Sports Briefs

Prep hockey season starts tonight

The area prep hockey season begins tonight with a pair of games at the Peninsula Ice Classic at the Soldotna Sports Center. Soldotna will play Lathrop at 5:45 p.m., while Kenai Central will follow with a 7:45 p.m. game against Chugiak.

Jones settles dispute, looks to Tarver

LAS VEGAS All of a sudden, the question of who enters the ring first Saturday night didn't mean that much to Roy Jones Jr.

He had bigger things on his mind like giving Antonio Tarver a whipping and then getting together with Mike Tyson for a heavyweight megafight to finish off his career.

Jones quickly ended a dispute over which fighter would make the traditional champion's entrance when he conceded the honor to Tarver, whose light heavyweight title is at stake in the fight.

''He can come into the ring last. I don't care,'' Jones said Wednesday. ''I'm leaving last.''

Rubin, Capriati win in WTA Championships

LOS ANGELES Jennifer Capriati fought off four set points against her and defeated Ai Sugiyama 7-5, 7-6 (3) in round-robin play on opening night of the WTA Championships on Wednesday.

Capriati left the court leading 2-1 in the second set to have her right thigh taped after straining her hip flexor.

Capriati returned from the medical break to take a 3-1 lead before Sugiyama won three straight games and led 4-3.

Capriati overcame a break point against her and evened the set 4-4. Sugiyama held for a 5-4 lead and had her first set point in the 10th game before Capriati won three straight points for a 5-5 tie.

Sugiyama held for a 6-5 lead, then had triple set point on Capriati's serve. Buoyed by the partisan crowd, Capriati won 10 straight points the final five of the 12th game and the first five of the tiebreaker. She closed out the match with a forehand winner.

Later Wednesday night, world No. 1 and defending champion Kim Clijsters took on Elena Dementieva.

In the night's opening match, Chanda Rubin rallied from a set and a service break down to beat Amelie Mauresmo 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Castro ordered to stand trial on rape charges

PITTSBURGH Florida Marlins catcher Ramon Castro was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on charges he raped a woman in his hotel room in August.

A magistrate made the ruling after Castro's accuser testified during a preliminary hearing. The 28-year-old woman said she met Castro at the hotel's bar after a game between the Marlins and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

She said she went to his room with another couple in the early morning hours of Aug. 28, and that Castro asked the other couple to leave, then attacked her.

Castro's attorney, J. Alan Johnson, said his client is innocent and that hotel surveillance tapes will eventually prove that. Castro was allowed to remain free until trial, which wasn't immediately scheduled.

Castro, a 27-year-old married father of two, was arrested after the woman went to police with her story. He was charged with rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, sexual assault and unlawful restraint.

The rape charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison, though under state sentencing guidelines it's unlikely Castro would receive such a sentence if he were convicted.

Johnson said he has hired investigators to review the case and said the ''time element'' of the woman's accusations was crucial.

A third-string catcher used mostly as a pinch hitter, Castro hit .283 with 5 home runs and 8 RBI in just 53 at-bats last season. He didn't play during the World Series, which the Marlins won after beating the New York Yankees.