Newswire : Budd Wins Her First Indoor Race

Zola Budd, Great Britain’s South African-born track star, won her first indoor race Friday, beating modest opposition to breeze into today’s final of the 1,500 meters at the British National Indoor championships in Cosford, England.

The barefoot runner, competing in her adopted country for the first time in six months, pulled away from an all-British field to easily win her heat in 4 minutes 21 seconds.

“I think I can run faster (in the final), but I don’t know how much faster,” said Budd, 18, who left South Africa to become a British citizen last year. “I will do as much as I need to do. I didn’t find running indoors much different from outdoors. I ran wide in the beginning because I’ve never experienced running indoors before.”

It was her first competitive race in Britain since her world record-breaking 2,000 meters run at Crystal Palace shortly before last year’s Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The Atlanta Braves announced they have reached an agreement with Major League Baseball that will allow Superstation WTBS, Channel 17, to continue to televise the team’s games nationwide.

Under the five-year agreement, the Braves will make annual payments to Major League Baseball’s Central Fund for equal distribution to all teams. In return, Major League Baseball has agreed to discontinue its legislative efforts to have the Superstation’s baseball telecasts blacked out in parts of the country outside the Atlanta viewing area.

The 53rd Monte Carlo Rally starts today with a field sharply reduced from previous years, but with the major contenders for the 1985 World Rally Championship present.

The oldest and most famous rally, it was canceled Dec. 27 and revived the next day in an ongoing quarrel between the organizing club and the French Auto Sport Federation (FFSA). All the rally’s 34 timed racing stages, which decide the event, take place in France.

West Germany’s Maria Epple posted her first-ever World Cup slalom victory by the narrowest of margins--one-hundredth of a second ahead of fast-closing American Tamara McKinney in Arosa, Switzerland.

Epple, 25, who holds four giant slalom victories and is considered a standout in that discipline, completed two runs in 1 minute, 48.11 seconds. Thanks to a second run of 52.54 seconds, which was the fastest of the round, McKinney, of Lexington, Ky., rallied from fifth to almost steal the top prize.

Hermann Weinbuch, captured his second gold in the 35th Nordic Ski World Championships at Seefeld, Austria as West Germany cruised to an easy victory in the team event.

The West German team, sitting on a big lead after the ski jumping phase Thursday, took second in the final cross-country relay to wrap up the gold with 1,276.90 points.

The United States earned 1,115.42 points to finish ninth among the 11 nations in the event. Pat Ahern, 24, of Breckenridge, Colo., topped the American team with 401.96 points in the two events.

Names in the News

The Seattle Seahawks announced they have signed wide receiver Steve Largent and strong safety Kenny Easley to new contracts.

Outfielder Carmelo Martinez of the San Diego Padres said he has agreed to a three-year, $750,000 contract with the National League champions.

Detroit Tigers outfielder Kirk Gibson has filed for arbitration in an attempt to gain deferred payments in his next contract, even though the club has a policy against deferred payments.

Billie Jean King, who attended Cal State Los Angeles from 1962 to 1964, was one of 16 persons inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame.

Harry Black, who played ice hockey for USC, the Hollywood Wolves and the Los Angeles Monarchs, died Wednesday in Los Angeles. He was 65.