Print

Mail

wiki links

Sports briefs

■Soccer
Beckham eyes baseball bid
Football's glamour boy David Beckham hopes to try his hand at baseball, the king sport in Japan, when he returns there in August, a Tokyo sports daily said yesterday. The 28-year-old England captain wants to pitch the first ball to open a Japanese professional baseball match when he tours here with his new club Real Madrid for a football friendly, the newspaper Sports Nippon reported. Real Madrid will play J-League FC Tokyo at the National Stadium on Aug. 5.

■ Soccer
Gazza still missing
Former England soccer star Paul Gascoigne is missing from his Chinese league team and could be penalized for violating his contract, the club said yesterday. The 36-year-old midfielder known as "Gazza" joined second-division Gansu Tianma in China's northwest in January after failing to find a contract in Europe or the US. Gascoigne hasn't contacted Tianma officials since he left last month during the SARS outbreak, team spokeswoman Chen Rong said by telephone from the western city of Lanzhou. "If he doesn't come back, we'll take action under international legal norms," Chen said.

■ Golf
Woods hits new landmark
The Buick Classic wasn't a total loss for Tiger Woods. He made the cut for the 105th consecutive time on the PGA Tour, tying him with Jack Nicklaus for the second-longest streak in tour history. The record is 113 set by Byron Nelson in 1940s. While there have been a few close calls, such as the Masters this year, Woods might not be closing in on the mark if not for Matt Kuchar. The cut streak was at 24 going into the 1999 Bay Hill Invitational when Woods opened with a 74 and followed that with a 72. He was at 2-over 146 and in a tie for 71st. How did he make it to the weekend? The cut is for the top 70 ``professionals'' and ties. Kuchar played Bay Hill as an amateur that year and was 2-under 142 after 36 holes -- meaning Woods and everyone else at 146 made the cut on the number.

■ Hockey
`Miracle' team enters hall
Twenty-three years later, the "Miracle on Ice" team is going into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. The entire 1980 squad, which earned a shocking victory over the Soviet Union in Lake Placid, New York, en route to winning the gold medal, will be inducted along with four players, the Hall of Fame announced on Tuesday. The Olympic coaching staff, general manager, team physician, trainer, equipment manager, chairman of the US Olympic Hockey Committee and all 20 players will be enshrined at a ceremony on Oct. 18. Pat LaFontaine, Mark Howe, John Cunniff and Dick Dougherty will also be inducted. The underdog Americans, coached by Herb Brooks, upset the Soviets when Mike Eruzione scored midway through the third period of the semifinal game to give Team USA a 4-3 victory. The Americans won the gold medal by defeating Finland 4-2.

■ Football
Cardinals fullback arrested
Arizona Cardinals backup fullback Dennis McKinley and three other men were arrested on Tuesday as suspects in an investigation into an international drug ring. Police say McKinley, who had his contract terminated by the Cardinals hours after his arrest, rented a warehouse where marijuana shipments from Mexico were stored. The four men were accused of buying marijuana that had been smuggled in from Mexico, repackaging it in Phoenix and then transporting it to major cities in the US.

Agencies
This story has been viewed 1791 times.