Archrivals duel

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.