Sports briefs 5/19/04

Baseball

Cubs ace Kerry Wood (3-3) threw off a mound Tuesday for the first time since leaving a game last week with tightness in his triceps and said he felt no pain. A decision on his return probably won't be made until later in the week.

Turns out, Sammy Sosa's injury is nothing to sneeze at. The Chicago Cubs' star has a sprained ligament in his lower back and is probably headed to the disabled list after two violent sneezes brought on back spasms and he missed Sunday's game in San Diego. Sosa was examined by Dr. Michael Schaefer, the Cubs' orthopedic specialist, before Tuesday's game against the Giants, and tests revealed the sprained ligament.

Basketball

Kevin Garnett might not have an NBA championship ring, but the Minnesota Timberwolves forward continues collecting hardware. The Sporting News on tapped the 7-footer its NBA player of the year, about two weeks after sports writers and broadcasters in each of the league's cities named him the league's MVP. Minnesota faces the Sacramento Kings tonight in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Miscellaneous

New York and four European capitals -- London, Madrid, Moscow and Paris -- were selected as finalists Tuesday in the race to host the 2012 Olympics. Four cities failed to make the cut: Havana; Istanbul, Turkey; Leipzig, Germany, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The field was trimmed by the International Olympic Committee executive board based on a report assessing the technical capabilities of the nine cities. The unanimous decision, announced by IOC president Jacques Rogge, kicks off a 14-month race culminating with the selection of the host city by the full IOC assembly in Singapore in July 2005.

Soccer

David Beckham appeared in an exhibition game against Real Madrid's wishes, adding to speculation that he will leave the Spanish club over the summer. Madrid is said to be irritated by the timing of Beckham's request to play, which came shortly after he was ejected for swearing at an assistant referee during Sunday's 2-1 defeat against Murcia.

-- From wire reports