Flu-Ridden Tomba to Skip Giant Slalom Race

Blaming a bout with flu, defending World Cup champion Alberto Tomba of Italy is skipping the giant slalom today at Adelboden, Switzerland.

“I’m sorry for the organizers and for my fans, but it’s meaningless to compete when you are not in good condition,” Tomba said in a telephone conversation from his home near Bologna.

The three-time Olympic champion said he was feverish Sunday, when he finished second to Austrian Thomas Sykora in a World Cup slalom at Kitzbuehel, Austria.

The Italian skier missed his fourth consecutive slalom victory of this season by four-hundredths of a second.

Tomba said he hoped to return to competition in Sunday’s slalom at Wengen.

College Basketball

For the first time since 1985, Texas Tech moved into the top 25 poll with the Red Raiders being ranked No. 25 this week by the Associated Press.

Massachusetts remained the top team for the fourth consecutive week. Defending champion UCLA moved up to No. 13 from No. 17.

Track and Field

Sprinter Michael Johnson, triple jumper Jonathan Edwards and distance runner Haile Gebrselassie are the finalists for the 1996 Jesse Owens International Trophy Award.

Johnson is unbeaten at 400 meters since 1988 and won both the 200 and 400 at the World Championships, becoming the first athlete to win gold medals in those events at the championships.

Edwards of Britain became the first athlete to surpass 60 feet in the triple jump, soaring 60-0 1/4 at the 1995 World Championships at Goteborg, Sweden. He broke the world record three times last year.

Gebrselassie of Ethiopia set world records at two miles (eight minutes 7.46 seconds), 5,000 meters (12:44.39) and 10,000 meters (26:43.53) last year. He also won the 10,000 at the World Championships.

Dave Johnson, associate director of the Penn Relays, the nation’s oldest and largest track and field relay carnival, was appointed interim head of the event.

Soccer

World soccer’s governing body and its European confederation agreed on a common future strategy to deal with a European Union court ban on transfer fees and quotas on foreign soccer players.

Details of the planned action will not be released until after UEFA informs its national associations.

Auto Racing

Four of NASCAR’s biggest stars have accepted invitations to drive in the 1996 International Race of Champions series.

Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon, seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt, two-time defending Daytona 500 winner Sterling Marlin and series pole-leader Mark Martin, the top four in the 1995 point standings, will compete in the four-race all-star series.

Miscellany

Ted Turner is actively exploring starting a 24-hour sports news network that would put him in competition with cable powerhouse ESPN.

Turner hasn’t yet proposed the idea to the board of his Turner Broadcasting System Inc. but sources said that could come in February.

Names in the News

Bill Goodstein, an agent who negotiated Darryl Strawberry’s deal with the New York Yankees last season, died last Saturday of a heart attack at the age of 56.

Phil Niekro, a former major league pitcher, will return for his third season as manager of the Colorado Silver Bullets women’s baseball team.

Morris East, a former World Boxing Assn. junior-welterweight champion, suffered cuts and bruises in a street brawl over a parking space in a Manila suburb.