IN BRIEF (Page 24)
Soccer
Gold Cup dumps South Americans
NEW YORK: North American regional football officials have ended an agreement made in 1991 that allowed for team exchanges with South America for continental football championships.
Chuck Blazer, competition committee chairman for the Confederation of North, Central and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), revealed the break-up on Tuesday in announcing the 12-team lineup for June's CONCACAF Gold Cup event.
US and Mexican teams invited to this year's Copa America, the South American (CONMEBOL) championship, were allowed to participate after having already been announced and promoted as part of the event in Venezuela, Blazer said.
Ice hockey
Red Wings close gap on league-leading Predators
DETROIT: The Detroit Red Wings edged Nashville 4-3 in a Western Conference showdown on Tuesday, reducing the Predators' lead at the top of the standings to a single point.
Johan Franzen gave the Wings victory with his goal in the extra shootout round after each team had scored once in the first three shots. Detroit goalie Chris Osgood then stopped Martin Erat to clinch the win.
The two clubs play three more times before the end of the regular season, including two games next week.
Both teams were missing several key regulars. Nashville's Peter Forsberg missed his second straight game with an upper body injury while Detroit goalie Dominik Hasek is out with a thigh injury.
Athletics
Bekele changes mind over world cross country
LONDON: Five-times double champion Kenenisa Bekele has changed his mind about competing at the world cross country championships later this month and has been added to the Ethiopian team, the IAAF said yesterday.
Bekele indicated last year he would not run at another world cross country championships after completing a historic 4km and 12 km race double for a fifth time in Fukuoka, Japan.
"Fellow athletes told me to compete in Mombasa," Bekele was quoted as saying on the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) website (www.iaaf.org)
"Next to the fact that the event will be hosted in Africa, on the home soil of my friends and rivals from Kenya, I also realised that I can become the first athlete in history to win six consecutive 12km titles," added Bekele, world record holder on the track for the 5,000 and 10,000 meters.
Golf
Former Ryder Cup player Fulke quits at 36
LONDON: Former European Ryder Cup player and Volvo Masters champion Pierre Fulke has announced his retirement at the age of 36.
"I'm not tired of golf but I'm tired of the travel," Fulke told the Swedish Golf Federation's website. "It feels good to sleep in my own bed.
"Now it's time to explore other areas in golf. I'm involved in several new projects in Sweden as a course designer."
The Swede won three times on the European Tour, including the Volvo Masters at Montecastillo in Spain in 2000 when he finished a career-high 12th on the order of merit.
Fulke was a member of the victorious Ryder Cup team at the Belfry in 2002 but gradually became more involved in course-design projects and played only six times on the tour in 2006 after suffering a side injury.
(China Daily 03/08/2007 page24)
