Spurs' Ginóbili Needs Surgery to Fix Ligament in His Left Ankle

San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginóbili, who helped lead Argentina to a bronze medal in the Beijing Olympics, will need surgery to repair a ligament in his left ankle.

The Spurs said yesterday that Ginóbili will have surgery next week. The team will announce a timeline for his return after the surgery.

Ginóbili said an MRI exam of his ankle showed no improvement from a previous exam two months ago. He led the Spurs in scoring last season (19.5 points) and won the league's sixth man award.

"They're going to operate on me," Ginóbili, 31, told Argentina's La Nacion newspaper. "It's not worse, which is important. Now, the thing is, it's not better either, and it seems like the only way to repair it completely is arthroscopic surgery."

Ginóbili hobbled off the court during Argentina's loss to the eventual gold-medal winner United States in the semifinal game. He did not play in Argentina's bronze medal win over Lithuania.

· COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel has agreed to contract revisions that will make him the highest-paid football coach in the Big Ten. Tressel's compensation beginning in February will be $3.5 million, a $1 million increase. Tressel will receive annual increases of 3 percent to 4 percent. He is under contract until 2013. . . .

A judge in Ohio has postponed a hearing in quarterback Ben Mauk's lawsuit against the NCAA. Mauk had asked the organization's reinstatement committee on Thursday to give him one more year of eligibility at the University of Cincinnati. Yesterday, Hardin County Judge William Hart agreed to an NCAA request, postponing the next hearing until Sept. 4.

· COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Pitt point guard Levance Fields is recovering from bone graft surgery on the foot he injured last season, and is expected to recover in time for the team's opener.

· AUTO RACING: Jimmie Johnson won the pole at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. He was the fastest driver on the two-mile oval in qualifying for tomorrow's Pepsi 500, turning a fast lap of 180.397 mph.

· SOCCER: Fabian Espindola scored twice and host Real Salt Lake (8-8-6) remained unbeaten at home with a 2-0 win over Colorado (7-12-3).

· WNBA: Tamika Whitmore scored 27 points and Asjha Jones added 24 to lead visiting Connecticut to a 98-72 victory over Atlanta, the fifth straight win for the Sun. . . .

Deanna Nolan scored 26 points and Katie Smith added 14 as host Detroit earned an 83-69 victory over New York to clinch a playoff spot.

· SWIMMING: An Iowan who hoped to capture a rare sports double by swimming across the English Channel fell short. Charlie Wittmack became hypothermic and was pulled from the water. Wittmack, 31, who climbed Mount Everest in 2003, had hoped to become only the fourth person, and first American, to accomplish both feats.

· OBITUARY: Barbara Warren, one of the world's elite endurance athletes in her age group and one-half of a well-known pair of triathlete twins, died Tuesday after breaking her neck in a bike crash at the Santa Barbara Triathlon. She was 65.

-- From News Services