Mexico City Awarded 1997 World Track Meet

Mexico City will play host to the 1997 World Track and Field Championships, the International Amateur Athletic Federation announced Monday.

The IAAF’s 25-member executive council awarded the meet to Mexico after South Africa withdrew its application, said Primo Nebiolo, the federation president.

Mexico City and Johannesburg were the only cities in contention for the 1997 championships.

Mexico played host to soccer World Cups in 1970 and 1986, as well as the 1968 Olympics.

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Discus thrower Erik de Bruin, a silver medalist at the Barcelona Games who sat out the World Championships because he tested positive for prohibited drugs at an earlier meet, was cleared of charges by the Royal Dutch Athletics Union disciplinary committee.

Baseball

Pitcher Mark Langston of the Angels was among seven in the American League to repeat at Gold Glove winners. Don Mattingly of the New York Yankees won his eighth Gold Glove, leaving him three shy of the major league record for first basemen. Keith Hernandez won 11 consecutive times from 1978-88 with the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals.

About 250 attended funeral services in Little Rock, Ark., for Hall of Fame catcher Bill Dickey, who died Friday at 86. . . . The Milwaukee Brewers released pitcher Carlos Maldonado and catcher Joe Kmak.

Pro Basketball

Bill Laimbeer of the Detroit Pistons was fined $5,000 and suspended for one game by the NBA for a flagrant foul against Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz last week.

The Philadelphia 76ers signed forward Orlando Woolridge, 33, to a free-agent contract and put guard Sean Green on the disabled list because of a sprained ankle.

College Football

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo announced that the contract of Coach Lyle Setencich will not be renewed. Setencich had a seven-year record of 41-29-2, 6-4 this season.

Tennis

Third-seeded Martina Navratilova defeated Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-4, 6-4, on the opening night of the $3.5-million Virginia Slims Championships at New York.

“I definitely had the jitters at the beginning,” said Navratilova, who has won the tournament four times. “I’m glad this match is behind me.”

In an earlier match, Amanda Coetzer used her powerful baseline game to upset sixth-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.

The world’s top 16 singles players and eight doubles teams are competing in the world’s richest women’s tournament. The winner of Sunday’s singles final will earn $250,000, with $120,000 going to the runner-up.

Miscellany

Arnold Palmer will conduct an exhibition and clinic today at Brookside Golf Club in Pasadena for the benefit of Methodist Hospital of Arcadia. Palmer, PGA pro Steve Pate and LPGA players Brandi Burton and Juli Inkster will conduct a clinic at 10 a.m., followed by an 18-hole match pitting the men against the women . . . . Cuban diver Roger Ramirez, 19, asked for political asylum two days after he disappeared from his country’s delegation to the Central American and Caribbean Games in Puerto Rico.

The University of San Diego men’s soccer team will play host to Cal State Fullerton Sunday at 1 p.m. in the second round of the NCAA playoffs. . . . Former Olympic boxing Coach Bobby Lewis, 63, died during the weekend in Denver. He had a history of heart problems and had suffered a stroke in 1986.