UPI NewsTrack Sports

Toyota drops its F1 racing team

TOKYO, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Toyota Motor Corp., citing cost-cutting measures, said Wednesday it would withdraw its team from Formula One racing.

Toyota issued a statement Wednesday saying it would leave F1 racing at the end of the 2009 season. The F1 schedule wrapped up last weekend with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Toyota joined the F1 circuit in 2002 but its cars never managed a Grand Prix victory. Team drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock were expected to look to other F1 teams for possible cars for 2010.

The company said it was "dedicated to competing at the pinnacle of motor sports, even in the face of the abrupt economic changes that started last year.

"However, when considering TMC's motor-sports activities next year and beyond from a comprehensive midterm viewpoint reflecting the current severe economic realities, TMC decided to withdraw from F1."

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Dodgers' Padilla hurt in gun accident

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Vicente Padilla was treated for a gunshot wound after being accidentally shot in the right leg.

Padilla's agent Adam Katz said Padilla was injured in Nicaragua and said the pitcher was treated and released from a hospital Tuesday. The incident was described as a "hunting accident" in which a bullet grazed Padilla's thigh.

The Los Angeles Times said Padilla was apparently wounded when a person he was with tried to fix the pitcher's malfunctioning gun.

Padilla, a right-hander, is an 11-year major-league veteran, who had a 98-85 record while playing for Arizona, Philadelphia, Texas and the Dodgers. He joined Los Angeles in August and made eight appearances for the Dodgers, going 4-0 with a 3.20 earned run average in the regular season.

He pitched in three playoff games this year, getting the win in Los Angeles' clinching victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Division Series. He had a no decision in the Championship Series second game but took the loss in Game 5, when Philadelphia clinched the National League pennant.

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Former NBA player Bol helping Sudanese

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Former NBA player Manute Bol says despite his serious physical ailments he is heading back to his native Sudan to help the poor.

The Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle reported Wednesday the 7-foot-7 Bol, who was in a wheelchair because of arthritis, spoke of his intention to travel to Sudan next Monday to assist the struggling African nation through the non-profit Sudan Sunrise program's education and reconciliation efforts.

Bol, 47, who retired from the world of basketball in 1995 and was seriously injured in a 2004 taxi cab accident, spoke in Monroe County Tuesday about how many children in Sudan are forced to walk miles to reach a teacher and write in the dirt since they have no schools.

"They have no shoes," Bol said. "When they go back (home), they might not have food. That's why I help."

Bol's Monroe County appearances were sponsored by the University of Rochester.

The Democrat

and Chronicle said while a 2005 peace agreement helped end a 20-year civil war in Sudan, the African country is facing new crises in the form of poverty and famine.

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U.S. polo finalizing pony drug-test plan

WELLINGTON, Fla., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Officials at the U.S. Polo Association say they are still ironing out the details of a drug-testing program for horses that goes into effect next year.

The plan calls for random blood and urine tests on ponies to ensure they have not been given anything harmful.

The rule changes were adopted earlier this year after 21 ponies died of a toxic vitamin compound at the U.S. Open Polo Championships in Wellington, Fla.

"At this point we're still developing protocols," the association's executive director, Peter Rizzo, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. "There's not much we as an organization can do about compounding (vitamins). "Veterinarians and the federal government would have to regulate that."

The newspaper said Wednesday that a pilot program for horse testing will begin in January when the 2010 season gets under way in Wellington with hundreds of players and around 700 horses.