* Former 76er Isaac Austin capped his return from Turkish exile yesterday by being named winner of the 1996-97 NBA Most Improved Player Award.
Toronto Raptors swingman Doug Christie finished second with 17 votes, and Portland Trail Blazers forward Rasheed Wallace was third in the balloting with 13 votes.
Before going to Turkey, Austin spent parts of three seasons with the 76ers and Utah Jazz.
HOCKEY Sweden scored two goals in the final four minutes for a 3-1 victory over the United States, reducing the Americans' chances of winning a medal at the World Hockey Championships in Turko, Sweden.
Travis Green's goal and an assist led Canada to a 6-0 victory over Italy, securing Canada's berth in the medal round.
The Czech Republic beat France, 9-3, and Germany won its first match at the 12-nation tournament, defeating Slovakia, 1-0.
Canada, the United States, Russia, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland will play in the round-robin medal tournament starting tomorrow in Helsinki.
TENNIS Marcelo Filippini used a streak of 12 straight points in the third set for a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 semifinal victory over eighth-seeded Chris Woodruff at the AT&T Challenge in Duluth, Ga.
Filippini advanced to today's final against No. 7 Jason Stoltenberg, who defeated Magnus Norman 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
* Fourth-seeded Cedric Pioline of France outlasted qualifier Emilio Alvarez of Spain, 6-3, 6-7 (7-9) 6-1, and moved into the finals of the Czech Open in Prague. His opponent will be third seed Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic, who beat Fabrice Santoro of France, 6-4, 6-2.
BOXING ``Prince'' Naseem Hamed stopped fellow Briton Billy Hardy in the first round to retain the IBF and WBO featherweight titles in Manchester, England.
Hamed, 23, extended his record to 26-0. It was the fifth defense of his WBO title.
In other title fights on the same card, Britain's Robin Reid retained his WBC super middleweight title with a 12-round decision over Henry Wharton, and Ronald ``Winky'' Wright of St. Petersburg, Fla., stopped Britain's Steve Foster in the sixth round to retain the WBO light-middleweight title.
COLLEGES Stanford won the final two points to earn a wild 3-2 victory over two-time defending champion UCLA in the NCAA men's volleyball championship in Columbus, Ohio.
The top-seeded Cardinal (27-3) won the first two games 15-7 and 15-10, knocking the 16-time national champion Bruins back on their heels. But UCLA fought back with 15-9 and 15-6 victories to push the match into a fifth game.
