Lewis, Christie to Race for $150,000 Apiece

World record-holder Carl Lewis and Olympic champion Linford Christie finally will race against each other.

The distance: 100 meters. The date: July 30. The place: Gateshead, England. Each will get about $15,000 a second--$150,000 reportedly is what each sprinter agreed to.

Negotiations for the showdown have been in the works ever since Christie won the gold medal in Barcelona last summer. Lewis had failed to qualify for the 100 meters at the U.S. trials.

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Sally Gunnell, Olympic champion in the 400-meter hurdles, is angry at the disparity in pay between men and women athletes.

Gunnell reacted to a report by a women’s track and field committee that says she receives $15,000 per meet in Britain while Christie gets $45,000.

“If the figures are correct then the situation is quite wrong and unfair when the both of us are current Olympic champions,” Gunnell told the Evening Standard newspaper in Nice, France, where she is to compete today.

Pro Basketball

The Clippers have opened contract negotiations with Bob Weiss to fill their coaching vacancy.

Entering his first season as an assistant with the Detroit Pistons after spending the previous three years as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, Weiss emerged as the top candidate after Hubie Brown withdrew from consideration. The sides are believed to have spoken Monday night and then began substantive contract talks on Tuesday.

Luther Wright, a 7-foot-2 center and the 18th player chosen in the June draft, has agreed to contract terms with the Utah Jazz. . . . Alexander Volkov, a former member of the Soviet national team who spent three seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, has agreed to play with Panathinaikos of Athens.

College Football

Miami Hurricane standout defensive end Rusty Medearis, trying to recover from a serious knee injury last season, said Tuesday he will be unable to play this year.

Medearis dislocated his left knee and tore ligaments last September against Arizona and missed the rest of the season.

Last month, Medearis was granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA. He said he would decide later about trying to return next year.

Season packages as well as single game tickets for the six-game UCLA home football schedule are on sale at the UCLA central ticket office and all TicketMaster outlets.

Jurisprudence

Philadelphia 76er center Manute Bol, his cousin and four U.S. Marines could be charged with a misdemeanor carrying a one-year jail term after a barroom brawl in a hotel, authorities said in Nairobi, Kenya.

Former Boston Celtic Marcus Webb, accused of rape by a former girlfriend, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of indecent assault and was sentenced to 30 days in prison. Webb also will serve three years on probation and undergo counseling.

Hockey

Citing his oft-injured back and the birth of his second child, New York Ranger forward Jan Erixon said he will not return to the NHL next season and will play in Sweden.

The Tampa Bay Lightning is moving from the 10,400-seat Expo Hall to the spacious Florida Suncoast Dome at St. Petersburg.

Miscellany

Washington, Boston, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, Fla., and Birmingham, Ala., have been chosen by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games as possible sites for preliminary soccer matches in the 1996 Games.

Names in the News

Ted Sadowski, a former American League pitcher and one of three brothers who played in the major leagues, died Sunday of cancer. He was 57.