Archrivals duel in Lucky Strike
JAKARTA (JP): National champion Jhony 'Kucing' Pranata will face a stiff challenge from former local great Frans Tanujaya when the two leading crossers meet at the Lucky Strike international championship in Yogyakarta April 16-17.
Frans, the 1992 champion, who has been training rigorously in Japan, defeated last year's national champ Jhony in a recent race, the second series of the national event.
The two top Indonesian crossers will compete against world rated bikers from Japan (Akira Hosono and Kentaro Murahashi), Australia (Lee Hogan, Kim Ashkenazi and Jason Marshall), Arnold Irniger (Switzerland), Jason Smythe (England), and New Zealand's Daryl Hurdley, Damon Smith and Josh Coppins.(rsl)
Johnson plans to leave Lakers
LOS ANGELES (AFP): Magic Johnson plans to make his tenure as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers a brief one, saying he is unlikely to return once the season concludes in two weeks.
Johnson was named to replace Randy Pfund for the final 16 games of the season. The Lakers he led to five National Basketball Association titles will not have a winning season and are likely to miss the playoffs for the first time in 18 years.
"The chances of me being back are more so the other way, that I'm not returning," Johnson said. "I'm enjoying this and I am fond of this team. But I don't know if my wife and I are ready to give up our life. I don't know if coaching is in my makeup."
Fittipaldi wins Indy Car race
PHOENIX, Arizona (Reuter): Emerson Fittipaldi survived a frightening, crash-marred Indy Car race on Sunday to win the Slick 50 200 by 13.482 seconds over teammate Al Unser, jr at the Phoenix International Speedway.
Both Fittipaldi and Unser were driving Penske Ilmors in the 200-lap race at the one-mile oval track.
Defending Indy Car series champion Nigel Mansell finished third, one lap behind the leaders in a Lola Ford Cosworth.
Feyenoord edges closer to Ajax
AMSTERDAM (Reuter): Winger Regi Blinker and midfielder Dean Gorre scored two goals apiece as Feyenoord crushed fellow Rotterdam side Sparta 5-1 to cut Ajax Amsterdam's lead in Dutch league to three points on Sunday.
Ajax, who did not play this weekend, have two games in hand over their second-placed arch-rivals.
Defending champions Feyenoord opened with a fast, attacking game and Blinker tapped the ball home in the 10th minute after a scramble in the Sparta penalty box.
Russians upset Scotland
DEN BOSCH, Netherlands (AFP): Russia, which caused a major upset by getting their women through to the Uber Cup world team finals in Jakarta next month, made a good start to their campaign to win their first medals in the European Championships here on Monday.
It won 4-1 against Scotland and made sure that it will contest one of the medal matches in the combined men and women team event on Tuesday.
In fact the margin might have been wider, but Nicolai Zuev and Marina Andrievskaya, both required to play twice in every match, understandably coasted their way through the mixed doubles, by which time Russia was already certain of victory with a 4-0 lead.
Nigeria wins Nations Cup
TUNIS (Reuter): Nigeria confirmed its superiority in African football with a 2-1 win over Zambia in the Nations Cup final on Sunday.
Emmanuel Amunike, who had been left out of his team's four previous matches in the tournament, scored both goals as Nigeria came back from a goal down to win a thrilling match.
Zambia did magnificently to reach the final, having rebuilt their team after 18 members of the squad were killed in a plane crash off the coast of Gabon in April last year.
Agassi pledges trip down under
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP): Andre Agassi, revitalized after a Christmas operation to cure the wrist injury that kept him off the circuit for five months, has pledged to make his Australian Open debut in January.
"Definitely I'll be going," Agassi said on Monday. "I should have been there for the last two years but there were a couple of stumbling blocks - first bronchitis and then my wrist - that got in the way."
The American, who has been happy to skip the first grand slam of the year in the past, says the break from tennis made him realize how much the game's big occasions meant to him.
No Nancy in Nagano
RICHMOND, Virginia (AFP): Olympic silver medalist Nancy Kerrigan will not compete in the 1988 Nagano Winter Games or another world championship meet, shunning the public spotlight to enjoy herself.
"I may do some pro competitions, but I'm not going to try for the Olympics or anything like that," she said after an exhibition skate here.
"A lot of these skaters keep skating for five or 10 years after the Olympics and I really don't want to do anything like that. I don't see myself touring all the time."
Cantona makes commitment
MANCHESTER, England (AFP): Eric Cantona celebrated his Player of the Year award by pledging his future to Manchester United here on Monday.
The mercurial Frenchman, in the middle of a five-match ban which many felt might undermine his commitment to his English career, insists he is happy at Old Trafford.
"I hope I will stay a long time," he says. "I know I have often changed my mind before in my career but I deeply believe in what I am saying now."
Jansher into Open final
LONDON (Reuter): Pakistan's Jansher Khan overcame a determined challenge by Peter Marshall of England to reach his fifth British Open final with a 9-2 7-9 9-4 9-3 victory on Sunday.
Top seed Jansher appeared to be cruising into the final as he took the opening game in 24 minutes and led 7-2 in the second.
But England number one Marshall, the fourth seed, then staged a superb recovery. Incredibly he took the next nine points to win the second game and move 2-0 ahead in the third.