Kona's Van Oscar Penovaroff defeated Hilo's Kana Hyatt to win the X-1 organization's bantamweight world championship in the main event of the X-1 World Events mixed martial arts card on Saturday.

Penovaroff defeated Hyatt via TKO, 3 minutes, 36 seconds, into the first round to earn the championship belt in the 135-pound class.

In another featured bout, Dave Moreno defeated Justin Mercado by rear naked choke in the first round to win the state championship in the 145-pound division.

The card was held at Kekuaokalani Gym in Kailua, Kona. It was the X-1 organization's first event on the Big Island.

BOOK READING

CARTWRIGHT PREVIEW

A preview of "Alexander Cartwright: The Life behind the Baseball Legend," written by Monica Nucciarone, will be presented at the Hawai'i State Library on Friday at 11:45 a.m. in the First Floor Reading Room. Admission is free.

Nucciarone will read selected passages from her biography of Alexander Joy Cartwright Jr., a former Hawai'i resident who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938 and officially recognized by Congress on June 3, 1953 as the inventor of baseball.

The "Father of Modern Baseball" laid out Hawai'i's first baseball diamond, now called Cartwright Field in Makiki.

Nucciarone's presentation will focus on the 45 years that Cartwright lived in Hawai'i as a businessman, civic leader, and friend and advisor to royalty. Cartwright helped to establish The Queen's Medical Center, the Pacific Club, and the Hawai'i Library System.

For information, call the library's Hawai'i & Pacific Section at 586-3535.

GOLF

WIE IN BRITISH OPEN

LPGA Tour rookie Michele Wie from Hawai'i confirmed yesterday that she will play in the Women's British Open at Royal Lytham, July 30 to Aug. 2.