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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 26, 2001
Saying it was worried about the "safety and lives" of its players, the defending champion United States pulled out of next month's Fed Cup final in Madrid.
The Fed Cup is the highest-profile international sports event from which an American team has withdrawn since the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks. Golf's Ryder Cup, scheduled in late September between American and European teams, was postponed until next year.
The U.S. Tennis Association said Thursday it wasn't a good time for elite American athletes to compete abroad as a national team.
"We're disappointed that we won't be able to defend our Fed Cup title, but with the concerns over security this was obviously the most prudent decision for us," U.S. captain Billie Jean King said. "The safety and lives of our entire team come first."
The United States is the two-time defending champion of the Fed Cup, the women's version of the Davis Cup, and received a bye into the world final.
MORE TENNIS: Defending champion Thomas Johansson advanced to the quarterfinals of the Stockholm Open, outlasting Cedric Pioline 6-1, 5-7, 6-3. ... Anna Kournikova won for the second time since returning from a foot injury, beating Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) at the SEAT Open in Luxembourg. ... Defending champion Marat Safin struggled to win a long second-round match at the St. Petersburg Open in Russia, beating Mikhail Youzhny 6-7 (7-1), 7-6 (10-8), 7-5. ... Second-seeded Tim Henman dropped three games in a 6-2, 6-1 win against Andrea Gaudenzi at the Swiss Indoors at Basel. ... Defending champion Lindsay Davenport outlasted Daja Bedanova 7-6 (8-6), 6-0 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Generali Ladies tournament in Linz, Austria.
AUTO RACING: Jimmy Spencer took the pole in Avondale, Ariz., for Saturday's Busch series Outback Steakhouse 200. The Chevy driver broke the Phoenix Raceway series record with a lap at 131.339 mph. In truck qualifying, Stacy Compton edged series leader Jack Sprague by five-thousandths of a second to take the pole for today's Chevy Silverado 150.
CYCLING: Saying they wanted no repeat of this summer's runaway victory by Lance Armstrong, Tour de France officials unveiled the 2002 route that is the shortest in history and designed to keep the outcome in the balance until the final stages. The route covers 2,034.8 miles in 21 stages, down from 2,141.5 miles this year.
SOCCER: Karim Bagheri scored in the 45th minute to give host Iran a 1-0 victory against the United Arab Emirates in the first leg of the Asian playoff in World Cup qualifying. ... Greg Andrulis, who led the MLS' Columbus Crew to a 12-4-4 record after taking over six games into the season, agreed to a two-year contract. Terms were not disclosed.
OLYMPICS: Scott Blackmun, who served as the USOC's interim chief executive for nearly a year, is leaving after being passed over for the permanent job, which went to Lloyd Ward.
COLLEGES: Cindy Schofield scored three goals as host Florida State beat Miami 3-1 in women's soccer. ... Florida State's Rodrigo Laub and Xavier Luscan won three doubles matches to reach the semifinals at the ITA Region II Indoor Tennis Championships in Tallahassee. The duo faces Duke's Peter Shults and Jason Zimmerman today. ... Florida's Eleazar Magallan and South Florida's Paco Antelo and Nadim Naser advanced to the third round of singles play at the Region III tennis event in Knoxville, Tenn. ... Florida Southern's Lee Stephens, from Land O'Lakes, and Tampa's Tracy Buxton were named men's and women's cross-country runner of the year in the Sunshine State Conference.
BOXING: The WBC stripped the ranking of Australian middleweight Anthony Mundine for comments that the United States brought the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks upon itself. The WBC said it read Mundine's remarks "with stupefaction" and said it was dropping him indefinitely. Mundine was ranked only 26th among super-middleweights by the WBC, but is ranked 14th by the IBF and is scheduled to fight for the IBF title Dec. 1 against Sven Ottke. WBC president Jose Sulaiman said the governing body would consider reinstating its ranking if Mundine explained and apologized for the remarks, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. said.
FIGURE SKATING: Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz, the most experienced couple in the ice dancing field, won the compulsory dance at the Skate America event in Colorado Springs. Jamie Sale and David Pelletier won the pairs short program, worth one-third of the total score. The pairs finish today.
EQUESTRIAN: Five-time U.S. Olympic veteran Bruce Davidson and Cathy Wieschhoff tied for the lead halfway through the dressage phase of the U.S. Team Fall Eventing Championship in Fair Hill, Md.
-- Compiled from Times wires.