Sport briefly

Press, 16 February 1980, Page 60

Sport briefly

Ali comeback?

NZPA-Reuter Los Angelet . Muhammad Ali is consid- ; ering making a comeback to : the ring at the age of 38. i The former world heavy- ; weight champion claimed in 1 Los Angeles yesterday that 1

.ie had been offered an $lB million purse to fight the reigning World Boxing Association champion, John Tate, and then the World Boxing Council title-holder, Larry Holmes.

Moss returns to racing

NZPA-Reuter London Stirling Moss is returning to full-time motor racing at the age of 50. Moss, considered the best driver never to .win the world Formula One championship, announced plans for his attempt on tire British saloon car title, in London yesterday. The British driver’s brilliant Grand Prix career was ended by a near-fa-fal crash in 1962 but he said he

has lost none of his appetite for racing. ■ “I have been forced on to the sidelines for a very long time but I now feel I’m ready to return,” he said. Moss added: “Obviously I am too old and not fit enough to meet the demands of modern Formula One racing but I feel I can cope wi-ih the less rigorous saloon car branch of the sport.” Moss will drive a West German built Audi 80 with Japanese sponsorship.

Soccer too expensive

NZPA Bristol, England An amateur soccer player, Derek Shilson, was ordered by a high court judge in Bristol yesterday to pay damages of £2400 to a man he put in hospital with a deliberate foul on the field. The court was told that a tackle by Shilson, • agd 25, left 26-year-old Paul Man-

ning “screaming with pain on the ground.” Manning, a carpenter, was unable to work on roofs after an operation on a cartilage in his knee. After the hearing, Shilson, who married last Saturday, said: “There is no way I’m : going to play soccer again , after this. I can’t afford to • take the risk.”

Cricket test umpires

The umpires for the final two tests of the West Indies-New Zealand cricket series were announced by the New Zealand Cricket Council last evening. The umpires for the .second test of the three-match series, beginning in Christchurch next Friday are Messrs F. R. Goodall

(Christchurch) and S. J. Woodward (Wellington). The two officials for the third test at Auckland, starting on February 29, are Messrs W. R. C. Gardiner (Auckland) and J. B. R. Hastie (Te Awamutu). The umpires in the first test which ended in Dunedin on Wednesday, were Messrs Goodall and Hastie.

Mark Lewis in team

PA Wellington As expected, the national tennis champion, Mark Lewis, of Auckland, has been included in the New Zealand Davis Cup team to meet Australia at Brisbane from March 7 to 9. The team captain Jeff Robson announced the team for the eastern zone final as Onny Parun, Russell Simpson and the Lewis brothers, Mark, 18, and Chris, 22.

Mr Robson will hold off naming extra players to accompany the team for practice until the Australians name their team. Canterbury’s Stephen Harley, who was in the New Zealand team which played South Korea at Christchurch, last week-end, may be one of two players Mr Robson will take to Brisbane for practice. The other may be a left-hander.

Fishing rivers

The Waimakariri, Selwyn, Rakaia and Ashley rivers are all clear and fishable, the Acclimatisation Society

, reports. 5 The Waiau and Hurunui rivers are ch-jse’oiired and dunfishable.