Fittipaldi Hospitalized After Plane Crash

Auto-racing champion Emerson Fittipaldi suffered a fractured lower back in an ultralight plane crash in Brazil and escaped death only because the aircraft fell in a swamp, a doctor said.

Fittipaldi and his 6-year-old son, Luca, were flown early today to a hospital in Sao Paulo. X-rays revealed a fracture in the lumbar region, and Fittipaldi, 50, reported difficulty in moving his left leg, Dr. Luiz Roberto Neves, the hospital's clinical director, said in a radio interview.

"By some miracle, Luca didn't have even a cut," Neves said.

Neves said Fittipaldi told doctors the motor stalled and the aircraft crashed into a swamp from a height of about 300 feet.

"It wasn't a forced landing. It was a crash," Neves said. "If (they) had fallen on solid ground, (they) surely would have been killed."

-- British driver David Coul-thard took the lead from Jean Alesi after 32 of 53 laps and beat the Frenchman by 1.9 seconds in the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Italy.

Horse racing

Richard Duchossois, owner of Arlington International Racecourse, said today he will close the Chicago-suburb track after this season. He said the facility has lost money the past eight years because of competition from riverboat gambling casinos and other kinds of entertainment.

-- Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., has eliminated nine stakes races in conjunction with a move to reduce racing dates and has cut purses for six other races by either $10,000 or $25,000. The track, which was allotted 60 days this year, requested 53 in 1998.

Rowing

A young and inexperienced United States crew won the premier men's eight event on the final day of the World Championships in Chambery, France.

The team, which includes Washington Huskies Bob Cummins of Everett and Philip Henry of Seattle, beat Romania in the 2,000-meter race on Lac d'Aiguebelette.

The Romanians were ahead by .40 seconds with 500 meters to go, but the Americans won by .56 seconds in 5:27.20.

Basketball

The proposed trade sending Chris Dudley from the Portland Trail Blazers to the New York Knicks is valid, an arbitrator ruled, saying it was not an attempt to circumvent the salary cap. Arbitrator Kenneth Dam also ruled that Dudley should be paid the $1.13 million salary he originally was offered, not the NBA-minimum $272,250. The NBA has filed an appeal.

-- A gunman opened fire inside the hotel ballroom where Orlando Magic forward Dennis Scott was having a birthday party in Tysons Corner, Va., leaving two guests hospitalized in serious condition. About 1,000 revelers attended the celebration Saturday night.

Track and field

Kenya's Daniel Komen failed in an announced attempt to better the world 1,500-meter mark in the Bupa Grand Prix meet in Gateshead, England. Komen, the world record-holder for 3,000 and 5,000 meters, was beaten at the finish by Graham Hood of Canada in 3 minutes, 39.44 seconds.

Komen was clocked in 3:39.51, far off the world record of 3:27.37 held by Algerian Noureddine Morceli.

Colleges

Tom Goss, 51, was named the ninth athletic director in University of Michigan history today. Goss, who played football at Michigan, is the school's fourth athletic director in the past nine years. He succeeds Joe Roberson, who resigned.

Soccer

Sophomore Rees Bettinger and senior Jason Boyce scored as the sixth-ranked Washington Husky men's team limited Sacramento State (0-3) to three shots and defeated the Hornets 2-0 in both teams' Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener. Bill May recorded his second shutout of the season for Washington (2-0-1).

Second-ranked Notre Dame defeated the third-ranked University of Portland women 1-0, ending the Pilots' 25-game home winning streak.

-- Eduardo Hurtado's three goals helped the Los Angeles Galaxy score a 6-1 Major League Soccer victory over the visiting Tampa Bay Mutiny.

Gymnastics

Svetlana Chorkina of Russia broke Romania's drive for a medal sweep on the last day of the world championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, successfully defending her uneven-bars title and then winning the all-around gold.

The Romanians won the team gold medal and three of the four event finals.

In the men's competition, China won the team title and Ivan Ivankov of Belarus was the all-around champion.