Mon, 08 Dec 2003

Juana Wangsa advances to Athens

JAKARTA: Indonesia's Juana Wangsa qualified for the Athens Olympic Games in tae kwon do after winning a gold medal in the Olympic pre-qualification tournament at the Stade Piere De Coubertin in Paris.

Juana defeated D. Contreras of Venezuela in the women's finals in the 49-kilogram division 3-1 on Thursday. The 25-year-old advanced to the finals after Y. Boorapolchai of Thailand withdrew with injury during the pair's semifinal fight.

Dery Darmansyah, Basuki Nugroho and Emerald Margaretha all failed to win a medal, meaning that Juana is the only Indonesian tae kwon do athlete to advance to the Olympic Games in August 2004, the Indonesian Tae kwon do Association announced on Saturday. --JP

;AFP; ANPAs..r.. Putbriefs-Boxing-USA-Foreman Foreman wants to spend more time with family JP/11/Briefs

Foreman to spend more time at home

HOUSTON, Texas: Boxing legend, pastor and businessman George Foreman plans to vacate his chair as a TV analyst in 2004 so he can devote more time to his family.

"They were very happy years for me. HBO enabled me to enter the living rooms of millions of boxing fans throughout the country," said the former heavyweight champ Foreman, who worked 12 years as a television analyst for HBO after his retirement.

The former Olympic gold medalist and his wife, Mary, have a house in Houston.

He will continue to promote his George Foreman outdoor cooking grill and other kitchen accessories.

Foreman is scheduled to broadcast Saturday's heavyweight fight in New York between Kirk Johnson and Vitali Klitschko. --AFP

;RTRS; ANPAs..r.. Sport-IceHockey-NHL

Flyers edge Coyotes to maintain sparkling home form JP/11/Briefs

Flyers edge Coyotes 3-2

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Flyers extended their unbeaten streak at home to 14 games after edging past the Phoenix Coyotes 3-2 Friday.

The Flyers, the NHL's top team with 38 points, are now 12-0-2 this season at the Wachovia Center, the second best home start in franchise history.

Philadelphia has won 11 straight home games, matching the team's third longest streak.

Jim Vandermeer and Tony Amonte scored in the second period for the Flyers before John LeClair added the third goal early in the last session. Branko Radivojevic and Andrei Nazarov replied for Phoenix.

In Atlanta, Marc Savard notched two goals and Jeff Cowan, Serge Aubin, JP Vigier and Slava Kozlov also netted as the Thrashers thumped the Anaheim Mighty Ducks 6-2. --Reuters