ATLANTA Agent who smuggled Cuban athletes gets partial victory

A federal appeals court on Monday handed a partial victory to a professional sports agent who was sentenced to prison for smuggling five Cuban baseball players into Florida.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Gustavo "Gus" Dominguez's conviction on charges of transporting and harboring aliens. But the three-judge panel's decision let stand his convictions on smuggling charges.

Dominguez was sentenced to five years in prison after he was convicted in April 2007 of paying for the players to be smuggled by boat from Cuba in 2004. He was released early from his term in January and his attorney Ben Kuehne said Monday he was thrilled with the court's decision even though Dominguez is already free.

"Justice delayed is better than no justice at all," he said.

Dominguez was known throughout the industry for negotiating the contract for Rene Arocha, the first Cuban player to defect to the United States. He used that as a platform to build a successful business in Los Angeles that represented more than 100 athletes, including several Cuban baseball defectors.

Boxing

A fight for his life: A 19-year-old amateur boxer is in the hospital following a New York City traffic accident that killed his sister.

Pedro Luis Sosa was in critical condition in a coma at Jacobi Medical Center. His sister, Jennifer Sosa, 21, was killed in the accident early Sunday on the Cross Bronx Expressway.

Joe Zanders, the USA Boxing national coach, said Sosa narrowly missed making the U.S. Olympic team that will compete in the 2012 Games in London next summer.

He says Sosa has the talent to be a future champion.

The two had stopped after getting into a traffic accident at about 5:45 a.m. They got out of their car to inspect the damage when they were hit by another car. The impact sent them over a concrete barrier.

Olympic Qualifiers

Tunnicliffe wins 1st Olympic qualifier: Anna Tunnicliffe of Plantation, Fla., won the U.S. Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta for women's match racing by beating Genny Tulloch of Sausalito, Calif., in two races Sunday.

Tunnicliffe, whose Team Maclaren crew includes Molly Vandemoer of Stanford, Calif., and Debbie Capozzi of Bayport, N.Y., came into the day with a 2-0 lead.

Tunnicliffe won the gold medal in the Laser Radial class in the Beijing Olympics.

Sally Barkow of Nashotah, Wis., was third and Stephanie Roble of Chicago was fourth.

Tulloch, Barkow, Tunnicliffe and Roble advance to the final selection event in May in Weymouth, England. The winner earns a berth in the 2012 London Olympics.

Tunnicliffe will represent the United States at the International Sailing Federation Combined World Championships Dec. 3-18, in Perth, Australia.

World Soccer

Romanian violence: A soccer fan in Romania ran onto the field and punched a player in the head, possibly rupturing his eardrum during a match between Petrolul Ploiesti and Steaua Bucharest. The player remained hospitalized Monday.

Steaua Bucharest defender George Galamaz was struck in the side of the head and knocked to the ground. After the incident, Galamaz's teammates knocked the fan to the ground and began beating him before he was whisked away by security staff. Two players received red cards for their conduct.