Rockets' Landry wounded by gunfire

Hours after arriving home from a victory in New Orleans, the Rockets awakened to news that forward Carl Landry had been shot overnight near his home. Landry, 25, sustained a minor wound to his left calf and is expected to miss only one to three weeks. The team said Landry was treated at a hospital and released. The shooting occurred about 2:30 a.m. yesterday, a few hours after the Rockets' 95-84 win. Houston police said Landry was driving his sport utility vehicle southbound on a city street, when a northbound car swerved and collided with his vehicle. Landry and the driver of the other vehicle made U-turns and the vehicles collided again and Landry's SUV hit a utility pole. Police spokesman Kese Smith said Landry got out to inspect the damage, and was shot by one of the two occupants of the car. The suspects then fled the scene.

FIFA announced that 11 bidders are officially in the race to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022. The candidates are: Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Qatar, Russia, South Korea, and the United States, plus joint bids from Belgium-Netherlands and Spain-Portugal. Qatar and South Korea have applied only for the 2022 tournament. The other nine candidates are in both races. FIFA confirmed the candidates after the deadline to formally register bids passed late Monday. FIFA's 24-member executive committee will choose the two winning bids in December 2010 . . . The Vancouver Whitecaps are expected to be introduced soon as the second Canadian MLS franchise. Bob Lenarduzzi, the Whitecaps president, said he expects an announcement prior to the MLS season opening tomorrow night in Seattle. The Whitecaps, who play in the United Soccer League's first division, are hoping to be awarded one of two franchises for the 2011 season . . . William Gallas scored a disputed goal with five minutes remaining to give Arsenal a 2-1 victory over Hull and a berth against Chelsea in the FA Cup semifinals April 18. Manchester United faces Everton in the other semifinal.

Graeme McDowell shot a 6-under-par 66 and the rest of his team at Lake Nona piled on to win the Tavistock Cup, 17-13, against an Isleworth team led by Tiger Woods. The Tavistock Cup, held this year at Lake Nona, is a competition between two high-profile golf clubs in Orlando where several prominent PGA Tour players are members. The final round featured two-man teams in stroke play matching scores against each of the two players from the other club. Woods and Charles Howell III each had a 69 and picked up three points in the final match. They halved with Ian Poulter and beat Henrik Stenson. But the competition had already been decided. Ben Curtis (68) and Trevor Immelman (69) gave Lake Nona four points in the first match over Mark O'Meara and John Cook, and Lake Nona quickly pulled away. Six of its 10 players shot in the 60s, including Ernie Els (69) and Justin Rose (68). Darren Clarke (68) had the low score for Isleworth.

Twenty teams will compete in the Tour de France, with Lance Armstrong returning to the race he won seven times and the former Saunier Duval-Scott team excluded from cycling's premier event. Armstrong is riding with Astana in a comeback bid after 3 1/2 years of retirement. France will enter five teams, the only country with more than two. The two US teams are Garmin-Slipstream, of Boulder, Colo., and Team Columbia-Highroad, of San Luis Obispo, Calif. The 20 teams will have a total of 180 riders for the 96th edition of the Tour, which starts July 4 in the principality of Monaco . . . Italian cyclist Riccardo Ricco's two-year doping ban was reduced to 20 months. The decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport means Ricco will be eligible to ride in the 2010 Giro d'Italia and Tour de France. Ricco, 25, tested positive for CERA, an advanced version of the blood-booster EPO, after winning two mountain stages of the 2008 Tour.

At one time, testing high school athletes for steroids was seen as the best way to fight performance-enhancing drug use among the young. Now, those efforts are losing steam because of high costs and few positive results. New Jersey, Florida, Texas, and Illinois have tried steroid testing since 2006, and an examination of the results by the Associated Press shows that only 18 tests out of 30,799 have come back positive . . . Former Xaverian High star Zack Asack, who became the first Duke freshman in two decades to start at quarterback, will move to safety. When Asack was suspended for the 2006 season for plagiarism, Thaddeus Lewis took over and has done nothing to relinquish the job through three seasons . . . Formula One's championship will be decided by the number of race wins and not accumulated points. Governing body FIA decided that the current points system will remain in effect only to determine the driver's title in the case of a tie.