WORLD SPORTS SCENE / RANDY HARVEY : Sheriff Prepares for Hooligans

Organizing committee officials for soccer’s 1994 World Cup understandably are reluctant to discuss the potential for an invasion by hooligans next year, when the monthlong tournament comes for the first time to the United States.

Preferring not to dwell on the sport’s least charming aspect, only last week did they give security chief Ed Best the go-ahead to grant media interviews.

So the organizing committee could not have been thrilled with the much-publicized request by Kevin Beary, the Orange County, Fla., sheriff, for a budget increase of $10 million in anticipation of security problems.

The money, he said, would cover extra deputies, gas masks, riot shields and a $139,000 tank to rescue officers and control crowds.

*

In the wake of the knife attack on Monica Seles, soccer is not the only sport with security concerns. Officials from Berlin’s bid committee for the 2000 Summer Olympics are saying that they also have been victimized by the incident during a tournament at Hamburg.

“There is a danger that the attack on Monica Seles could create an international image that Germany is unsafe,” former German Olympic Committee president Willi Daume said.

How could anyone get that impression? German long jumper Susen Tiedtke’s BMW was firebombed last week at Berlin in an incident that the president of the city’s sports federation blamed on militants opposed to the bid for the Games.

Police say there is no evidence of that, but to avoid potential danger, International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch canceled plans last week to attend a celebration for Daume’s 80th birthday at Berlin.

*

Samaranch did show up Sunday night at Shanghai, China, for the opening ceremony of the East Asian Games. Occurring for the first time, the Games are of so little significance that Samaranch forgot their name, seeking help from his hosts.

But the Games are important to the Chinese, who hope to use them to convince the IOC they can organize the 2000 Summer Olympics at Beijing. The IOC will vote in September.

According to the Associated Press, Shanghai officials are undertaking an urgent campaign to rid the city of flies, newspapers are urging citizens to refrain from spitting and swearing and traffic has been cleared from the normally congested streets.

Organizers report they have raised $53 million from private sources, twice as much money as is needed to stage the Games. While some citizens told the wire service they gave willingly to the fund-raising efforts, others complained they were required to contribute by their work units, schools and other organizations.

*

USA Track & Field will announce today that the indoor national championships, held at New York’s Madison Square Garden for 62 of the last 66 years, will be moved for the next 10 years to Atlanta.

Officials of the Georgia Dome committed to install a 200-meter synthetic track. Athletes had complained about competing on the old-fashioned 160-yard, high-banked wooden track.

The meet also is moving from Friday to Saturday, which the USATF’s executive director, Ollan Cassell, said will guarantee live television coverage. There is, however, no live coverage of the season’s first Mobil Grand Prix outdoor meet, the May 22 New York Games, which will not shown to U.S. viewers by ESPN until July 25.

“The U.S. is a black hole as far as televising of track,” said Peter Sprogis, a representative of marketing giant ISL, in the current Track & Field News.

At least there will be a New York Games, which were saved last week by a sponsorship agreement with Reebok. “It was a photo finish and we won,” meet director Allan Steinfeld said.

*

Baaron Pittenger’s leadership role in the effort to send NHL players to the Winter Olympics ended with his resignation last week as USA Hockey’s executive director.

You didn’t have to be much of a visionary to see what the Olympic involvement of NHL players could do for the sport worldwide. All you had to do was look at the Dream Team’s impact last summer at Barcelona. But you did have to be smarter than the NHL owners, who twiddled their thumbs so long that the idea had to be tabled until after the 1994 Winter Games.

Pittenger will be missed by USA Hockey and the Olympic movement, which he had served as the USOC’s executive director. He plans to return to his native New England to work in sports marketing.

*

Considering recent revelations of corruption within the Italian government, the following hardly comes as a shock.

The men’s and women’s volleyball teams from Italy have been suspended indefinitely by the sport’s international governing body because of alleged election fraud by officials from Italy’s federation. The Italian men are the defending world champions.

The U.S. Volleyball Assn. is expected to announce later this month the cities that remain in contention to serve as its headquarters. Leading contenders are San Diego, Colorado Springs, Orlando, New Orleans and San Antonio.

*

Happy news: Bulgarian gymnast Sylvia Mitova, whose neck was broken while training after last summer’s Olympics, is walking again after a South African surgeon fused the damaged vertebrae.