The Hindu : Sports Digest

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 18, 2002

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

Sports Digest

GOLF: ORLANDO (Florida): Tiger Woods, who began the day four strokes clear, slumped to a two-over-par 74 to allow Len Mattiace to close within one shot of the lead after the third round of the $ 4 million Bay Hill Invitational on Saturday. Mattiace, who won the Nissan Open in February, turned up the heat on the world number one by firing a four-under-par 68 for a nine-under-par aggregate of 207. Woods is seeking to become the first player to win three different tournaments three times in a row. Saturday's scores: Tiger Woods 67-65-74: 206; Len Mattiace 73-66-68: 207, Michael Campbell 72-68-68: 208, Chad Campbell 70-70-68: 208, Pat Perez 70-69-69: 208, John Huston 67-71-70: 208, Scott McCarron 69-67-72: 208; Phil Mickelson 69-71-69: 209, Vijay Singh 69-71-69: 209, Scott Hoch 71-68-70: 209, Sergio Garcia 68-71-70: 209, Jose Maria Olazabal 71-68-70: 209, John Daly 67-71-71: 209, Ernie Els 70-67- 72: 209, Angel Cabrera 67-70-72: 209.

FOOTBALL: ROME: Former European Player of the Year Roberto Baggio is on course for a remarkable comeback from knee ligament surgery, which may yet win him a place in Italy's World Cup squad. The 35-year-old believed his chances of playing in a fourth World Cup had been shattered when he sustained an injury in an Italian Cup match against Parma at the end of january, but the Italy and Brescia forward is recovering faster than expected. ``This morning Roberto began to run again,'' Baggio's official website said on Saturday. ``This extraordinary event gives big hope to all football fans and fans of Roby. In the opinion of doctors this is a world record: nobody before was able to do it only 38 days after an operation.''

NYON (Switzerland): UEFA agreed to introduce a new licensing system aimed at ensuring clubs operate on a financially sound platform. The scheme introduced on Saturday, the first stage of which is to be introduced in the 2004-05 season, demands that clubs satisfy a series of criteria to be eligible for the Champions League or UEFA Cup. The licensing system will be run by each member country's association. To be eligible for either of UEFA's two main competitions, clubs must satisfy five criteria, the most important of which will be financial. All clubs must be able to show that they are able to trade, must produce audited statements of their finances and must not have any outstanding transfer fees or salary debts. The four other criteria relate to the Existence of an acceptable youth programme, a satisfactory stadium, various levels of staffing within the club and recognition of various legal matters. The financial rules will be introduced gradually from 2004 with the full set in place for the 2006/07 season.

FORMULA ONE:BERLIN: Formula One World champion Michael Schumacher has new shoes, and will pocket a comfortable $ 9,000,000 Euros ($7.97 million) just by wearing them, German Daily Bild reported on Saturday. The Ferrari driver, sported the shoes for the first time at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday. Bild quoted Schumacher's manager Willi Weber as saying Schumacher had signed a three-year deal with Italian sportswear maker Fila to wear the shoes, which are naturally red and weigh just 200 grammes each. The contract, Bild wrote, guarantees the German 3 million Euros a year.

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