Bown, Ah Mow lead U.S.
to first win in Grand Prix

Heather Bown scored 20 points on .652 hitting to lead the United States over Cuba at the World Grand Prix at Chengdu, China, yesterday.

The Americans won 21-25, 25-18, 28-26, 25-18 to improve to 4-11, 1-2 at the end of the first round of pool play.

They move to Thailand to play China Friday, followed by games against Thailand and Cuba over the weekend.

"We won, and I got a block," setter and captain Robyn Ah Mow said.

"Our passing was so good, so we could use the middles on sideout. And blocking was off the hook."

Metzger-Wong team wins bronze medal

Stein Metzger of Honolulu and Kevin Wong of Pearl City lost in the main draw but came back to take a bronze medal at the Canadian Open in Montreal yesterday.

Metzger and Wong lost 21-19, 21-18 to third-seeded Brazilians Jose Loiola and Ricardo Santos, who took the gold medal.

Big Yachts near record pace in race

Seven boats are edging in on record times in the West Marine Pacific Cup from San Francisco to Kaneohe.

Rosebud, J-Bird III and Alta Vita each went at least 315 miles yesterday while Waikiki Yacht Club's Pegasus 77 traveled 366 miles.

J-Bird III leads Division G and is hottest on the heels of Roy Disney's record of six days, 14 hours and 22 minutes set on Pyewacket in 1998.

Inoue leaves fans wanting more

What may be Egan Inoue's final performance may also have been his best, as he knocked out Martijn de Jong with a kick just 2 minutes, 46 seconds into the first round at Superbrawl 25 at the Blaisdell Center Saturday.

Inoue hinted that he would change his plans and not retire if he could get current champion Masanori Suda into the ring.