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.

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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.

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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.

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Putbrief-Baseball-Mets
Mets would host Phils or Braves in possible playoff

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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.

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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.

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Putbrief-Hockey-field
Holland favorite for re-scheduled Champions Trophy: Australia

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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.

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Putbrief-Weightlifting-drug

Australian Chakhoyan fails drugs test

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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.

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Putbrief-Golf-Australia

Australasian PGA Tour boss quits

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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.