A roundup of the week Aug. 19-25

BASEBALL—TAIWAN, the Far East representative, won its fourth consecutive Little League World Championship, defeating Red Bluff, Calif. 12-1 in the final game, at Williamsport, Pa. (page 40).

BICYCLING—Belgium's EDDY MERCKX won the 164-mile individual professional road race at the world championships in Montreal (page 20).

BOATING—Courageous took a 4-1 lead over Intrepid after sweeping three races last week in the America's Cup defender trials off Newport. In the Challenge Trials, Australia's Southern Cross leads France 2-0 in their best-of-seven series.

Billy Martin of Clark, N.J. set a course record of 78.5 mph in his 40-foot Cigarette Bounty Hunter to win the Hennessy California Cup offshore powerboat race at Marina Del Rey. With only one race remaining, Art Norris clinched this year's U.S. inboard offshore title with a third-place finish in Slapshot, a 36-foot Cigarette.

Vann Wilson of San Anselmo, Calif. became the North American men's sailing champion by winning the eight-race Mallory Cup series in Seattle.

PRO FOOTBALL—NFL: Exhibition season attendance was up in the stadiums because attendance was nearly perfect at camp. A capacity crowd of 54,077 was on hand in Oakland as Philadelphia topped the Raiders 25-14, and 71,824 fans cheered the Rams as they dumped Miami 31-13. Apparently the Dolphins were still tired from their 21-9 romp over Minnesota earlier in the week. A healthy Joe Namath passed for 122 yards and a touchdown as the Jets defeated St. Louis 20-7. Kansas City beat San Francisco 26-7, with Len Dawson completing 10 of 15 for 185 yards, and Washington nipped Cleveland 20-17 for its first preseason win (page 18). Elsewhere, Pittsburgh stopped the Giants 17-7, New Orleans topped Dallas 16-7, Minnesota defeated Buffalo 32-13, New England beat San Diego 23-14 and the Broncos outscored Green Bay 31-21.

WFL: Posting their fifth straight win. New York humbled the Houston Texans 43-10 as Running Back Bob Gladieux scored four touchdowns. Birmingham kept its unbeaten record intact with a 15-14 victory over Jacksonville. Memphis Quarterback John Huarte passed for four touchdowns in the Southmen's 60-8 rout of the Hawaiians, while Southern California, the only Western Division team with a winning record, topped Philadelphia 31-28 and Florida defeated Portland 11-7. A 90-yard kickoff return by Walter Rhone was one of four second-quarter touchdowns that sparked the Chicago Fire to a 35-23 victory over the Detroit Wheels.

GOLF—Posting a tournament-record 19-under-par 269 for 72 holes, JOHNNY MILLER won the $250,000 Westchester Classic by a two-stroke margin over Don Bies. The victory, Miller's sixth on the tour this year, was worth $50,000.

Sandra Haynie fired a final-round 71 for a total of 213 to win the $35,000 National Jewish Hospital Open at Rolling Hills Country Club in Golden, Colo. JoAnne Carner and Joyce Kazmierski were tied for second at 214.

HARNESS RACING—ALERT BRET, Glenn Garnsey at the reins, paced the mile in 1:59[3/5] to win the final of the $100,000 Fox Stake for 2-year-olds at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

HORSE RACING—RUFFIAN ($2.40), ridden by Vince Bracciale, posted her fifth straight win, a 12¾-length victory in the six-furlong $55,100 Spinaway Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Saratoga. Her time was a stakes-record 1:08[3/5] (page 49).

The Bagel Prince ($4.20) and FOOLISH PLEASURE ($4.20) won the divisions of the Hopeful Stakes for 2-year-olds at Saratoga. Angel Cordero guided The Bagel Prince to a three-length victory in 1:16[4/5] for the 6% furlongs, while Braulio Baeza rode Foolish Pleasure the same distance in 1:16.

