THE SIDELINES : $100,000 Soccer Ball Stolen
<i> From Times wire services</i>
TURIN, Italy —
Two armed bandits forced a goldsmith to pull off a Turin highway and stole a nine-pound silver soccer ball worth more than $100,000, police said today.
The ball, a trophy that was to have been presented to the outstanding goalkeeper at the 1990 World Cup Soccer Championships in Italy, had been on display at a jewelry exhibit in Torino. At the close of the exhibit Sunday, the trophy was entrusted to artisan Angelo Augero, who intended to take it to his home in Asti.
The goldsmith barely made it out of Torino before the robbers pulled alongside him Sunday night and forced him off the road at gunpoint.
