Lance Armstrong has told organizers that he will race in the Giro d'Italia.
The announcement posted on the Gazzetta dello Sport's website Thursday removed doubts that the seven-time Tour de France champion would miss the race after having surgery on a broken right collarbone last month.
The Gazzetta said the American contacted organizers Thursday from Colorado, where he is training.
The Giro runs from May 9-31.
"The recovery has been going well and the plan is to be there," Armstrong's spokesman Mark Higgins wrote in an e-mail to the Associated Press.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Seattle hires Cameron Dollar
Seattle University has hired Washington assistant and former UCLA guard Cameron Dollar as its coach.
The school announced that Dollar, 33, will replace Joe Callero, who left this month to take over at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
The Redhawks are in the second year of a five-year transition to Division I.
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UCLA center J'mison Morgan has undergone arthroscopic knee surgery. The freshman had the procedure at UCLA Medical Center to remove torn cartilage from his right knee. His recovery is expected to take six weeks.
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Syracuse point guard Jonny Flynn signed with an agent, ending his college career after two seasons and taking a top player off the Orange for the second straight year. Other players made themselves available for the NBA draft but did not sign with agents, leaving open the possibility of their returns to school. Among them were St. Mary's sophomore guard Patty Mills, Notre Dame junior forward Luke Harangody and Xavier junior Derrick Brown.
TENNIS
No. 2 Venus Williams ousted
Second-seeded Venus Williams was upset in the third round of the Family Circle Cup at Charleston, S.C., falling to 63rd-ranked Sabine Lisicki, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in a startling early exit that took even Williams by surprise.
Elsewhere, top-seeded Elena Dementieva, ranked No. 3, defeated Varvara Lepchenko, 6-1, 6-1 and next faces seventh-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, a 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-3 winner over Anastasia Rodionova, in a quarterfinal today.
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Roger Federer lost to Olympic gold-medal doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-4, 7-5, in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters.
HORSE RACING
Santa Anita winding down
Santa Anita's 84-day meeting comes to a close this weekend, highlighted by two marathon turf features, the Grade II $200,000 Santa Barbara Handicap at 1 1/4 miles Saturday and the Grade II $200,000 San Juan Capistrano Handicap at 1 3/4 miles Sunday.
