Hockey
NO PROGRESS IN TALKS: Labor talks between the NHL and its players' union resumed Wednesday, but both sides said no progress was made toward a deal. The four-hour session in the union's Toronto office was their first meeting since July 21, when the league presented six possible concepts for a new economic system.
The collective bargaining agreement expires Sept. 15. If a new agreement isn't reached, a lockout could threaten the entire season.
"They haven't moved off their desire for a salary cap, and that's not going to lead us to any progress," said Ted Saskin, the players' association senior director.
Asked if he could be persuaded to adopt a luxury tax, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said no.
"I wish we were making more substantive progress, but we have a vision for the future of the game. It is one that requires substantive changes so that the game and our clubs can be healthy," Bettman said. "The union, at least for the time being, seems intent on maintaining the status quo and as we all know that isn't working."
Bettman has vowed to establish "cost certainty" for clubs. He is determined to make sure the percentage of revenues paid out in player salaries is sliced.
CANADIENS INK ZEDNIK: Right wing Richard Zednik signed a three-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday. Zednik had 26 goals and 24 assists for Montreal last season. The deal is worth $7.3 million, with a salary of $2.3 million next season. Zednik earned $1.85 million last season.
Basketball
HOLDSCLAW MUM: Chamique Holdsclaw doesn't want to say why she has missed three of the Washington Mystics' last four games. The team has described it as a "minor medical condition," and in her first interview on the subject, the WNBA's second-leading scorer tried to put a few rumors to rest.
"You say, 'health issues,' people automatically think you're pregnant," Holdsclaw told The Washington Times and WJLA-TV at her basketball camp at a local high school Tuesday. "Well, I'm not pregnant, I don't have cancer and never have I been pregnant because there are a lot of ignorant people out there that just assume that.
"I'm not addicted to any type of drug. I really don't like to take them. The trainers will tell you that."
Holdsclaw said she is not revealing the nature of her problem because it is a private matter.
Cycling
BRITISH RIDER SUSPENDED: British cyclist David Millar was suspended for two years by the British Cycling Federation on Wednesday for a doping offense. An independent disciplinary panel imposed the suspension and took away his 2003 world-time trial title, according to a statement by the federation. He was also fined $1,600.
French police raided Millar's home in Biarritz, France, in late June as part of a doping investigation into his pro team, Cofidis, and found two used syringes. Millar, 27, told a French judge he used the banned blood-boosting hormone EPO on three separate occasions, once in 2001 and twice in 2003.
Millar was barred from this summer's Tour de France and suspended by the his cycling federation. He also withdrew from the British Olympic team.