Bonds asks judge to ditch charges

Attorneys for Barry Bonds urged a federal judge yesterday to toss out charges accusing baseball's all-time home run king of lying to a grand jury about his alleged steroid use. They said the questions asked during his testimony were too ambiguous. For instance, Bonds's attorneys said, prosecutors asked him during his December 2003 grand jury appearance if he had "taken anything like" steroids. "We simply think the questions and answers are far too confusing or vague to support a valid conviction," Bonds's attorney Dennis Riordan argued. US District Court Judge Susan Illston said she would rule on Bonds's request. Bonds had testified that he never knowingly took any performance-enhancing drugs. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts and is scheduled for trial March 2 . . . Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn signed a three-year contract to remain the coach at San Diego State, his alma mater. The former San Diego Padres star is 173-190 in six seasons at SDSU.

Referee Scott Foster broke his silence, discussing his role in the NBA's betting scandal and his relationship with former official Tim Donaghy in published interviews. Foster was tied to the scandal after it was reported in July that he and Donaghy took part in 134 phone calls from October 2006 to April 2007. There was no evidence of any criminal activity, but Foster was questioned about the calls during the FBI's investigation. "They specifically asked me, 'Can you recall Tim pumping you for information?' I was thinking, 'How did I miss this? Am I a moron?' " Foster told USA Today. Foster was cleared of wrongdoing last month in the report done by former federal prosecutor Lawrence Pedowitz, who was hired by the NBA to investigate its referees operations department in the wake of the scandal. The report noted that Donaghy and Foster were close friends, providing a reasonable explanation for the calls . . . Southern Utah women's coach Steve Hodson, 53, died after a long battle with cancer. Hodson, a former player and assistant coach at Southern Utah, took over the program two years ago after a long and successful high school coaching career.

Venus and Serena Williams won contrasting round-robin matches at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar, and next face a familiar opponent: each other. Venus endured a struggle against Elena Dementieva, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, to win her second match, and Serena romped past Dinara Safina, 6-4, 6-1, in her first match at the season-ending WTA Tour championships. Today they meet for the 18th time in their professional careers, with Serena holding a 9-8 edge. Vera Zvonareva remained unbeaten in handing an ailing Ana Ivanovic her second defeat, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4. Zvonareva won on her third match point when Ivanovic, who took a medical timeout in the first set, hit a forehand into the net . . . Defending champion Roger Federer will face Andy Roddick and Andy Murray in group play at the season-ending Masters Cup next week in Shanghai. The draw of the top eight players put Federer in the Red Group along with Gilles Simon. The second-ranked Federer became the top seed when No. 1 Rafael Nadal withdrew because of tendinitis in his right knee. Nadal pulled out of the Paris Masters last week. Third-ranked Novak Djokovic is the top seed in the Blue Group, which includes Nikolay Davydenko; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who won in Paris to seal his spot in Shanghai; and Juan Martin Del Potro.

Brazilian striker Ronaldo turned down an offer to play for Italy's Siena. "There is no chance he will play for Siena," Ronaldo's agent, Fabiano Farah, told the GloboEsporte website. "Everyone would like to have a player like Ronaldo on his team and we appreciate all the interest, but with all due respect to Siena, after nine months recovering [from a knee injury], Ronaldo cannot play for a team that is struggling to not fall [to the relegation zone]. He has to play for a competitive team." Siena was 12th in the 20-team Serie A . . . Alessandro Del Piero scored twice as Juventus beat Real Madrid, 2-0, and joined Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon in the elimination round of the Champions League. Defending champion Manchester United is close to being eliminated following Ryan Giggs's 84th-minute header in a 1-1 draw at Celtic. The draw means that United has 8 points from four games, the same as Villarreal, which drew, 2-2, at Aalborg. But Villarreal has a 6-point lead over Celtic and Aalborg, has a better head-to-head record over the Scottish champion, and could only be edged by the Danish team if it loses its final two games heavily and Aalborg wins twice by big margins.

The Dallas Stars signed right wing Mark Parrish, acquiring a former All-Star who played for the Minnesota Wild last season. Parrish signed a one-year, $500,000 contract. The 31-year-old winger played in 66 games with the Wild last season and had 16 goals and 14 assists. Minnesota bought out the final three years of Parrish's contract in July, making him a salary-cap casualty. The 2002 All-Star been bothered by injuries and never fully gained the trust of Wild coach Jacques Lemaire . . . Roy Jones Jr. sees his light heavyweight bout against Joe Calzaghe Saturday night at Madison Square Garden as a chance to prove he's still relevant at age 39, three years after a string of losses had him all but written off. Jones (52-4, 38 KOs) thinks he can still compete with Calzaghe, the undefeated Welshman who shed his super middleweight titles earlier this year to beat Bernard Hopkins in his American debut. Calzaghe is 45-0 with 32 KOs.

Correction: Because of an editing error, Manchester United's standing in the European Champions League was misstated in the Sports Log in yesterday's Sports section. The team is tied for first place.