Atlanta Olympics End Up Avoiding Budget Deficit

The Atlanta Olympics met their goal of avoiding red ink and might even show a small surplus once the books close next year.

Billy Payne, president of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, said Tuesday at the U.S. Olympic Congress convention in Indianapolis that the Summer Games--the first financed entirely from sponsorships and other private funds--at least broke even on its $1.7-billion budget.

Payne said ACOG had done it alone, with no bailouts by corporate sponsors or forgiveness of outstanding accounts by creditors.

Golf

Tiger Woods, criticized for his sudden withdrawal from the Buick Challenge last month, will return to Georgia to attend an awards banquet that was canceled after he pulled out of the PGA event. Woods was supposed to receive the Fred Haskins Award as the top college golfer for 1995-96 the night of Sept. 26, after the first round of the tournament at Callaway Gardens.

Meanwhile, Woods’ father, Earl Woods, was discharged from a hospital in Tulsa, Okla., after spending four days undergoing tests and observation for chest pains. Sources close to the family said Woods was suffering from a bronchial problem. Hospital sources said Woods had a buildup of fluid in his left lung.

Colin Montgomerie of Scotland finished No. 1 on the European PGA Tour money list for the fourth consecutive season and fellow Ryder Cup player Ian Woosnam took the No. 2 spot.

Tennis

Magnus Gustafsson defeated Andre Agassi, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, in the second round of the Paris Open, continuing Agassi’s up-and-down trend in the French tournament.

In another second-round match, Michael Chang survived a third-set tiebreaker, defeating Mark Philippoussis, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7).

Agassi lost in his first match in the 1992 Paris tournament and was the winner in 1994. He was ranked No. 1 for last year’s Paris Open but withdrew because of an injury.

Conchita Martinez of Spain defeated Sandra Dopfer of Austria, 6-3, 6-3, in the Ladies Kremlin Cup tournament at Moscow. Russian Tatiana Panova beat Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 6-4, 6-4, and Katarina Studenikova of Slovakia beat Leila Meskhi of Georgia, 6-1, 6-1.

Soccer

Two of the three Italian teams remaining in the UEFA Cup in Rome were eliminated, with Karlsruhe knocking out AS Roma and Tenerife beating Lazio of Rome.

Abel Balbo scored twice during a five-minute span in the first half, but Marc Keller scored with six minutes to go for Karlruhe. Despite the 2-1 loss, the German team advanced to the third round on 4-2 aggregate.

Tenerife overcame a 1-0 loss in the first leg by beating Lazio, 5-2, on two goals by Juan Castano and one each by Pablo Paz, Meho Kodro and Slavisa Jokanovic.

Italian second-division club Genoa is about to sign Roy Lassiter, Major League Soccer’s leading scorer, according to a spokeswoman for the team. Lassiter, who scored 30 goals for the Tampa Bay Mutiny, also is on the U.S. national team.

Argentina’s Diego Maradona testified in a case involving his manager, Guillermo Coppola, who was indicted last week on drug trafficking charges in Buenos Aires. Maradona, a self-confessed cocaine addict, has said the arrest of his manager was the result of “shady political and economic interests” and says he will give further details unless Coppola is freed.

Miscellany

Three members of Cuba’s national championship baseball team--shortstop German Mesa, pitcher Orlando “Duke” Hernandez and catcher Alberto Hernandez--were suspended for life by their country’s sports authority, for trying to help players defect, and Cuban-American Juan Ignacio Hernandez Nodar, a resident of Venezuela, was placed under arrest on the same charge.

The Akron Blast, a minor league baseball team, will change its name after it was criticized as being insensitive because astronaut Judith Resnik, a native of Akron, was killed in the space shuttle explosion on Jan. 28, 1986. Fans also objected to the mascot being named Kaboom.

Names in the News

Former Olympic boxing gold medalist Henry Tillman pleaded not guilty to charges he murdered one man and critically wounded another in a January shooting. Tillman, 36, was held without bail and ordered back to court in Santa Monica for a Nov. 6 hearing.