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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 February - 3 March 1999 Issue No. 418 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 February - 3 March 1999 Issue No. 418
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Zimbabwe to plead case
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters
ZIMBABWE will try to reverse a decision to disqualify it from hosting the 2000 African Nations Cup when its officials meet African soccer supremo Issa Hayatou on 6 March in Ghana. Hayatou chaired African Football Confederation (CAF) talks in Côte d'Ivoire last month which charged Zimbabwe with making insufficient progress in building stadia or developing media infrastructure. CAF has invited applications from its 52 member states to replace Zimbabwe as hosts of the biennial 16-nation event. Egypt, Morocco and Nigeria are considered favourites.Palestinians boycott race
EIGHT Palestinian runners boycotted a race along the shores of the Dead Sea aimed at helping speed up peace efforts between Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinian Sports Ministry said the athletes from Gaza and the West Bank had boycotted the half marathon and 10km road race in protest at Israel's refusal to allow a junior Palestinian bridge team to travel to Egypt for a tournament. "It doesn't make sense to participate in such activities when the occupation authorities prevent Palestinian athletes from meeting each other and with their brothers outside the country," Sports Ministry official Ghaida Jarrar said. Israeli organisers of the athletic competition, billed "the lowest race on earth" -- it takes place 400 metres (1,310 feet) below sea level -- said they had not been warned that the Palestinian runners would not show up. "I had held their shirt numbers separate from the rest so that I would be able to meet them in person but unfortunately they didn't arrive," Ya'acov Akrish, head of the event's organising committee, said. "It's a great pity. It's only sport but I am hopeful for next year," he said. Akrish said the Palestinian flag had been flown along with other flags representing the nations participating in the competition during the opening ceremony. An effort to include a Palestinian tennis player at a professional tournament in Tel Aviv was thwarted when organisers refused to fly the Palestinian flag, forcing Raja Murad to pull out of the tournament.Second fastest marathon
GERT Thys, 27, ran the second fastest marathon in history when he clocked two hours, six minutes and 33 seconds to win the Tokyo International Marathon, 28 seconds behind the world best recorded by Brazilian Ronaldo Da Costa in Berlin last September. Da Costa's time of 2:06:05 shattered the 10-year-old mark of Ethiopian Belayneh Dinsamo by 45 seconds. Japan's Hiroshi Miki was second, one minute 32 seconds behind Thys.Jacquet leads all stars
FRANCE'S World Cup winning coach, Aimé Jacquet, will lead the FIFA all stars in a match against Australia on 12 June to officially open the Sydney 2000 Olympic Stadium. The 110,000-seat stadium, at the Olympic precinct of Homebush, will be used for other non-Olympic sports before the soccer match. Olympics Minister Michael Knight said the timing of the match meant the European season would be finished. He said approaches had already been made to stars such as Ronaldo, Michael Owen, Zinedine Zidane and Christian Vieri as well as Australians Mark Bosnich, Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka.Rodman to join Lakers
DENNIS Rodman, known for his dyed hair and cross-dressing as well as his ferocious defence and rebounding, has decided to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. Rodman's agent, Steve Chasman of International Creative Management, has been negotiating with the team for the past two weeks. Talks became sidetracked for a week while they discussed a possible movie deal with Fox, which holds an option to buy into the Lakers as a 10 per cent partner. Rodman, the NBA's seven-time rebounding champ and the league's most flamboyant player, has agreed to play for the veterans' minimum of $1 million, pro-rated to $600,000 for this lockout shortened season. He will also earn $3 million from an endorsement contract with Converse. Rodman, who turns 38 in May, has played on five of the last 10 NBA championships, including the last three with the Chicago Bulls.Flu attack
A FLU suffered by Juan Carlos Gomez forced the Cuban to postpone his WBC cruiserweight title defence which was to be held on Saturday. The 24-year-old Gomez, who fights in Germany and who was unbeaten in 26 fights with 22 knockouts, was scheduled to face Argentina's Marcello Dominguez. He woke up coughing with a high fever late Friday night. "A fight would be life-threatening," said Klaus-Peter Kohl, the fighter's manager, saying a new date had not been set for the fight.Crowd violence
VIOLENCE broke out in the English First Division football match between West Bromwich Albion and Bristol City. The second half was delayed 15 minutes as rival fans broke through lines of security to start a 200-man brawl at West Brom's Hawthorns stadium. Order was finally restored by stewards but many innocent bystanders and children were said to have been injured after one of the worst incidents of violence inside an English stadium in recent years. Police did not arrive on the scene until two minutes after referee Peter Walton had restarted the game, which finished in a 2-2 draw.Stadium walk
OLYMPICS Minister Michael Knight said that an estimated 80,000 who turned out for Sunday's Great Stadium Walk showed the public still supports the Sydney Games despite the Olympic bribery scandal. The crowd took the opportunity to walk around the athletics track inside Stadium Australia at Homebush Bay, which will house the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2000 Olympics. It was the public's first opportunity to see inside the 110,000-seat stadium which will open with a rugby league doubleheader on 6 March.Dream win
BRITAIN's Cornelius Carr achieved a lifetime ambition when he won a world boxing title in front of his home crowd in Middlesbrough. The 29-year-old earned a unanimous points decision over veteran compatriot Steve Foster to win the WBF (World Boxing Federation) middleweight crown. The judges awarded Carr the decision by 120-108, 120-109 and 120-110 margins.(Compiled from wire services) .
