IN BRIEF (Page 24)
Asian games
Incheon wins bid to host 2014 Asian Games
KUWAIT: Incheon, South Korea will host the 2014 Asian Games, the Olympic Council of Asia decided yesterday.
"The city which will host the Asian Games in 2014 is Incheon," OCA chief Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah said after a general assembly meeting in Kuwait.
In a vote of the 45-member countries, Incheon beat off New Delhi. Incheon will be the third Korean city to host the Games following Seoul in 1986 and Busan in 2002.
Tennis
Murray out of Monte Carlo
MONTE CARLO: Briton Andy Murray pulled out of the Monte Carlo Masters yesterday.
The eighth seed was due to play Frenchman Marc Gicquel in a second round match, but failed to recover from the back problem that forced him to retire during a doubles game on Monday.
"The pain was getting worse and worse by the end of the (first set) tiebreak. I could barely stand up," the Scottish world number 10 told a news conference.
"It's better today than it was yesterday, but I still find it hard to walk. It's a little bit frustrating."
Murray will return home on today for a scan.
"I guess I'll get a diagnosis from this and I'll know exactly what the problem is and how bad the inflammation is and how long it's going to take to go away."
Golf
Norman to design course in Vietnam's Las Vegas
LONDON: Former world No 1 Greg Norman is to design a championship course in the Vung Tau province of Vietnam.
The layout will be part of Vietnam Casino City, the country's first Las Vegas-style resort, said Norman's official website on Monday.
Site plans contain a massive arts and entertainment district at Xuyen Moc with several theatres and museums, and a cultural centre. The total development cost is projected at $4 billion.
Phase One will include 1,200 hotel rooms, a casino, 10 restaurants, a swimming pool and Norman's 200-acre golf course and country club.
Sorenstam to miss another month with back injury
REUNION, Florida: Annika Sorenstam will be sidelined for at least another month because of a back injury, her agent said on Monday as the Swedish star announced the opening of her new golf and fitness academy.
Mark Steinberg, Sorenstam's agent, said Sorenstam is taking her time in bouncing back from a ruptured disc and herniated disc in her back, adding that two specialists have told her surgery is unlikely but remains an option.
"We're hoping that this is a four-to-six-week process, and she's back, but everybody reacts differently, as you all know, to rehab and medication," said Steinberg.
Baseball
Ensberg's single lifts Astros over Marlins
HOUSTON: Morgan Ensberg made the most of a fluffed defensive play to stroke a bases-loaded ninth-inning single that lifted the Houston Astros to a 4-3 home win over the Florida Marlins on Monday.
Ensberg's hit came after Joe Borchard and Dan Uggla collided while chasing a playable popup behind the foul line near first base.
The third baseman worked the count to 3-2 before singling off Kevin Gregg.
"You absolutely want to be in that situation," Ensberg told reporters.
"Ninth inning, your team's down or you're tied and you're up there to win a game. This is one of the major reasons why you play the game."
(China Daily 04/18/2007 page24)
