Sportsinbrief

HOST Ateneo De Manila University claimed the first final slot in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines ( UAAP) men’s football Season 75 after beating De La Salle University 4- 3, at the Erenchun field inside the Ateneo campus on Thursday.

CELTICS RALLY PAST BULLS IN DEFENSIVE STRUGGLE

BOSTON, Massachusetts: The Boston Celtics rallied in the fourth quarter to edge the Chicago Bulls 71-69 on Wednesday behind a strong defense and a 12-point performance from forward Kevin Garnett. The Celtics, who are 20-9 at home and unbeaten in the last seven at TD Garden, lost another guard this week after Leandro Barbosa suffered a torn ACL. Like the Celtics, the Bulls are missing key players with injuries.Bulls star Derrick Rose said Wednesday he might have to miss the entire season while he recovers from surgery to fix a torn ACL.

SAO PAULO:

FILIPINO FENCERS TO SEE ACTION IN ASIAN JUNIOR AND CADET CHAMPIONSHIPS

THE national fencing team will be participating in 2013 Asian Junior and Cadet Championships scheduled on March 2 to 11 in Bangkok, Thailand. The Philippine Amateur Fencing Association is expected to announce its final lineup late this month after series of evaluations.

NADAL OUT OF BRAZIL OPEN DOUBLES OVER KNEE FEAR

Rafael Nadal will not play his scheduled doubles match at the Brazil Open on Wednesday because of “knee overuse,” organizers said. But they said the Spanish star intends to play his opening singles match Thursday against Brazilian Joao Souza. World No. 5 Nadal had been scheduled to team up with Argentina’s David Nalbandian in a second- round encounter against Argentine Horacio Zeballos and Oliver Marach of Austria.

IOC WILL NOT REATTRIBUTE ARMSTRONG’S BRONZE

LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee said Wednesday ( Thursday in Manila) that it would not reattribute the 2000 cycling bronze medal stripped from Lance Armstrong because of doping. The IOC last month asked the disgraced cycling icon to hand back the Olympic time- trial bronze medal he won at the Sydney games in 2000 after he was stripped of his career record back to August 1998 for taking performance- enhancing drugs.

RUSSIAN WEIGHTLIFTER STRIPPED OF BRONZE MEDAL

LAUSANNE: Russian weightlifter Oleg Perepetchenov was strippedon Tuesday of his 2004 Olympic bronze medal by the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee ( IOC) for a doping offense. The Uzbekistan- born weightlifter— a twotime world champ i o n s h i p s s i l ver medallist i n 2001 and 2002— i s the l ate s t at h l ete from the Athens Games to be disqualified because his stored sample yielded a positive test. The IOC also told the weightlifting federation to reallocate the medal from the 77-kg category, which will see Turkish lifter Reyhan Arabacioglu taking the bronze.