Sports shorts
Football Steelers add back, receiver
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Steelers added two more players to their roster Wednesday, running back Larry Croom and wide receiver Dan Sheldon.
The team signed Croom, who was an undrafted rookie free agent with the Arizona Cardinals in 2004. He has played for three seasons in NFL Europe and has been spent time on the rosters or practice squads of the Tennessee Titans, Detroit Lions and San Diego Chargers.
The Steelers picked up Sheldon off waivers from the Atlanta Falcons. Sheldon has also played in NFL Europe.
The Steelers open training camp at St. Vincent College near Latrobe on July 23.
Hockey
Pens sign college player
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Penguins signed defenseman Alex Goligoski to a two-year entry-level contract, meaning he will not return for his senior season at the University of Minnesota.
Goligoski, the Penguins’ second-round draft pick in the 2004 draft, had 25 goals and 73 assists in 117 games with Minnesota over the past three seasons.
Boxing
World tournament delayed
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) – The amateur boxing world championships in Chicago will begin four days later than scheduled because of “various, unavoidable reasons.”
The event is set to begin Oct. 23 and finish Nov. 3, the International Amateur Boxing Association said Wednesday.
“AIBA would urgently like to inform you of a change of the dates of this event due to various unavoidable reasons,” AIBA executive director Ho Kim said in a letter to member federations.
The AIBA Executive Committee meeting and the AIBA Congress are scheduled for Oct. 21-22.
Tennis
U.S. Open prize money
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) – The men’s and women’s singles champions will get a record $1.4 million apiece at this year’s U.S. Open and the total prize money will top $19 million for the first time.
The overall payout of $19.6 million is $1 million more than in 2006, the largest single-year jump in U.S. Open history, the U.S. Tennis Association announced Wednesday.
The paycheck for last year’s singles champions was $1.2 million.
The total prize money could eventually top $22 million, because the top three men and women in the summer circuit U.S. Open Series will receive bonuses: $1 million for first place in the series, up to $500,000 for second and up to $250,000 for third.
So the No. 1 performers in the US Open Series will earn $2.4 million if they win the Aug. 27-Sept. 9 hard-court Grand Slam tournament.