On a day when her sport lost another bid to get back into the Olympics, U.S. softball star Jennie Finch vowed to fight on.

A two-time Olympian, Finch called yesterday a heartbreaking day, particularly for young players around the world who dreamed of playing at the sport's highest level.

Softball was added to the Olympics at Atlanta in 1996 and was a part of the past four games, with the United States winning three gold medals before Japan's victory last summer in Beijing.

In 2005, softball and baseball became the first sports in 69 years to be dropped from the Olympics, beginning with the 2012 London Games. Both lost appeals for reinstatement in 2006 and then set their sights on this year's vote to get back on the program for 2016.

Instead, International Olympic leaders voted to recommend that golf and rugby be added to the 2016 Games, while softball, baseball and three other sports were left out.

"We have to rebound and I think our sport is too good not to prevail and our sport will continue on," Finch said during a conference call.

Neither baseball nor softball ever got more than two of the eight votes needed in seven rounds of secret-ballot voting.

Karate, roller sports and squash also didn't make the cut.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

FRESNO ST. STRIPPED OF TITLE

Fresno State's women's basketball team has been stripped of its 2007-08 Western Athletic Conference championships because a point guard played 32 minutes with an Australian professional team four years ago.

The NCAA said Emma Andrews' appearances with a pro team when she was 16 violated collegiate athletics rules, and the conference removed Fresno State's regular-season and tournament titles Wednesday.

Andrews appeared in seven games for the Victoria-based Dandenong Rangers before helping Fresno State achieve its 22-11 record two years ago. The NCAA banned her from playing with the team last season, and for the first three games of this season.

GYMNATICS

LIUKIN BACK ON BEAM

Nastia Liukin gave her fans a quick glance of what an Olympic champion looks like after she's been off for a while, showing off a solid, but less than perfect beam routine last night at U.S. championships in Dallas.

It's a routine she can do in her sleep, filled with graceful lines, delicate leaps and beautiful pirouettes.

Liukin scored a 14.45, then exited stage right. Earlier, she skipped the uneven bars, which earlier in the week she had said she would perform. She is only a few months back into full-time training after a year of fulfilling obligations that go along with winning all-around Olympic gold.

Rebecca Bross is in the lead after the first day with 58.55 points.

ELSEWHERE

Soccer: One day after playing a World Cup qualifier for the United States against Mexico in Mexico City, Los Angeles Galaxy forward Landon Donovan said yesterday he tested positive for the H1N1 flu virus, commonly known as swine flu. Donovan is believed to have contracted the virus not in Mexico, but from two Galaxy staff members who came down with the flu during last weekend's game at New England, according to Galaxy coach and general manager Bruce Arena.

Tennis: The Williams sisters have rarely had a day as miserable as this one. Venus Williams routinely missed shots throughout a 7-6 (2), 6-4 loss to Italy's Flavia Pennetta, the first major upset at the Cincinnati Open in Mason, Ohio. A few hours later, younger sister Serena Williams lost, 7-5, 6-4, to Australia's Sybille Bammer.

Basketball: Quentin Richardson was traded for the fourth time since the end of last season, moving from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Miami Heat in exchange for center Mark Blount. Richardson averaged 10.2 points last season for New York Knicks. He was first traded to Memphis, then to the Los Angeles Clippers, then Minnesota.

Swimming: Baltimore police said Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps was in a two-car collision, but he and his two passengers were not injured. Police said Phelps was driving a late-model Cadillac Escalade last night when it and a Honda Accord collided. The female driver of the Accord was "shaken up" and taken to a hospital as a precaution, police said. Phelps was interviewed by police who said alcohol was not a factor.

College football: Notre Dame tackle Sam Young, nose tackle Ian Williams and highly touted freshman linebacker Manti Te'o, a Punahou School alum, did not participate in the Fighting Irish's second practice of the day. All three were limping, and Te'o had a wrap around his right thigh.