UPI NewsTrack Sports

• Tweet

Bogomolov advances with win in Zagreb

ZAGREB, Croatia, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- No. 2-seeded Alex Bogomolov Jr. rolled to a first-round win Tuesday at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors tennis tournament in Croatia.

Bogomolov dismissed local wild-card entrant Dino Marcan 6-3, 6-1 in just more than an hour. Bogomolov was good on 86 percent of his first serves and didn't drop serve. He had breaks in half of Marcan's eight service games.

Third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) decision over Sergiy Stakhovsky. Youzhny lost his serve just once and had a break in each set.

No. 6-seed Marcos Baghdatis, in the day's final match, topped Lukas Rosol 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and eighth-seeded Ivo Karlovic, a local favorite, was a 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 winner over Blaz Kavcic.

Also Tuesday, Michael Berrer defeated Marco Chiudinelli 7-6 (7-3), 6-1; Jurgen Melzer routed Philipp Petzschner 6-1, 6-3 in 50 minutes; and Lukasz Kubot breezed past Matteo Viola 6-2, 6-1.

The tournament has the final four first-round matches scheduled for Wednesday. That includes fourth-seeded Croatian Ivan Dodig the event's defending champion taking on Marsel Ilhan.

Flood takes over at Rutgers

PISCATAWAY, N.J., Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Kyle Flood was promoted Tuesday to head football coach at Rutgers, replacing Greg Schiano who abruptly left to take over the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Flood, 41, was named interim coach after Schiano announced last week he was leaving for Tampa Bay. By Tuesday, just ahead of nation signing day, Rutgers officials removed the "interim" tag.

Schiano was believed to have been on a recruiting trip when he was, in fact, interviewing to replace Raheem Morris, who was fired by Tampa Bay about a month ago.

Flood has been on Schiano's coaching staff at Rutgers since 2005. He was offensive line coach, co-offensive coordinator and assistant head coach last season.

He's helped Rutgers qualify for bowl games in six of the last seven seasons. The Scarlet Knights were 9-4 last season, including a Pinstripe Bowl win over Iowa State.

The Rutgers position is the first head coaching job for Flood.

Ball boy: Coach's wife, players had sex

NEW YORK, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- A former Syracuse ball boy says, in an affidavit filed in a New York court, former assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine's wife boasted about sex with players.

Robert Davis and his stepbrother have filed a lawsuit accusing head Coach Jim Boeheim of defamation for saying they made up charges Fine molested them. Lawyer Gloria Allred filed an affidavit Monday in which Davis said Boeheim should have been aware of sexual misconduct by both Bernie and Laurie Fine, the New York Daily News reported.

"I believe Boeheim deliberately chose to ignore what he knew was improper behavior, or actually knew precisely what was happening and did nothing to intervene," Davis said. "It is not only Fine's relationship with me and other boys that would have tipped Boeheim off. For years, Bernie Fine's wife Laurie Fine had sexual relationships with basketball team players. Players used to talk openly about it as a known fact."

Davis said he overheard Laurie Fine and the wife of another coach discussing sex with players while he acted as their chauffeur.

Fine was fired after ESPN reported that Laurie Fine, in an audiotape, said she knew her husband was molesting boys.

Official: Camels could carry Olympic torch

MOSCOW, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Camels should carry the Olympic torch part of the route in Russia before the 2014 Winter Games, the governor of the southern Russian region of Astrakhan says.

"Our region is the only place in Russia and Europe that has camel races, so camel riders can carry the flame across the border between Kalmykia and the Astrakhan region," Alexander Zhilkin told the online newspaper Gazeta.ru.

In 20 days leading to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, the torch will travel about 17,000 miles, with side trips to Mount Elbrus in western Caucasus, Europe's highest mountain, and Lake Baikal in Siberia, the world's deepest freshwater lake, RIA Novosti reported.