IN BRIEF (Page 24)
Baseball
Mets ease to opening day win over Cardinals
ST LOUIS: The New York Mets opened the 2007 season with a 6-1 road victory over the World Series champion St Louis Cardinals on Sunday, silencing the home fans with some clutch hitting and a strong defense.
In a rematch of last season's National League Championship Series, the Mets struck early with two runs in the third and three in the fourth, all the result of two-out hits by Carlos Delgado, Paul LoDuca and Carlos Beltran.
LoDuca added another run-batted-in with a single in the top of the ninth, giving him three for the game as Delgado had two RBIs, Beltran one."We've been good two-out hitters," Mets manager Willie Randolph told reporters. "The defense is what I'm most happy about."
Basketball
Wizards lose Butler to broken wrist
MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin: Washington Wizards All-Star forward Caron Butler broke his wrist in a victory over Milwaukee Sunday and could be sidelined through the National Basketball Association playoffs.
The loss of Butler was a high price for a 121-107 victory over the Bucks.
The 27-year-old said he could be sidelined for the rest of the regular season and possibly all of the playoffs, which begin in less than three weeks.
Soccer
Romario stuck on 999 goals after Vasco lose 2-0
RIO DE JANEIRO: Former Brazil striker Romario remained stuck on a career tally of 999 goals after failing to score in Vasco da Gama's game against Botafogo on Sunday.
Vasco went down 2-0 as the 41-year-old was forced to continue the wait to emulate Pele by scoring 1,000 goals in his career.
"The greatest of them all had to wait four or five games to do it," he told reporters.
"I'm going to keep on playing and hopefully the chances will appear."
Nearly 60,000 watched the Carioca championship match, a competition were few games have attracted crowds of more than 5,000, in the hope of seeing Romario make history.
Few Brazilians are bothered about Romario's admission that his total includes goals scored in junior, friendly and testimonial games.
Euro 2008 tickets 30 times oversubscribed
VIENNA: Tickets for the 2008 European Championship were 30 times oversubscribed after seats went on sale in the first round of applications, European soccer's governing body UEFA said yesterday.
The huge demand means the second round of sales - initially planned to allocate unsold tickets on a first come, first served basis in June- has been abandoned.
Almost 600,000 fans from 142 countries had ordered 10.4 million tickets when the deadline expired on March 31 - 18 times more than for the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal and almost as many as for last year's World Cup in Germany.
Blatter sole candidate for FIFA presidency
ZURICH: Sepp Blatter is the only candidate for FIFA's presidential election in May.
No other candidates had nominated by the March 31 deadline to challenge the incumbent on May 31 during the 57th FIFA Congress in Zurich, world soccer's governing body said yesterday.
FIFA said 66 member associations from all six confederations nominated the 71-year-old Blatter for a third term as FIFA president through till 2011.
"I wish to thank all of the associations who have demonstrated their trust in me in this way," Blatter, who became FIFA's eight president in 1998, said.
(China Daily 04/03/2007 page24)
