Mediterranean Games

About 30 athletes from Slovenia pulled out of the Mediterranean Games in Athens under orders from officials of the breakaway Yugoslav republic. "They are not leaving Greece, but they have decided not to further participate in the games," said a Yugoslav official who declined to be identified. Yugoslav federal forces have attacked and killed Slovenes defending their decision to form an independent state.

About 30 athletes from Slovenia pulled out of the Mediterranean Games in Athens under orders from officials of the breakaway Yugoslav republic. "They are not leaving Greece, but they have decided not to further participate in the games," said a Yugoslav official who declined to be identified. Yugoslav federal forces have attacked and killed Slovenes defending their decision to form an independent state.

Two Turkish weightlifters who won gold medals at the Mediterranean Games in Athens tested positive for banned drugs and could cost their country a two-year suspension if they test positive in a second test Wednesday. Sunay Bulut tested positive for ephedrine and Ali Eroglou tested positive for an anabolic steroid.

The United States has asked the Soviet Union to use its influence to get North Korea to accept South Korea's offer of some 1988 Olympic Games events, a South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said. The spokesman quoted Assistant Secretary of State Gaston Sigur as telling South Korean Foreign Minister Choi Kwang-soo that the request was made during his talks with Soviet officials last week in Moscow.

Eddie Johnston, who changed hockey history by drafting Mario Lemieux, ended a 10-year coaching layoff by returning Tuesday to the two-time Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. "I want to win another Stanley Cup and this is the place," Johnston said. "The challenge is tremendous, but I wanted to be the coach." Johnston, 57, a longtime NHL player, coach and general manager, inherits from Scotty Bowman a team many consider the best in hockey.

A South African teenager's stunning victory in the women's 800-meter race at the World Championships on Wednesday was only a precursor to the shocking revelations unveiled afterward. At least two of the seven runners who lost to Caster Semenya are convinced she is not a woman, and track and field's international governing body has launched an investigation into the 18-year-old's gender. Semenya, an unknown before she ran a blistering time at the Africa Junior Championships three weeks ago, did not speak to media after the race.

Chris Humbert, who arrived from Greece this week, wasn't too surprised by the U.S. team's lull Wednesday. There were factors that made it inevitable. There were U.S. players, like Humbert, who are still adjusting from European time. Then there was Croatia, which is on a rather tight schedule. The result was a 9-8 Croatia victory in the Newport International Water Polo Tournament in front of 800 at Corona del Mar High's Marian Bergeson Aquatic Center. It was the first loss for the U.S.

Call it a new negotiating tactic. A police report involving Denver Broncos Pro Bowl wide receiver Brandon Marshall recently emerged in which he voiced his displeasure with the Broncos to police who pulled him over two years ago on suspicion of driving under the influence. ABC7 reported on the findings Tuesday night, and it is timely because he has recently asked for a trade. "I hate Denver. I hope to get traded. I hate this city," an officer quoted Marshall as saying in the police report.

Want to know which country will win the 1986 World Cup? You could do worse than ask Antonio Battista. It was Battista, described locally as "magician, fortune teller, seer, and chairman of Italy's magician association," who, before Tuesday's Italy-France match, predicted the downfall of the reigning world champions. "The witches are on France's side," Battista said an hour or so before the game began. "Their magic sphere is spinning to the left. That is bad for Italy.

Two months after a positive drug test for methamphetamines Jeremy Mayfield is getting ready to return to NASCAR. U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen on Wednesday in Charlotte, N.C., issued a temporary injunction to allow the driver to get back behind the wheel at Daytona International Speedway this weekend. "This is huge for us," Mayfield said. "This means more to me probably than any race I've ever won or anything."