Basketball

BUCKS SIGN YI: Yi Jianlian is going to play for the Milwaukee Bucks after all.

Yi, the sixth overall selection in the NBA draft in June, signed a multiyear contract with the Bucks in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

"There has been a genuine excitement throughout our city and state, as well as internationally, following our selection of Yi in the NBA Draft," Bucks owner and team president Herb Kohl said. "We all anticipate Yi's arrival and welcome him and his family to Milwaukee. We look forward to a successful relationship for many years to come."

The 6-foot-11 forward had been reluctant to sign with Milwaukee. His agent, Dan Fegan, had pushed for a trade to a city with a large Asian influence — or at least a larger city.

"We are happy that Yi will be playing with the Bucks to further develop his skill and his contribution to both the Chinese National Team and the NBA," NBA commissioner David Stern said.

The Bucks called a teleconference for 10 a.m EDT to discuss the signing.

Yi is expected to join the team for training camp on Oct. 1.

CLIPS INK PATTERSON:Ruben Patterson, the free-agent forward who averaged a career-high 14.7 points with the Milwaukee Bucks last season, has signed a contract with the Los Angeles Clippers. No terms were announced.

Track

LAGAT WINS 1,500: In his first big race as an American, Bernard Lagat won the world championship that had long eluded him.

His stirring victory in the 1,500 meters Wednesday night in Osaka, Japan, was something he never quite accomplished as a Kenyan.

"This is a dream come true," the 32-year-old runner said. "I'm a champion for the United States of America."

Lagat, an American citizen since 2004, became the first U.S. runner to win a world 1,500-meter championship.

"When you're carrying this flag, it means a lot," Lagat said. "You're representing everybody, the victims of Katrina, everybody. Those who are serving in the war in Iraq. This is for everybody in the United States."

No American has won an Olympic gold medal in the event since Mel Sheppard in 1908.

Jurisprudence

MORE TROUBLE FOR REID: A son of Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid was charged Wednesday with driving under the influence and drug violations while still awaiting sentencing for a separate road-rage incident earlier this year.

Britt Reid, 22, of Villanova, was jailed last week for violating the terms of his bail after police said they found 33 pills, including the painkiller hydrocodone, on him during a traffic stop in Plymouth Township.

After pleading guilty to gun and drug charges from a January road-rage incident in which police say he brandished a gun at another driver, Reid was required to remain drug-free and drive only to his community college classes.

In the latest incident, Reid was charged with a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence, three drug violations and careless driving, authorities said.

Cycling

DOPING PACT: Twelve ProTeams agreed to tougher doping measures Wednesday in an effort to clean up cycling's battered image.

The measures are the "strongest possible," said Gerrit Middag, the general manager of the International Professional Cycling Teams.

The teams agreed to submit each of their riders to at least 15 blood tests and 15 urine tests next season.

"This will add up to at least 600 tests per team," the teams said in a statement after meeting at the Eneco Tour in the Netherlands.

The teams are Liquigas, Team CSC, T-Mobile, Rabobank, Euskaltel, Caisse d'Epargne, Saunier-Duval, Quick-Step Innergetic, Lampre-Fondital, Team Milram, Predictor-Lotto and Gerolsteiner. Bouygues-Telecom, Credit Agricole, Cofidis and AG2R did not attend Wednesday's meeting.

Middag said he hoped "others will eventually join."

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The new doping rules will start in January.

Lacrosse

DUKE RETURNEES: Four Duke men's lacrosse players, including national player of the year Matt Danowski, will return for a fifth season granted by the NCAA to restore a year lost amid rape allegations that led to false charges against three former teammates.

Goaltender Dan Loftus and defensemen Tony McDevitt and Nick O'Hara will join Danowski in returning to the Durham campus for the 2008 season, team spokesman Art Chase said Wednesday. The players are required to pursue graduate-level course work to be eligible for the fifth year.

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