Crush of Soccer Fans Leaves Three Dead

Thousands of fans forced their way into an overcrowded soccer stadium in Liberia on Sunday, leaving at least three people reported dead and others injured.

During the World Cup qualifier in Monrovia, some fans tried to storm the field but were brutally beaten back by troops. Many in the crowd had been waiting in the hot sun for more than eight hours.

Red Cross officials said three people carried out of the stadium on stretchers died of suffocation. Several other people were seriously injured. It was unclear whether there were any arrests.

Officials estimated 50,000 to 60,000 people attended the game, almost double the stadium’s capacity of 33,000. Liberia and Chad played to a 0-0 tie.

Liberia played all its European-based players, including former world player of the year George Weah.

Many of the fans, including women carrying babies on their backs, entered the stadium by scaling barbed wire fences and overpowering police and soldiers who tried to drive back the onrushing crowd with batons.

President Charles Taylor warned government officials earlier in the week that their jobs could be on the line if they did not attend the game.

On Saturday, Kenyan fans rioted, causing a World Cup qualifier to be abandoned with several minutes left. Fans in the crowd of 20,000 threw bottles and stones on the field and ripped out seats in the stadium at Nairobi.

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A man wounded Thursday by a stray bullet during a celebration of Turkish soccer fans died Sunday in a hospital at Mus, Turkey.

Kahraman Bayram, 27, was hit in the head by a ricocheting bullet as revelers fired shots into the air after Galatasaray became the first Turkish team to qualify for the UEFA Cup final after tying Leeds United, 2-2, and winning on aggregate, 4-2. Four other Turks, who were injured by stray bullets fired into the air, were reported in stable condition.

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Two people were shot and other fans were assaulted with rocks and sticks during violence before a game at Rio de Janeiro.

The confrontation erupted while fans of rivals Flamengo and Vasco de Gama were headed to Maracana Stadium for an afternoon game, police Sgt. Joao Lucas said. The teams are renowned for their passionate and sometimes violent fans.

Two people were hospitalized with an unspecified number of gunshot wounds, according to several media reports.

Lucas said about 2,500 police officers were dispatched to patrol the area during the decisive match in the first round of the Rio de Janeiro state championship.

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The National Liberation Army freed Colombian soccer star Andres Estrada, two days after kidnapping him in violation of its own holiday truce.

The ELN, a Colombian leftist rebel group, kidnapped Estrada in a remote area of the western state of Antioquia. Estrada is a former national team midfielder who plays for the Atletica National club in Medellin.

Estrada said the rebels, who kidnapped him Friday night as he was traveling on a rural highway, told him they made a mistake but couldn’t release him “until they received orders from their superiors.”

Estrada, 32, missed a game Sunday that didn’t start until his teammates knew he was back home. His teammates signed a joint letter of protest, demanding Estrada’s release.

The ELN had declared an Easter week truce, giving holiday travelers and commercial vehicles a break from harassment on the nation’s highways.

Estrada is the third major Colombian sports figure to be kidnapped this year, joining cycling stars Oliverio Rincon and Luis Herrera.

Motor Racing

David Coulthard won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, England, for the second consecutive year, ending Michael Schumacher’s three-race winning streak.

Coulthard, driving for McLaren, won for the seventh time in his career. He is the first Formula One driver other than Schumacher to win this season.

“To win your home Grand Prix is something,” Coulthard said. “But to win two in a row in unbelievable.”

McLaren teammate Mika Hakkinen, the two-time defending champion, was second, 1.4 seconds behind, in the fourth race of the season.

Schumacher was third, followed by brother Ralf Schumacher of Williams, with teammate Jenson Button fifth.

Pole-sitter Rubens Barrichello of Ferrari led from the start but went out in a spin on the 35th lap because of hydraulic problems.

The win moved Coulthard into second place in the drivers’ standings behind Michael Schumacher and rekindled a title chase that Schumacher seemed set to win by midsummer.

Schumacher leads the standings with 34 points to 14 for Coulthard and 12 for Hakkinen.

The McLaren 1-2 finish closed the constructors’ title race. Ferrari leads with 43 points to 26 for McLaren.

The race was run on a perfect spring day, free of the storms that inundated central England for two weeks and soaked Friday practice and Saturday qualifying.

The British GP was moved to April this year from its traditional mid-July date because of a battle for control of the race between billionaire car owner Bernie Ecclestone and Silverstone organizers.

Dave Hessing of Canyon Country and James Weston of Goleta each won NASCAR late model series 40-lap races Saturday night before 4,988 at Irwindale Speedway.

Hessing and Weston never had won a late-model race. Hessing’s only major victory came when he won the Turkey Nationals in Kern County. Weston had won some dirt races at Ventura Raceway.

Names in the News

Hideki Todaka of Japan retained the WBA super-flyweight title by stopping Yokthai Sithoar of Thailand in the 11th round at Nagoya, Japan. Referee Stanley Christdolou of South Africa stopped the fight 38 seconds into the round when Todaka landed a series of punches against the helpless Yokthai. It was Todaka’s second defense of the title he won from Jesus Rojas of Venezuela on July 31, 1999. Todaka is 17-2-1 with eight knockouts. Yokthai is 23-2-1 with 13 knockouts. They both weighed 114 1/2 pounds.

Australians finished first and second in both the men’s and women’s World Cup triathlon races at Noumea, New Caledonia. Craig Alexander completed the men’s swim-cycle-run in 1 hour 47 minutes 43 seconds. Oceania champion Melissa Ashton won the women’s race in 2:01:01.

Former Los Angeles Ram general manager Don Klosterman will undergo heart bypass surgery today at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica.