DUESSELDORF, Germany, May 17--French Open finalists Gaston Gaudio and Guillermo Coria gave title favorites Argentina a commanding start to the World Team Cup with a 2-1 victory over France on Monday, Reuters reported.
Roland Garros champion Gaudio overcame Arnaud Clement 6-4, 4-6 while Coria was even more impressive in his brisk 6-1 6-4 workout against Michael Llodra.
With just a week to go before Gaudio begins the defense of his French crown, the Argentine showed his class on the surface by running Clement ragged.
French number one Sebastien Grosjean was forced to withdraw from the match with a knee injury and his replacement never looked like he could wrest control from Gaudio.
With glorious sunshine replacing Sunday’s damp conditions, world number six Gaudio clinched a break in the seventh game of the second set before wrapping up victory in the Red Group.
The French pair then joined forces and prevented an Argentine rout with a 6-1 6-4 victory over Guillermo Canas and Juan Ignacio Chela.
Chile, looking to become the first nation to win the competition three years running, lead the group on a better games won/lost difference after beating wildcard the Czech
Republic 2-1 on the opening day of the tournament.
In the Blue Group, Spain clinched a 2-1 advantage over Sweden when Tommy Robredo and Santiago Ventura won the doubles in the only tie to go down to the final rubber so far in the competition.
Thomas Johansson survived a tight first set before handing Sweden the opening point with a 7-6 6-1 triumph over Robredo.
Doubles specialist Jonas Bjorkman stepped in as a late substitute but went down 6-4 6-0 against David Ferrer to leave the tie evenly poised.
However, Bjorkman failed to make his doubles expertise count as he and Johansson were edged out 6-7 6-3 6-3 by Robredo and Santiago Ventura. Host nation Germany lead the Blue Group after inflicting 2-1 defeat on an under strength United States team.
The eight countries play in two round-robin groups of four teams each. The top nation in each group will progress to Sunday’s final.
In other ATP action, top-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko beat Michal Mertinak of Slovakia 6-3 6-2 in the first round of the St Poelten Grand Prix in Austria.

TOKYO, May 17--North Korea have grudgingly accepted FIFA’s decision that they must play next month’s World Cup qualifier against Japan in Bangkok, a Japanese newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Lee Kang-hong, whose title was given as vice chairman of North Korea’s football association, told the Sports Nippon daily Pyongyang had written to FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) asking to play the game at home or in Beijing, but it arrived too late, Reuters said.
Last month, FIFA pulled the plug on Japan’s politically sensitive visit to Pyongyang on June 8 after crowd disturbances following a World Cup qualifier with Iran.
Soccer’s world governing body ordered the game to be played in Bangkok behind closed doors after it said North Korea had not appealed against the ruling in time.
“We’re not happy with the FIFA ruling but we accept it,“ Lee was quoted in an interview.
“We thought that our two nations could increase mutual understanding at a time when bilateral relations are unsettled.“
North Korea’s state-run media blasted FIFA’s punishment as “unjust“ but Japan welcomed the decision after officials feared their country’s 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula could have made their team a target in Pyongyang.
KFA president Chung Mong-joon condemned what it called an “unprecedented, harsh penalty“ in a letter to FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Franz Beckenbauer, head of Germany’s 2006 World Cuyp organising committee, said FIFA had “over-reacted“ by switching venues.
“Can FIFA really revoke a home match this easily?“ Lee asked, adding that the crowd trouble following the 2-0 defeat by Iran on March 30 had been blown out of proportion.
Soldiers and police were forced to restore order after North Korean fans reacted furiously to a late red card.
Violence flared after the game in a rare display of public unrest in the secretive communist state.
North Korean fans threw rocks, bottles and chairs at Kim Il-sung Stadium and it took riot police two hours to clear a path for Iran’s team bus to negotiate an angry crowd afterwards.
“We wouldn’t acknowledge that as a riot,“ Lee said.

Italy's Alessandro Petacchi (c) races during the final sprint flanked by German Erik Zabel (l) and Swiss Aurelien Clerc (r) in the ninth stage from Florence to Ravenna at the Giro d'Italia cycling race, Monday. (Reuters Photo)

