Rudy Gay scored a season-high 28 points and Zach Randolph added 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Memphis Grizzlies extended their best start in team history by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 107-97 on Wednesday.

Marc Gasol chipped in 14 points as the Grizzlies won their sixth straight game.

Lance Armstrong's cancer-fighting charity has formally dropped him from its name and will officially be known as the Livestrong Foundation.

The move is the latest of several by the charity to separate itself from its founder, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency revealed evidence of performance-enhancing drug use by Armstrong and his teammates.

China is the number one venue for major sporting events but Russia is set to overtake it in 2013, sports analysts said Wednesday.

Taking into account nearly 700 world championships and global sports events between 2007 and 2018 and weighing up their impact for host nations, researchers Sportcal found that China was far and away the most attractive home nation in 2012.

A long-range strike from Uruguayan-born striker Sebastian Suria helped Qatar beat Lebanon 1-0 Wednesday in an Asian World Cup qualifier that boosted its chances of booking a spot in Brazil.

Suria took a pass from Fabio Cesar and fired the ball from 20 meters (yards) outside the area, sending it curling past Lebanon keeper Abbas Hassan. The goal set off raucous celebrations among the home supporters, who are desperate for a good showing after Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup. The win moved Qatar into a second in Group A alongside South Korea and Australia and a point behind leader Uzbekistan.

Chelsea went public for the first time Tuesday with detailed racial abuse allegations against a referee, insisting there was no misunderstanding and that its players heard Mark Clattenburg use the word "monkey" during a Premier League match.

Chairman Bruce Buck opted to end Chelsea's public silence on the claims despite an ongoing investigation by the English Football Association into the events during last month's match against Manchester United.

A Brazilian hospital says Pele is in good condition after undergoing surgery.

The Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo did not release details, but local media said Tuesday that the football great had an operation on his hip.

Lazio captain Stefano Mauri and teammate Giuseppe Sculli will be questioned next Tuesday about their alleged role in the Italian match-fixing scandal.

The pair, along with former player Omar Milanetto and Lazio physiotherapist Romano Massimo Papola, will be asked about Lazio's matches against Genoa and Lecce in May 2011.

Phil Jackson has accused the Los Angeles Lakers of "slimy" negotiations in their search to fill the head coaching position left vacant by the firing of Mike Brown.

Jackson said he met Lakers' brass for 1 1/2 hours at his home on Saturday and was then woken by a phone call at midnight Sunday to tell him that Mike D'Antoni had been given the job instead.

Australia's world number five Adam Scott said Wednesday he is desperate for a win at this week's Australian Masters, held at his favorite home course.

"I haven't won an event this year which bothers me a little bit," Scott told reporters ahead of Thursday's opening round at Melbourne's Kingston Heath golf course.

Lionel Messi has returned to the top of the AP Global 10 football rankings by passing Pele's 54-year-old goal-scoring milestone, while Bayern Munich's stunning form propelled the German side to the top of the team list.

In The Associated Press' weekly rankings, Messi finished far ahead of his closest rival, Mexican striker Javier Hernandez, who was in goal-scoring form for Manchester United over the past week. Messi is just 10 goals away from breaking the all-time calendar-year record set by Germany's Gerd Muller in 1972.