Tiger Woods still plans extensive travel
Tiger Woods still plans extensive travel
JP/6/BRIEF
Woods still plans extensive travel
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AP): Despite pulling out of the Lancome Trophy in Paris, Tiger Woods still has plans for an international schedule at the end of the PGA Tour season.
Mark Steinberg, his agent at IMG, said Woods is scheduled to play a two-day exhibition Nov. 10-11 in Hong Kong before going to the World Cup in Japan, where he and David Duval are the defending champions.
Then, it's off to Hawaii and the PGA Grand Slam of Golf for major championship winners, followed by the Skins Game in a field that now includes Colin Montgomerie, Greg Norman and Jesper Parnevik. His final event of 2001 will be his Williams World Challenge.
Steinberg said Woods still plans to play the New Zealand Open in January.
;RTR;AFP;; ANPAs..r.. Putbrief-Golf-Estoril Open Promoters call off 2001 Estoril Open
JP/6/BRIEF
Promoters call off 2001 Estoril Open
LONDON (Reuters): The Estoril Open, scheduled for Oct. 11-14, has been canceled by the tournament promoters, the European Tour said on Wednesday.
"The people who promote the event, Joao Lagos Sports SA in Lisbon, has canceled the Estoril Open, but we are still waiting to hear further details from them as to why," a European Tour official told Reuters.
The event was to have been staged at Quinta da Marinha in Cascais the same week that the World Matchplay Championship takes place at Wentworth.
;RTR; ANPAs..r.. Putbrief-Tennis-FedCup U.S. and Belgium seeded favourites for Fed Cup finals
JP//BRIEF U.S. and Belgium seeded favorites
MADRID (Reuters): The United States and Belgium were named favorites for November's Fed Cup World Finals at Wednesday's draw in Madrid.
The finals -- from Nov. 7 to 11 -- will be played using a round-robin format with two groups of four teams each.
Matches will be best-of-three featuring two singles and a doubles and the winners of each group will play off in a final.
Defending champions the U.S. swept Spain for a 17th Fed Cup title in last year's final with Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles in their side.
;RTR;; ANPAs..r.. Putbrief-Baseball-Mets Mets would host Phils or Braves in possible playoff
JP//BRIEF
Mets would be playoff host
NEW YORK (Reuters): Should the New York Mets carry on their improbable charge and make up four games over the next two weeks they will have home-field advantage in a possible playoff with the Atlanta Braves or Philadelphia Phillies to decide the National League East title.
Major League Baseball conducted additional coin tosses on Tuesday involving the three teams given New York's spirited charge that has put them back into the race for the division titles, and the Mets won both.
If the defending National League champion Mets finish tied with either the Braves or Phillies, they will host a playoff game Oct. 8, the day after the end of the regular season.
;RTR; ANPAs..r.. Putbrief-Athletics-suspend Suspended sprinter Jarrett says wrong sample tested
JP//BRIEF
Wrong sample tested: Jarrett
RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters): Suspended Jamaican sprinter Patrick Jarrett says he has never taken a banned substance and that a urine sample that produced a positive test for the banned drug stanozolol was not his.
"I know that is not my urine sample," the Raleigh-based Jarrett said in a telephone call to Reuters on Tuesday.
"Regardless of what the A and B samples say, that is not my urine. I have never taken anything (banned) and I never intend to take anything."
The Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) announced last week it had found Jarrett guilty of taking stanozolol at its national championships in June and had forwarded its findings to the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) for imposing a suspension of two years.
;AFP; ANPAs..r.. Putbrief-Hockey-field Holland favorite for re-scheduled Champions Trophy: Australia
JP//BRIEF
Holland favorite for hockey Trophy
PERTH, Australia (AFP): Australia conceded Wednesday that while it would like to stage the re-scheduled 2001 Champions Trophy hockey tournament, Holland was the front runner to hold the event after Pakistan relinquished hosting rights 10 days ago.
Hockey Australia (HA) executive director Linden Adamson said Holland's healthy financial situation and the ease with which it could prepare a world-class tournament under tight deadlines made it the favorite to be awarded the six-nation November contest.
The city of Lahore was preparing to stage the competition from Nov. 3-11, but Pakistan officials decided on Sept. 16 to call off the event because of security fears arising out of the terrorist attacks on the United States.
;RTR; ANPAs..r.. Putbrief-Weightlifting-drug
Australian Chakhoyan fails drugs test
JP//BRIEF
Australian Chakhoyan fails drugs test
SYDNEY (Reuters): Australian weightlifter Sergo Chakhoyan has been banned for two years after testing positive for steroids, the Australian Weightlifting Federation (AWF) announced on Wednesday.
The AWF said it had been notified by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) that Chakhoyan returned a positive urine test for the banned steroid stanozolol after setting a world record at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane earlier this month.
Under IWF rules, Chakhoyan's results have been nullified and he has been banned from competing for two years. But he can appeal against the decision or have his 'B' sample tested.
;RTR; ANPAs..r.. Putbrief-Golf-Australia
Australasian PGA Tour boss quits
JP//BRIEF
Australasian PGA Tour boss quits
SYDNEY (Reuters): The troubled Australasian PGA Tour suffered another major blow on Wednesday when chief executive Andy Laidlaw quit.
Tour chairman Wayne Grady said Laidlaw's resignation would force yet another delay to the release of the 2001-02 playing schedule.
The tour dates were supposed to be released last month but were postponed when the promoters of the Greg Norman International, Australia's richest annual event, cancelled their tournament because of a dispute over television rights.
There had been speculation in the local media that other events were in danger of folding because of growing uncertainty among sponsors.