Toledo player collapses, pronounced dead

Toledo basketball player Haris Charalambous died Monday after collapsing during conditioning practice in Toledo, Ohio.

Trainers performed CPR on Charalambous until paramedics arrived. The 21-year-old backup center was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, university spokesman Lawrence Burns said. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Charalambous, a junior from Manchester, England, was expected to come off the bench this season. He played 23 games last season, averaging less than a point per game.

“Indiana forward Jermaine O’Neal expects to miss the Pacers’ preseason opener against New Jersey on Wednesday in Indianapolis because of a lawsuit stemming from the brawl with Detroit Pistons fans two years ago.

O’Neal could testify today or Wednesday, leaving him doubtful for the game. Jury selection is scheduled to start this morning in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

O’Neal punched the plaintiff, Charles Haddad, on the court during the Nov. 19, 2004, incident in Auburn Hills, Mich. Haddad wants stricken as defenses the Pacers’ claims that Haddad trespassed, was intoxicated and violated the waiver on the back of his ticket.

“Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut will likely miss the beginning of the season with a lower left leg sprain that is expected to sideline him for six to eight weeks.

Bogut was helped off the court during a team scrimmage Saturday after banging his leg into Steve Blake’s knee. He did not return to the scrimmage.

“The Seattle SuperSonics waived forward Noel Felix in their first roster move of training camp.

Felix, 25, played his first 12 NBA games last season, following three seasons in the Continental Basketball Association. He averaged 1.5 points per game for the Sonics. The move leaves Seattle with 18 players on its preseason roster entering Wednesday’s exhibition opener at Portland.

Olympics

Doping at issue in ‘08

Dick Pound, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, encouraged China to step up its anti-doping controls ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“Much of my visit here in China will be for the purpose of encouraging the proper authorities, in both sport and government, to increase the effort to bring China to the forefront of the fight against doping in sport,” Pound said in a speech at Beijing’s Sport University.

China is trying to shake a reputation for doping among its athletes, a drive that has gained urgency ahead of the 2008 Olympics.

The country has cracked down on doping following a string of scandals in the 1990s, when 32 swimmers were caught for drug offenses, two of them twice.

It has introduced tough new testing regimes and penalties, and 17 athletes were punished in 2004 with fines and competition bans of up to two years.

Miscellany

Cyclist in coma

Italian cyclist Michele Gobbi was in a coma with severe head injuries following a fall in the GP Beghelli race in Bologna, Italy.

Blood flowed from Gobbi’s head and his helmet was split in two after the accident in Saturday’s race. He was airlifted to a Bologna hospital. Gobbi’s Milram team said in a statement that he was “in stable condition.”

The 29-year-old Gobbi has four victories in his pro career.

“Glenn Myernick, an assistant coach for the U.S. soccer team and a former head coach of Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids, died in Thornton, Colo., after suffering a heart attack last week. He was 51.