Sports briefs for June 21, 2004

Monday, June 21, 2004 | 10:38 a.m.

Judge: Armstrong can't take legal action

A court today rejected Lance Armstrong's attempt to force a publisher to insert the star cyclist's denial of doping allegations into copies of a new book about him.

The five-time Tour de France winner wanted publisher La Martiniere to insert a notice into "L.A. Confidential, the Secrets of Lance Armstrong," with his rebuttal against doping claims in the book.

But judge Catherine Bezio called Armstrong's request an "abuse" of the legal system and ordered him to pay the authors and publisher a symbolic $1.20 fine.

The Australian Olympic Committee's lifetime ban followed a two-year suspension by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after the 19-year-old Frenchman was found guilty on two charges of trafficking in banned performance-enhancing drugs.

Torch reaches Europe

The Olympic torch touched down today in Europe on its last relay leg of the world's five continents before the August opening of the summer games in Athens, Greece.

The torch was handed to Belgian officials and athletes at Brussels International Airport by Spiros Lambridis, head of the Athens 2004 delegation, which is staging relays in Olympic cities around the world.

Coria falls in final

French Open finalist Guillermo Coria lost the championship match of the Ordina Open, beaten by wild card Michael Llodra 6-3, 6-4 for the Frenchman's first title in his five-year career.

On Saturday, Mary Pierce won the women's championship, beating Klara Koukalova 7-6 (6), 6-2.

Portugal wins, advances

Portugal reached the quarterfinals of the European Championship, ousting Spain with a 1-0 win Sunday.

In the other Group A game, Greece was upset by Russia 2-1 in Faro. But the Greeks, the surprise team of Euro 2004, advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time because of Portugal's victory.

The Czech Republic became the first team to reach the final eight, defeating the Netherlands 3-2 Saturday.

Nets retain coach

The New Jersey Nets today picked up their contract option on coach Lawrence Frank, who was a Nets assistant with no head-coaching experience when he replaced Byron Scott in January.