Al-Ahram Weekly   Al-Ahram Weekly
11 - 17 March 1999
Issue No. 420
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 Back issues Current issue
 
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Briefs

Olympic torch

THE CURVE of a boomerang and the peaks of the Sydney Opera House have been combined to create the 2000 Games' futuristic blue, silver and white Olympic torch. Presented in public, the torch will be carried by 10,000 Australians on a 100-day, 16,800 miles (27,000km) journey, spreading the Olympic spirit throughout the nation. Passing through almost 1,000 towns and communities, the torch will travel within an hour's drive of 85 per cent of Australia's population, to complete its journey at Stadium Australia on 15 September when it will light the Sydney 2000 flame.

Spurs down Nuggets

THE SAN Antonio Spurs handed the Denver Nuggets their fourth straight loss in Denver, and won their fourth straight 106-96. In other NBA games, Chris Webber had 18 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists as the Sacramento Kings defeated the Dallas Mavericks 94-89. Corliss Williamson added 15 points for the Kings, while Gary Trent led Dallas with 18 points and 14 rebounds. In Seattle, the Timberwolves beat the Seattle Super Sonics 88-77. In Portland, the Trail Blazers smashed the Houston Rockets 111-71 while in Salt Lake City, the Los Angeles Lakers edged the Utah Jazz 97-89. In Indianapolis, the Indiana Pacers beat the Miami Heat 83-72, while in New York, the Knicks beat the struggling New Jersey Nets 97-86. In Toronto, the Raptors took the Celtics 105-92.

Borg's big win

BJORN Borg defeated Henri Leconte 7-5, 6-4 to win the $300,000 Nuveen Masters, the season-ending championship event for the worldwide senior tennis circuit. Borg, who has been on the senior tour since its inception in 1993, had qualified for the Masters in each of the previous five years, but had never before won. He lost in the final of the inaugural Masters in 1995 to Jimmy Connors. Last year, he fell in the semi-finals to eventual champion Tim Wilkison. "This is a great win for me because I've been trying for five years," Borg said. "Last year, I played really well all week, but I got sick. This was my year."

Ghana U-20 champions

HOSTS Ghana captured the Africa under-20 championship with a thrilling 1-0 upset over favourites Nigeria. Cameroon took third place following a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Zambia in the consolation round. In a final filled with tense moments and unfulfilled chances on goal, Kingston Laryea ignited the hometown crowd of 45,000 when he put Ghana's Black Satellites on the scoreboard in the 30th minute. The game was attended by Ghana's President Jerry Rawlings and world football governing body FIFA President Sepp Blatter. Cameroon took the bronze on the strength of two second-half goals. Zambia's Chaswe Nsofwa opened the scoring in the 37th minute but Cameroon's Francis Kioyo equalised in the 61st minute and François Dikoume put his team ahead for good at 78 minutes. The four countries, in addition to Mali, will appear in the World Youth Championships to be held from 3-24 April in Nigeria.

Winning foils

EGYPT'S Tamer Tahun and Mahmoud Samir won the foil and epee events in the African championship just concluded in Cairo. Tahun beat countryman Tarek Magdi 15-10 in the final of the foil. Third place went to Egyptian Mustafa Anwar followed by Algerian Azizi Sefian. In the epee, Mahmoud Samir beat teammate Ahmed Hamdi 15-13. Third place was also clinched by Egypt's Mohamed El-Bakri. Egyptian Federation board member Mohamed Tahun said, "Our players were expected to take the African championship by storm, having participated in international events in preparation." Tamer Tahun and Magdi were ranked 42 and 64 respectively among 180 players from 54 countries who took part in a Grand Prix tournament held in Seoul, South Korea. Mustafa Anwar and Mustafa Nehad came third and 10th out of 158 players from 42 countries in a tournament in Slovakia.

Ahli in second

LEBANON'S Tadamun beat Ahli of Egypt 56-52 in the first round of the Arab basketball championship held in Beirut. Both teams ended up in a tie on points, but Ahli's attempts of shots at the basket outnumbered Tadamun's, giving it second place. Algeria's Estawli came first in the pool, followed by Ahli and Tadamun. Ahli's second place finish means it will meet either Egypt's Ittihad or Lebanon's Riadi in the second round. As such, only one Egyptian team can go on to the quarter-final.

Physio plans

THE SECOND Arab Union Conference for Physiotherapy Specialists has discussed about 80 papers submitted by physiotherapy specialists from throughout the Arab world. Recommendations to hold the conference annually and to have a different Arab country host it will be tabled. Specialists also intend to have all member countries updated on the science as it develops in Europe and the United States and plan to establish a network connecting Arab countries for the exchange of information. .
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