New badminton dates for SEA meet
New badminton dates for SEA meet
SINGAPORE: Southeast Asia's three grand prix badminton tournaments, originally postponed due to the SARS crisis, will be played in August, the International Badminton Federation (IBF) said Wednesday.
"The International Badminton Federation (IBF) is pleased to announce the rescheduling of the Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia Open World Grand Prix events," the IBF said.
"The three Southeast Asian tournaments, due to have been held in late June/early July, were postponed last month because of the continuing nervousness of players and officials to travel and mingle with others from SARS-affected areas."
The decision to put the events back on the calendar came after the world championships, originally set for May 12-18 in Birmingham, were also rescheduled for July 26 to August 3, as the SARS crisis eased. --AFP
;AFP; ANPAs..r.. Putbriefs-Boxing-Tszyu Tszyu injured in training - world title bout postponed JP/9/Brief
Tszyu injured in training
SYDNEY, Australia: Kostya Tszyu's super-lightweight world title fight with American Sharmba Mitchell has been postponed for at least two months after he injured an Achilles tendon in training, his manager said on Wednesday.
Tszyu's manager Matthew Watt said the proposed Sept. 27 bout in Moscow against Mitchell would now probably be rescheduled for late November or early December.
Watt said Tszyu had to finalize terms for the bout with promoter Vlad Warton, but the venue and opponent would remain unchanged.
"This is a hiccup, but we don't want to focus on the injury, we want to focus on Kostya fighting later in the year," Watt said. --AFP
;AFP; ANPAs..r.. Putbriefs-Soccer-Zidane Zidane sponsors summer camp for Algerian children quake victims JP/9/Brief
Zidane sponsors summer camp
MADRID: Two-time World Footballer of the Year Zinedine Zidane and his club Real Madrid are to sponsor 20 Algerian children affected by last month's deadly earthquake to allow them to spend time at a summer camp.
The 30-year-old French-born son of Algerian immigrants will also spend two days with children at the camp which brings together 500 young people from July 16 to 30, it was announced on Tuesday.
The May 21 earthquake measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, killing 2,271 and injuring more than 10,000 according to latest government figures. --AFP
;AFP; ANPAs..r.. Putbriefs-Golf-USLPGA-Wie 13-year-old qualifies for women's US Open JP/9/Brief
Wie, 13, qualifies for women's US Open
ORLANDO, Florida: Thirteen-year-old Michelle Wie has qualified for the women's US Open.
Wie won her place at the first hole of a qualifying playoff in Florida on Monday.
The teenager from Honolulu, who doesn't turn 14 until October, has already played in one major senior tournament, the LPGA event at Rancho Mirage, California in March, where she finished ninth.
She will have 15-year-old Morgan Presley for company at the Open. Presley also qualified for the event when she was 13.
The women's US Open is taking place from July 3-6 at North Plains, Oregon. --AFP