jp/10/briefs
Deportivo goes 2 points clear
MADRID (AFP): A goal from Nando fifteen minutes from time sealed a 2-1 home victory for Deportivo La Coruna over Atletico Thursday night and put the home side two points clear of rivals Barcelona in the Spanish first division title race.
Donato had put Deportivo ahead two minutes before half-time but Kosecki put Atletico back on level terms on the hour.
Sri Lanka has cricket crisis
COLOMBO (Reuter): Sri Lankan cricket plunged into deep crisis yesterday when three players quit this month's tour of Sharjah, joining captain Arjuna Ranatunga and five selectors in an uproar over a fitness test that failed Ranatunga's deputy.
Cricket officials said that fast bowler Pramodya Wickramasinghe, off spinner Muttiah Muralidaran and opener Dulip Samaraweera pulled out of the 14-member squad for the six-nation Australasia Cup starting on April 13.
But Sport Minister Nanda Mathew, whom many blamed for the crisis, said he was determined not to bow to pressure.
Yearlings die at auction
SYDNEY (UPI): Eight prized thorobred yearlings worth over US$1 million died and six others of equal value became seriously ill when a outbreak of botulism hit the southern hemisphere's premier yearling auction sales in Sydney, yesterday.
The disease, which is similar to food poisoning rocked the sales which saw confidence return to the Australasian thorobred industry.
The exact cause of the outbreak has still to be determined.
"We will have a close look at everything and whether it is the feed or bedding - whatever is responsible will be destroyed and the whole place will be fumigated," the managing director of the sales Reg Inglis told United Press International.
Chinese stars pull out
LONDON (UPI): Chinese officials Thursday withdrew world record holders Wang Junxia and Qu Xunxia from Sunday's Bob Hasan 10- kilometer road race in Jakarta and their participation in the April 17 London Marathon is now in doubt.
The Chinese Olympic Committee withdrew the runners from the Jakarta race in a short fax Thursday, citing only "for reasons" and apologizing for the late notification.
Wang is the world record holder over 3,000 and 10,000 meters and is world champion over the longer distance, while Qu is the 1,500-meter world record holder. They are the leading lights of the Chinese group of athletes, known as "Ma's Army" after their controversial coach Ma Junren.
I'll choose who I talk to:Diego
BUENOS AIRES (AFP): Argentina's fading football star Diego Maradona has decided to discriminate between journalists.
"I am going to decide who I talk to," Maradona said following training with the national team here on Wednesday.
Journalists had congregated at training to view the 33-year- old, who lifted the World Cup for Argentina in 1986. There is still speculation Maradona will play for Argentina in this year's event from June 17 to July 17.
Gascoigne breaks leg in training
ROME (UPI): Gun England midfielder Paul Gascoigne Thursday broke his leg during training for his Italian club Lazio.
Lazio spokesman Gabriele Grassi said the England star had been taken to Rome's San Giacomo hospital immediately after the incident.
"He fractured his leg and he is having X-rays," said Grassi.
Gascoigne had been out of the game for 16 months after snapping cruciate ligaments in his right knee during the 1991 Tottenham-Nottingham Forest English Fa Cup Final. He later required three operations.
Japan, Korea could co-host World Cup
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Bitter soccer rivals Japan and South Korea could wind up as co-hosts for the 2002 World Cup finals, Asian Football Confederation general-secretary Peter Velappan said yesterday.
FIFA president Joao Havelange is giving "serious consideration" to allowing two countries to jointly host the finals for the first time, Velappan said at AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur after returning from a FIFA meeting in Zurich this week.
A task force will be set up to examine the idea after FIFA's June congress in Chicago ahead of the World Cup finals in the United States.