Russians ready for Davis Cup showdown
Russian Marat Safin
PARIS, (AFP) - Russian Davis Cup duo Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov said Tuesday it did not matter who France selected for their final here Friday to Sunday.
French captain Guy Forget has left some doubt over his choice of the second singles slot for the tie between the experienced Arnaud Clement and the up-and-coming Paul-Henri Mathieu. Sebastien Grosjean is assured of playing.
But his Russian counterpart Shamil Tarpishev said it would make no difference to how the Russians would approach the final.
"It really doesn't matter a lot who our opponents will be," he said after the Russians had completed their first practice session.
"Everyone knows that all the players
in the French squad are excellent."
Olympic banishment could lead to Baseball World Cup
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, (AFP) - As International Olympic Committee officials meet in Mexico to consider dropping baseball from the Olympics, global baseball officials are looking at other options for their sport.
Baseball is part of the Olympic program for Athens in 2004 and planned for Beijing in 2008, but IOC officials have put baseball, softball and modern pentathlon on the chopping block.
"International baseball is at a crossroads right now," says Peter Bjarkman, an authority on the game from nearby West Lafayette who has written books on Cuban and Latin American baseball.
"The sport has regional interest in North and South America, the Caribbean and pockets of Asia," he said.