IN BRIEF (Page 24)

Golf

Woods has knee surgery

LOS ANGELES: Tiger Woods, who is fresh off a second-place finish at the 2008 Masters, will miss at least four weeks of the PGA Tour after undergoing surgery on his left knee.

Woods, who has had problems with his left knee previously, underwent arthroscopic surgery on Tuesday in Park City, Utah.

Woods hopes to recover in time to compete in the US Open at San Diego, June 12-15.

PGA seeks Olympics

LOS ANGELES: PGA Tour boss Tim Finchem wants to reopen the debate on whether golf should be included in the Olympic Games.

Finchem would like to see golf part of the 2012 Olympics. Decisions on the Olympic program for those Games will be made next year.

In his blog on the Tour's website, www.pgatour.com, Finchem wrote: "In 1993, we actually announced that golf would be in the 1996 Games in Atlanta. However, this never materialized for various reasons."

Tennis

Mauresmo back for France

PARIS: Former world No 1 Amelie Mauresmo will make her return for France in its Fed Cup World Group play-off in Tokyo from April 26-27.

France captain Georges Goven has also selected Alize Cornet, Virginie Razzano and Nathalie Dechy for the tie.

The line-up does not include French No 1 Marion Bartoli, who refuses to play Fed Cup, and Tatiana Golovin, who is recovering from hip surgery.

Mauresmo was called up for the first round tie in China in February but opted to concentrate on her individual game after a lengthy injury-affected slump. France lost 3-2.

Soccer

Ribery returns for Bayern

MUNICH, Germany: Bayern Munich said on Tuesday it will welcome back French international Franck Ribery for Wednesday's match with Eintracht Frankfurt after he recovered from a foot injury causing him to miss a 5-0 weekend stroll over Dortmund.

Ribery suffered the injury in the midweek away goals UEFA Cup quarterfinal win over Spain's Getafe.

Bayern skipper and keeper Oliver Kahn will miss the Frankfurt outing with a shoulder complaint with Michael Rensing deputizing.

NFL

Cooper banned for 4 games

SAN DIEGO: San Diego Chargers linebacker Stephen Cooper was suspended by the NFL on Tuesday for violating the league's substance-abuse policy and will miss the first four games of next season.

Cooper's ban begins on Aug 30 and he is eligible to return to the team's active roster on Sept 29, the day after the Chargers' game against the Oakland Raiders.

(China Daily 04/17/2008 page24)