U.S. soccer star Abby Wambach had surgery yesterday in San Diego to repair a broken left leg that will keep her out of the Olympics.

The team's leading scorer had a titanium rod inserted in her lower left leg during a one-hour operation performed by Dr. Damion Valletta, an orthopedic surgeon for U.S. Soccer. She was resting comfortably and can begin full weight-bearing activities on the leg in five to six weeks.

"Everything went according to plan, there were no complications and small incisions were used to minimize the soft tissue irritability from the surgery," Valletta said. "We'll have her stay in the hospital until tomorrow, monitor the pain and control the swelling in her leg. We anticipate that she will be discharged tomorrow on crutches and will start being able to put a small amount of weight on the leg."

Wambach, 28, broke her tibia and fibula in the team's final tuneup Wednesday night against Brazil in San Diego, and is expected to be sidelined about 12 weeks. The Americans begin defense of the gold medal on Aug. 6 against Norway.

Yesterday, forward Lauren Cheney replaced Wambach on the Olympic squad. The 20-year-old Cheney originally was as an alternate for the roster.

Cheney has been training with the U.S. team all year and has played in 10 games, starting three. She has three goals in 12 international matches.

BASEBALL

PITCHER DARVISH TO LEAD JAPAN IN QUEST FOR GOLD

Star pitcher Yu Darvish was one of the 24 players selected yesterday for the team Japan hopes will win the final gold medal before baseball is dropped from the Olympics.

The 21-year-old Darvish, whose father is Iranian and mother is Japanese, has a 10-3 record with a 1.93 ERA for the Nippon Ham Fighters this season. The 6-foot-5 right-hander held both Iranian and Japanese citizenship, but dropped his Iranian nationality so he can represent Japan in Beijing.

"This is a very strong team," Japan manager Senichi Hoshino said. "One that we are confident will perform well in Beijing."

The International Olympic Committee voted three years ago to drop softball and baseball from the Olympic program for the 2012 Games in London, in part because Major League Baseball players do not take part because it conflicts with their season.

While that affects the United States' roster, which is made up of minor league and college players, Japan also can not call upon its MLB stars like Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Japan has won a silver and two bronzes in baseball at the Olympics.

BASKETBALL

MING BACK IN ACTION; LEADS CHINA OVER SERBIA

Yao Ming is back, transforming China's basketball team and providing a big relief for Olympic organizers.

The Houston Rockets center marked his return from injury yesterday with 11 points in just over 12 minutes of play for the Chinese national team in an Olympics warmup against a Serbian squad.

Entering six minutes into the first quarter to huge applause from the crowd in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, Yao appeared a little rusty, but made a solid contribution to China's kickoff 96-72 victory in the four-team Stankovic Cup tournament at Hangzhou, China.

The game was Yao's first since a stress fracture in his left foot ended his NBA season in February.

TRACK AND FIELD

BRITISH SPRINTER WILL GET OLYMPIC DECISION TODAY

Dwain Chambers will find out today if he has any chance of competing at the Beijing Olympics.

Chambers, who served a two-year doping ban from 2003-05, is seeking a temporary injunction against the British Olympic Association, which bans doping violators for life from the games.

After yesterday's hearing in London's High Court, Judge Colin Mackay said he would announce his ruling today.

Mackay noted during the hearing that the sprinter would know that being caught taking steroids resulted in a life ban from the Olympics.

The sprinter's lawyers argued that Chambers had expressed regret for his past behavior and deserved a place in Beijing.

The deadline to make the team for Beijing is Sunday.

Chambers won the 100 in 10.00 seconds last Saturday at the British trials.

Chambers, 30, returned to the track this year after serving a two-year suspension for testing positive for the steroid THG.