Determined King ($62.00), Daryl Montoya up, scored a come-from-behind victory in the $132,000 American Derby at Arlington Park. He covered the 1 ‚⅛ miles over grass in 1:47⅘ finishing three-quarters of a length in front of Orders.

MOTOR SPORTS—DAVID PEARSON, averaging 133.045 mph in a Mercury, finished five seconds ahead of Richard Petty to win the NASCAR Yankee 400 at Michigan International Speedway. The victory, worth $15,265, was Pearson's fifth this year on the Winston Cup Grand National Circuit.

SOCCER—The LOS ANGELES AZTECS won the NASL championship, defeating the Miami Toros 4-3 in overtime at the Orange Bowl (page 14).

SWIMMING—The East German women led an attack on the record books at the European Championships in Vienna. In all, 17 world marks fell in qualifying heats and finals. East Germany's ULRIKE TAUBER lowered the 400-meter individual medley mark to 4:52.42, while teammate KORNELIA ENDER broke her own record in the 100 freestyle with a 56.96 clocking. ULRIKE RICHTER picked up two records while swimming a 1:03.08 100 backstroke leg as the East German women's 400 medley relay team turned in a 4:13.78. She added a third world mark with a 2:17.35 in the 200 backstroke. The 200 breast-stroke record was lowered to 2:34.99 by 14-year-old CARLA LINKE, and ROSEMARIE KOTHER eclipsed the 100-meter butterfly mark with a 1:01.99 performance. Other world records were set by West Germany's CHRISTEL JUSTEN, who swam the 100 breaststroke in 1:12.55; Hungary's ANDRAS HARGITAY, with a 4:28.89 effort in the men's 400 individual medley, and Scotland's DAVID WILKIE, who swam the 200 individual medley in 2:06.32.

World records were also the targets at the AAU national championships in Concord, Calif., where TIM SHAW scored a triple. He lowered Mark Spitz' 200-meter freestyle record to 1:51.66, then broke the 400 freestyle mark with a 3:54.69 performance. Shaw's third record was a 15:31.75 in the 1,500 freestyle. JOHN HENCKEN shattered the 200 breaststroke mark, swimming a 2:18.93, and SHIRLEY BABASHOFF clocked a 2:02.94 in the 200 freestyle and a 4:15.77 in the 400 freestyle, both world records. Australia's JENNY TURRALL again lowered her 1,500 freestyle standard, to 16:33.95, but en route lost her 800 freestyle record to JO HARSHBARGER, who turned in an 8:47.66.

TENNIS—ALEX METREVELI was declared the winner of the $50,000 Medi-Quik Eastern Lawn Tennis Open in South Orange, N.J. after Jimmy Connors withdrew from the final because of illness.

The surprising Denver Racquets took a 1-0 lead over the favored Philadelphia Freedoms in their best-of-three-match WTT championship round. Francoise Durr, who carried the Racquets into the finals with her outstanding singles play, won her ninth match in 10 outings, 6-4, over Mother Freedom Billie Jean King. Philadelphia, which posted the league's best record (39-5), had downed Pittsburgh by a total score of 52-45 in the semis, and Denver outpointed Minnesota 54-44 for the right to meet the Freedoms.

MILEPOSTS—NAMED: As assistant coach of the NHL champion Philadelphia Flyers, BARRY ASH-BEE, 35, whose playing career was cut short by an injury to his right eye during a playoff game last spring against the New York Rangers.

NAMED: KEN TRICKEY, 40, as head basketball coach at Iowa State University, replacing Maury John, who resigned recently because of illness. Coaching at Oral Roberts (1969-74), Trickey compiled a 118-23 record and directed the Titans into the 1974 NCAA quarterfinals.

PLEADED GUILTY: GEORGE M. STEIN-BRENNER III, majority stockholder of the New York Yankees, to charges of illegal expenditure of corporate funds for campaign contributions.

DIED: GENE GEDMAN, 42, Detroit Lions halfback and member of the 1953 and 1957 championship squads; of a heart attack; in Chicago.