In Brief

Matthaeus' goodbye in EuropeLOS ANGELES: Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras will join world number one Andre Agassi on the United States Davi...

Matthaeus’ goodbye in Europe
LOS ANGELES: Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras will join world number one Andre Agassi on the United States Davis Cup team after ending a spat with US captain John McEnroe.

McEnroe announced the powerful duo would join forces for the first time in Davis Cup since a 1995 semi-final against Sweden to face the Czech Republic in a second-round tie here from April 7-9 on a slow hardcourt surface.

`Africa’s next’
CANNES: Just Fontaine, the record scorer in World Cup finals tournaments, believes it is time for Africa to host the tournament and

is backing Morocco to be the venue in 2006.

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An honorary ambassador for Morocco’s bid to host the 2006 tournament, Fontaine, who is attending the Football Expo in the French riveria town of Cannes, claimed to be backing the candidature of a country that had the backing of the entire African continent.

Breezy Games
SYDNEY: Organisers of the Sydney Olympics said it was too late to do anything about swirling winds that threaten to spoil track and field events at this year’s Games.

Top competitors, including Australia’s two-time 400 metres world champion Cathy Freeman, complained about the track after they were buffeted by strong winds during last weekend’s National Athletics Championships at the Homebush Bay Stadium.

Freeman said she was forced to run into a head wind throughout her one-lap race because of the breezes which swirl inside the 110,000-seat stadium. Other competitors, particularly 100 metre sprinters, were also less than impressed with the conditions, which they said changed within a matter of seconds.