Austrian Gets Lucky, Beats Tomba in Slalom

Austria’s Thomas Sykora needed a little luck to beat Alberto Tomba in a World Cup slalom Sunday in Kitzbuehel, Austria and end the Italian star’s three-race winning streak.

Sykora was timed in 1 minute, 34.24 seconds, for the two runs in earning his first World Cup victory. Tomba was only .06 seconds back, in 1:34.30. Sykora had only a .04 seconds lead over Tomba after the first run.

“To win a race like this, you need a bit of luck and I had some luck today,” Sykora said.

Guenther Mader completed an Austria sweep of the weekend events, winning the combined title, counting the results of Saturday’s downhill with the slalom.

Urska Hrovat of Slovenia shook off a cold and earned her first World Cup victory of the season in women’s slalom at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Hrovat took a lead of .68 seconds into the second run and held on for her third career World Cup victory.

Russia, led by overall individual leader Vladimir Dratshev, won its third straight 30-kilometer men’s relay race of the World Cup biathlon season at Anterselva, Italy. France did not make a shooting error and rallied to take the women’s relay in 1 hour, 34 minutes, 38.2 seconds, overtaking Germany in the final 5 kilometers.

Elfi Eder of Austria, who won three of the previous six slaloms this season, was second in 1:20.01, and retained her World Cup lead in the event with 520 points. . . Japan’s Kendji Ogiwara won the Nordic Combined World Cup event with 140 points after placing first in the 15-kilometer cross-country race in Strbske Pleso, Slovakia. . . . After a surprise Russian victory in the women’s 20-kilometer relay, the Finnish team won a 40K men’s relay cross-country race in the World Nordic Skiing Cup competition at Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.

Tennis

Fifth-seeded Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands earned his first singles title, defeating Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco, 6-3, 6-2, to win the Indonesia Open at Jakarta, Indonesia.

Jiri Novak defeated hometown favorite Brett Steven, 6-4, 6-4, in the BellSouth Open final at Auckland, New Zealand.

Miscellany

Baseball owners will not vote on the proposed sale of the Pittsburgh Pirates when they meet in Los Angeles starting Tuesday.

An official familiar with the sale said the National League received paperwork on the $90 million offer from Kevin McClatchey only last Friday and that it will be discussed by the ownership committee Wednesday. They will also discuss the proposed sale of a controlling interest in the Angels from Gene Autry to the Walt Disney Co.

Edgar De Olivera of Brazil and Laura Mykytok each set course records in winning titles in the Steve Scott Festival of Races at Santee, Calif. De Olivera, 26, covered the one-mile road course in 3 minutes, 57 seconds. Mykytok, 27, of New Mexico finished in 4:27. Each earned $3,000.

Unbeaten Saen Sor Ploenchit of Thailand retained the WBA flyweight title with a unanimous 12-round decision over previously undefeated Chang Young-soon of South Korea at Bangkok, Thailand. . . . Racing was cancelled at Aqueduct in New York after the running of the first two races because of unsafe conditions caused by icy, wet conditions. . . . L.C. Cole, an assistant at Cincinnati, has been chosen as the football coach at Tennessee State, provided the Tennessee Board of Regents approves.