IN BRIEF

BASKETBALL

UConn coach Calhoun signs
five-year, $13 million extension

Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun, coming off a year marred by health problems, an NCAA investigation and a disappointing performance on the court, signed a five-year, $13 million contract, the school announced Friday.

The Hall of Fame coach will be paid $2 million retroactive to last season and $2.3 million next season. Calhoun, who turns 68 on Monday, had been making $1.6 million under a contract that was set to expire on June 30.

Also: Xavier's Jordan Crawford decided to enter the NBA Draft and has hired an agent.

The Atlantic 10's leading scorer played one season at Indiana before transferring to Xavier and sitting out a season. In his only season with the Musketeers, he averaged 20.5 points and helped Xavier win a share of a fourth straight A-10 title.

College players from three schools pulled their names out of consideration for the NBA Draft:

-- Richmond guard Kevin Anderson, the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year who averaged 17.8 points this past season, will return for his senior year.

-- Seton Hall guard Jeremy Hazell (20.4 average last season) and forwards Jeff Robinson (12.2 points) and Herb Pope (11.5 points, 10.7 rebounds), will return.

-- Lipscomb forward Adnan Hodzic, the nation's second-leading scorer at 22.7 points per game, will return for his senior season.

HORSE RACING

Eskendereya can't overcome
leg injury, sent into retirement

Wood Memorial winner Eskendereya was retired due to a leg injury.

Owner Ahmed Zayat said tests showed the 3-year-old colt had a soft tissue injury in his left front leg. The likely Kentucky Derby favorite was pulled a week before the race with swelling in the same leg.

Zayat also announced he's selling a share of the horse to winemaker Jess Jackson's Stonestreet Stables. The sale price was not disclosed.

Also: Super Saver will have some company when the Kentucky Derby winner travels to Pimlico next week for the Preakness.

Super Saver will be joined by stablemate Aikenite, who will give trainer Todd Pletcher another entry in the second leg of the Triple Crown.

Aikenite finished second in the Derby Trial in his last start April 24.

Trainer Bob Baffert ruled Conveyance out of the Preakness.

Baffert said the 3-year-old colt will be pointed elsewhere. The Southwest Stakes winner set a blistering early pace in last Saturday's Kentucky Derby before fading to 15th.

MOTOR SPORTS

Childress close on agreement
to keep Harvick in RCR stable

Richard Childress says he's close to an agreement that will keep Kevin Harvick with RCR beyond this season.

Childress said he hoped to have negotiations with the Sprint Cup points leader wrapped up before the series heads to Charlotte, N.C., this month for the Coca-Cola 600.

"We've been talking and hopefully we'll have something," Childress said after qualifying for today's Southern 500 in Darlington, S.C.

Also: Davey Hamilton tested at Texas Motor Speedway, where he plans to race again nearly nine years after almost losing his feet in a horrific accident at the track.

Hamilton's feet were so badly mangled after his wreck during a Texas race in June 2001 that doctors initially thought amputation would be the best option. Both legs and feet were broken.

The IndyCar driver instead had 21 surgeries to reconstruct his feet.

Hamilton, 47, will compete in a June 5 IRL race at the track.

Sebastian Vettel led a Red Bull 1-2 finish in Spanish Grand Prix practice in Barcelona as the Austrian team carried its dominant early season form into Europe.

Vettel set a fastest lap time of 1 minute, 19.965 seconds to edge teammate Mark Webber by just over two-tenths of a second.

SOCCER

South African police chief eyes early U.S. exit from World Cup

South Africa's police commissioner said his job will be easier if the United States is knocked out of the World Cup in the first round, avoiding the massive security challenge of a visit by President Barack Obama.

General Bheki Cele told a parliamentary police committee meeting in Cape Town it was "50-50" whether Obama would visit Africa's first World Cup, but officials had been told that if the Americans make the knockout stage of the tournament then Obama might jet in.

Also: English midfielder Gareth Barry is in danger of missing the World Cup after Manchester City announced he has ankle ligament damage that will sideline him for up to four weeks.

A regular starter for England, Barry was injured in Wednesday's Premier League loss to Tottenham.

They threw a fiesta in the New Meadowlands Stadium -- minus the goals.

Before 77,507 fans, nearly every one of them dressed in green, Mexico and Ecuador drew 0-0 in the first professional sporting event at the spanking new facility. The festive atmosphere for the first of Mexico's three friendlies as it tunes up for next month's World Cup kickoff was not matched by the quality of soccer, with sloppy play on both sides.

Paraguayan star Salvador Cabanas, who was shot in the head at point-blank range in a Mexico City bar in January, is to be released from a rehab clinic on May 23.

MISCELLANEOUS

Jankovic reaches Italian final
with sweep of Williams sisters

Jelena Jankovic beat tennis' famous sisters on consecutive days and reached the Italian Open final with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over Serena Williams. The top-ranked Williams squandered a match point and acknowledged having an "an apple in my throat."

Jankovic, ranked No. 7, will play for the title today against Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who defeated Serbia's Ana Ivanovic, 6-4, 6-2. Jankovic won the tournament in 2007 and '08.

Williams, who won in Rome in 2002, was playing in her first tournament since a three-month layoff because of a knee injury. She had been sidelined since winning the Australian Open in January.

Also: Roger Federer recovered from an erratic start to beat Arnaud Clement 7-6 (7), 6-2 and reach the semifinals of the Estoril Open in Oeiras, Portugal.

Federer today will play defending champion Albert Montanes after the fourth-seeded Spaniard defeated Pablo Cuevas, 6-4, 6-3.

Fredrik Andersson Hed shot 6-under 66 at the Italian Open in Turin to build a one-shot lead over a five-man group that includes Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Hed was at 8-under 136 after his second round, just ahead of Jimenez and Spaniards Alejandro Canizares and Ignacio Garrido, Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium and Hennie Otto of South Africa.

The biggest story of the weekend, though, might be 17-year-old phenom Matteo Manassero. Making his professional debut, the Italian shot a second straight 2-under 70 and is only four shots off the lead heading into the weekend at his national tournament.

Junior welterweight champion Amir Khan has been granted a visa and will be allowed to fight in the United States for the first time against Paulie Malignaggi on May 15 at New York's Madison Square Garden.

Khan is from Britain, but his family is of Pakistani descent.

Las Vegas' Andrew Tabiti's run at a national amateur boxing title ended when he lost in the semifinals of the 201-pound division of the National Golden Gloves Tournament in Little Rock, Ark.

Tabiti, who fights out of Elite Boxing Gym, was defeated 4-1 by Steve Geffrard of Boca Raton, Fla.

Justin Kerr of Simi Valley, Calif., reeled in a five-bass limit weighing 11 pounds, 9 ounces to maintain his lead in the FLW Series National Guard Western Division Tournament on Lake Mead.

With a three-day catch of 15 bass weighing 39 pounds, 3 ounces, Kerr holds a 2-pound, 1-ounce lead over second-place Tim Klinger of Boulder City heading into today's final round.

Felix Schutz scored 21 seconds into overtime to give Germany a 2-1 win over the United States in front of a record ice hockey crowd of 77,803 in the opening game of the world championship in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.