Sports briefs

Olympics

HOCKEY COACH: Carolina Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette was chosen Tuesday as coach of the 2006 U.S. Olympic team that will compete in the Turin Games next February.

Laviolette, a two-time Olympian who captained the squad at the 1994 games, is 97-94-25 in two-plus seasons as an NHL head coach with Carolina and the New York Islanders.

"We're really pleased to have Peter guiding our Olympic Team," Team USA general manager Don Waddell said. "Peter knows what it takes. He's passionate about the game and we're confident he'll do an outstanding job."

Laviolette coached the United States to the bronze medal in the 2004 world championships, a finish that earned the Americans a spot in the 2006 Olympics.

Tennis

MONTREAL MASTERS: Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo of France defeated Dally Randriantefy of Madagascar 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the third round of the Rogers Cup on Tuesday. The second-seeded Mauresmo, who had a first-round bye, hit nine aces en route to ousting the unseeded Randriantefy.

In an earlier match, 10th-seed Natalie Dechy of France beat Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia 6-2, 6-4. Frenchwoman Mary Pierce, the No. 8 seed, withdrew Tuesday because of a strained right quadriceps that forced her to drop out of the JP Morgan Chase Open in Los Angeles last week. She was the fifth top-20 player to withdraw from the event in the past week.

Boxing

HOLYFIELD BARRED: Former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield was barred from fighting in New York by the state's athletic commission because of "poor performance and diminished skills" in recent fights. The three-member commission decided unanimously to suspend Holyfield's boxing license indefinitely after consultations with its chief medical officer, chairman Ron Stevens said in a telephone interview.

The commission had placed Holyfield on an indefinite medical suspension in November, three days after he lost a unanimous 12-round decision to Larry Donald at Madison Square Garden. Holyfield has had two wins in his last nine fights.