Gilbert Arenas sentenced to halfway house

Suspended Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas was ordered Friday to spend 30 days in a halfway house for his conviction on gun charges stemming from a locker-room confrontation with a teammate.

District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Robert E. Morin also sentenced Arenas to 400 hours of community service, which cannot be conducted at basketball clinics, and a $5,000 fine.

Arenas apologized in court, saying, “Every day, I wake up wishing it did not happen.”

Arenas pleaded guilty to violating the city’s gun laws in a Dec. 21 incident at Verizon Center with teammate Javaris Crittendon over an unpaid gambling debt totaling a few hundred dollars,

“The evidence is that both of you felt disrespected,” Morin told Arenas. “Rather than acting like mature adults, you escalated the incident” by bringing guns to practice.

Prosecutors had wanted Arenas to go to jail for at least three months. They said he lied repeatedly about why the guns were in the locker room and tried to cover up what had happened. They also said he knew bringing guns into D.C. was illegal and has a prior gun conviction.

FIGURE SKATING

Nagasu leads at world championships

Mirai Nagasu of Arcadia was in first place after a nearly flawless short program at the World Figure Skating Championships at Turin, Italy, and Kim Yuna, who has lost only one competition over the last two seasons and was downright majestic in winning gold in Vancouver, was in seventh place after three major errors in an uncharacteristically sloppy performance.

Coming off the ice, Kim told reporters that her left foot was “shaking.” But it was unclear if there was a medical issue, and coach Brian Orser couldn’t be reached for comment.

“The first triple combination was perfect, then I felt not sure on my left foot. It was shaking. It wasn’t feeling good, and I don’t know why,” the South Korean star said.

Nagasu scored a season-best 70.40, putting her two points ahead of Olympic silver medalist Mao Asada of Japan — and more than 10 in front of Kim. Finland’s Laura Lepisto was third. The free skate is Saturday.

Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada added a world title to their gold medal, edging training partners Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States. Virtue and Moir finished second to Davis and White, the Vancouver silver medalists, in the free dance but had built up a large enough lead in the compulsory and original dances to win.

TENNIS

Azarenka wins first match

Defending champion Victoria Azarenka has won her opening match at the Sony Ericsson Open, beating Alexandra Dulgheru, 6-3, 6-2, at Key Biscayne, Fla.

Azarenka, seeded fourth, advanced on the same court where she earned the biggest victory of her career a year ago, beating Serena Williams in the final.

Azarenka finished shortly before rain began to fall, causing a 2 1/2 -hour delay. There was another delay later in the afternoon.

In men’s play, No. 24 Ivo Karlovic hit 28 aces, held every service game and beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, for his first win in seven tries at Key Biscayne.

Wayne Odesnik, an American ranked No. 98, pleaded guilty in Brisbane, Australia, to importing human growth hormone into Australia before a tournament leading to the Australian Open. He was fined more than $7,000 and could be banned from tennis for two years.

The 24-year-old player was stopped by customs officers on Jan. 2 when he arrived in Australia ahead of the Brisbane International, a warmup for the year’s first Grand Slam event. Eight vials, each containing 6 milligrams of the performance-enhancing substance, were found in his baggage.

ETC.

America’s Cup legal battle over

One of the bitterest chapters in America’s Cup history has officially ended with the new and old champions agreeing to drop their remaining legal claims against each other.

The agreement comes a month and a half after a speedy space-age trimaran owned by American software tycoon Larry Ellison routed defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland in Valencia, Spain.

In the settlement announced Friday, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Yacht Club, which backs BMW Oracle Racing, says it will drop its breach of fiduciary duty claim against Societe Nautique de Geneve, which backs Alinghi, and that claims by both sides concerning the design and construction of the yachts will be dropped.

For the third year in a row, qualifying for the spring race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway was rained out Friday, and the field was set by point standings. Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth, both typically poor qualifiers on the oldest, shortest track in NASCAR’s premier series, will start on the front row for Sunday’s race.

Work on the Soccer City World Cup stadium is on track to deliver the most technologically advanced arena in the world, a Johannesburg official said Friday, despite unfinished roads and widespread building work in the area. Sibongile Mazibuko, executive director of the city’s World Cup department, told the Associated Press the developers are “very much on track” and that major construction had been completed.

Charlie Davies has returned to training with the French club Sochaux, hoping to boost his chances of making the U.S. World Cup roster. Five months after a near-fatal car crash in Virginia, the 23-year-old is working on fitness and doing some work with a ball.

Honduras Coach Reinaldo Rueda hints he may quit if he and his World Cup-bound team are not paid a $1.3-million bonus promised by the country’s soccer federation for qualifying.

Astros ace Roy Oswalt was headed back to Houston to be examined by a team doctor after the right-hander left Friday’s start against the Pittsburgh Pirates because of a slight left hamstring strain. … The San Francisco Giants have traded infielder Kevin Frandsen to the Boston Red Sox for a player to be named or cash.

The Marin County (Calif.) Athletic League is banning the use of metal baseball bats at high school games for the rest of the season after a 16-year-old pitcher was hit by a line drive and suffered a brain injury.

A U.S. Olympic Committee advisory panel recommends expanding the board of directors from 11 to 15 people as one strategy to get more Olympic insiders in on the decision-making process. The panel, led by former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, released its findings Friday, and the USOC board began discussing the 24-page report at its quarterly meeting in Colorado Springs.

Four-time Boston Marathon winner Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot of Kenya has withdrawn from next month’s race because of a hip injury.

At least three teams, — the Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals — have expressed “great interest” in troubled cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones, though no signing was imminent, according to Jones’ agent Ray Savage.

Ivan Tcherezov of Russia has claimed his fourth biathlon World Cup victory this season by winning the men’s 10-kilometer sprint at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.