ARENA FOOTBALL

Soul, Sabercats reach title game

Matt D'Orazio threw eight touchdown passes to lead the host Philadelphia Soul to its first appearance in the Arena Bowl with a 70-35 win over the Cleveland Gladiators yesterday.

D'Orazio completed 17 of 25 passes for 184 yards. Larry Brackins and Brent Holmes each caught three touchdown passes.

Philadelphia will play the San Jose Sabercats, who beat visiting Grand Rapids 81-55 behind Mark Grieb's eight touchdown passes, five of them to Cleannord Saintil.

The championship game is July 27 in New Orleans.

TRACK AND FIELD

Britain's Chambers wins 100 meters

BIRMINGHAM, England - Dwain Chambers won the 100 meters at Britain's Olympic trials and now must wait to see if a judge overturns his Olympic ban.

Chambers, who is returning from a two-year drug ban, finished in 10.00 seconds.

Chambers, 30, returned to the track this year after a ban from 2003-05. He tested positive for the steroid THG, the drug at the center of the BALCO scandal, in August 2003.

HORSE RACING

Curlin comes in second on turf

NEW YORK - Curlin made it close but finished second in his first test of the turf.

Red Rocks took the lead in the stretch and held off the reigning horse of the year by two lengths in winning the Man o'War Stakes at Belmont Park.

Curlin dominated on dirt, winning nine times in 12 starts. This was a chance to see if the 4-year-old colt could stick with the top turf horses.

Curlin, with regular rider Robby Albarado aboard, rallied in the stretch of the 1 3-8-mile race, but was unable to catch Red Rocks, a former Breeders' Cup Turf winner who came roaring past Sudan. The winning time was 2:12.60

In other horse racing news:

TENNIS

Chang inducted into hall of fame

NEWPORT, R.I. - Michael Chang finds it appropriate he's receiving his sport's highest honor as China awaits the Olympics.

Chang was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame yesterday and reflected on his experiences as a Chinese-American athlete. He won the 1989 French Open at age 17 - the youngest man to win a major - as the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing were escalating into bloodshed.

"For me, at the French Open, if I wasn't playing my match, I was glued to CNN watching the events unfold," Chang said during a news conference before his induction. "The crackdown actually happened that Sunday of the French Open."

Chang finished with 34 titles. He was a finalist at the 1995 French Open, 1996 U.S. Open and 1996 Australian Open. He became the first American to win the French since Tony Trabert in 1955.

Inducted posthumously were contributors Mark McCormack and Eugene Scott. Monica Seles presented McCormack, the founder of International Management Group. Scott, the founder, editor and publisher during his 30 years at Tennis Week, was presented by John McEnroe.

ELSEWHERE