Both have been dropped for 2012 and 2016. The federations said they are analyzing potential savings via sharing a venue and housing.

Soccer: Toronto traded star M Dwayne De Rosario to New York for M Tony Tchani, D Danleigh Borman and a 2012 first-round pick. De Rosario scored 15 of Toronto's 33 goals last season but was upset with his salary ($443,750 last season).

Sailing: America's Cup officials announced a series of events, called the World Series, will precede the 34th event on San Francisco Bay in 2013. Portugal (Aug. 6-14), England (Sept. 10-18) and San Diego (undetermined) will be the first stops. Organizers also announced 14 challengers and defending champ Oracle of San Francisco met the deadline for the America's Cup. Competitors were not disclosed, but previously declaring were teams from Italy, Sweden, New Zealand, France, China and Australia.

Times wires

Cricket

World cup has gone very viral in India

MUMBAI, India — Some estimates suggest one-sixth of humanity watched the World Cup semifinal between India and Pakistan on Wednesday. Given India's population is about 1.21 billion, the TV audience for today's final against Sri Lanka could exceed that.

India has waited 28 years since its last World Cup title. For that reason alone, few in this cricket-obsessed nation are likely to miss the showdown against Sri Lanka.

Newspaper and TV coverage has been full of World Cup stories. But the event isn't just causing a boom in traditional forms of media.

Nearly 24 hours after the semifinal, it was still the top trending topic on Twitter in India.

India tennis star Sania Mirza and her husband, Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik, tweeted after the match. "Bad luck to Pakistan..fantastic win by India but job only half done..one more to go..phheww..now I can go practice in peace..GO INDIA," hers read. "Today the Pakistani cricket team has given the whole Pakistan a lot to cheer and smile about..we are proud of you boys..." his read.

On Facebook, an India Cricket page received more than 1,000 comments during the game. And Nike's "Bleed Blue" and Pepsi's "Change The Game" ad campaigns have more than a million "likes."

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/sports-in-brief/1161203

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