RAVENNA, Italy,
May 17--Alessandro Petacchi of Italy won his first sprint of the 2005 Giro d’Italia in Ravenna on Monday to finally end his dry spell without a stage win, Reuters reported.
The Fassa Bortolo rider beat compatriot Paolo Bettini and Switzerland’s Aurelien Clerc in a mass sprint finish in the center of Ravenna at the end of the 139 km stage from Florence.
Italy’s Danilo Di Luca finished safely in the main field in the same time as Petacchi and retained the overall race lead.
Compatriots Ivan Basso and Paolo Savoldelli are second and third overall at nine and 35 seconds respectively.
“Winning in Ravenna is special because it’s close to the home of my team manager Giancarlo Ferretti,“ Petacchi said.
“This is probably the stage I wanted to win the most and the stage that meant the most to Ferretti.“
“I think it was my best ever sprint win at the Giro because there was a strong head wind in the finishing straight and it was a very difficult sprint to get right.“
“My team mate Marco Velo lead me out with 600 metres to go but when he began to fade at 250 metres from the line I decided to start my sprint.
“It was early but I accelerated gradually and when my rivals tried to come past me they hit the headwind and faded.“
Petacchi had been under pressure after struggling in the two earlier Giro sprint finishes but showed he is as strong as ever.
“I don’t think I have to prove anything to anybody after my results in the last three years but it’s true I was disappointed after not taking the pink jersey early in the race,“ he said.
“The truth is that I was blocked in during the first sprint in Santa Maria del Cedro and then crashed in Marina di Grosseto.
This was the first clean sprint of the Giro and I think I’ve proved I’m just as strong as I’ve ever been.“
The stage victory was Petacchi’s 17th at the Giro d’Italia and the 96th win of his 10-year career.
Tuesday is the first rest day but Petacchi will have a chance to win a second stage on Wednesday with the flat 212 km 10th stage from Ravenna to Rossano Veneto near Venice.

BEIJING, May 17--After cruising to a fifth Sudirman Cup triumph, China’s continued dominance of world badminton is putting the sport at risk of Olympic extinction, the China Daily said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
The nation’s victory over Indonesia in Sunday’s final also marked a third straight international team title, with the Thomas and Uber Cups already in China’s hands.
The paper’s commentary added that shrinking audiences outside the handful of Asian and European countries that ruled the sport, had earned it a place on the International Olympic Committee’s list of events that could be dropped from the 2012 Games.
“Unless the badminton superpowers give up their selfish agenda to sustain their dominance, they will have to see one of their favourite sports dropped from the Olympic list,“ it said.
Badminton’s governing body, the IBF, is pushing to widen the sport’s appeal by allowing 50 countries to participate at the 2008 Games in Beijing, up from 32 in Athens.
However, previous efforts to make the sport more competitive had been blocked by badminton superpowers like China, South Korea and Indonesia, the commentary added, without specifying what those efforts entailed.
China, which won three of five badminton golds at Athens and four of five at Sydney, should lead the way in relinquishing its grip for the benefit of the sport, it said.
“Having defeated all the world’s badminton powers, the only ’enemy’ of Chinese badminton is itself,“ the paper said.
“It should demonstrate more concern about the future of badminton than about its own dominance in the sport.“

TORONTO, May 17--The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has given soccer’s governing body FIFA until September to adopt the organization’s drugs code or risk serious consequences, including a possible ban from the Olympic Games, Reuters said.
“If these changes are not adopted by September, WADA will be forced to report to all stakeholders, including the International Olympic Committee and governments, that FIFA is officially non-compliant,“ WADA chief Dick Pound said following an executive committee meeting in Montreal on Monday.
“The consequences of non-compliance could be far-reaching.“ Central to the issue is the fact that WADA calls for a mandatory two-year ban for athletes found guilty of doping offenses.
FIFA has continued to impose lesser bans and advocates ’individual case management’.
WADA accepts FIFA’s position that doping cases should be judged on an individual basis, but the sides differ on the length of sanctions.
Of immediate concern, failure to come to agreement could impact next year’s World Cup in Germany.
Under the World Anti-Doping Code, governments signing up--including Germany-- must ensure that any world championships held on their soil comply with the code.
The WADA executive committee agreed to allow FIFA until its September congress in Morocco to make the changes required to bring it into compliance.
’It’s unacceptable that FIFA does not comply with the Code,“ said Brian Mikkelsen, WADA vice chair and Denmark sports minister.
“If FIFA does not comply by September, it’s the view of all the governments within the Foundation Board that there will be consequences.
“One consequence might be that governments will not accept FIFA tournaments on their territories.“
“The governments are committed to putting pressure on FIFA in order to change its attitude and we will encourage our national football associations to convince FIFA of the merits of Code compliance.“
WADA cannot sanction organizations such as FIFA, but can recommend measures to governments and national soccer associations.

Federer poses with his Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award at the Estoril casino in Estoril, Monday. (AFP Photo)

ESTORIL, Portugal, May 17--Switzerland’s triple 2004 Grand Slam tennis champion Roger Federer won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award at a glittering ceremony here Monday, AFP reported.
Federer fought off competition from Michael Phelps, winner of six Olympic swimming gold medals in Athens, Morocco’s 1,500 and 5,000m Olympic champion Hicham El Guerrouj, and America’s six-time Tour de France cycling winner Lance Armstrong.
Also nominated were two motor racing aces, Germany’s seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher and Italy’s Valentino Rossi, for his fourth world MotoGP championship.
British middle-distance runner Kelly Holmes, winner of the 800 and 1500 meters gold medals at last year’s Athens Olympics, won the World Sportswoman of the Year award.
She was up against Russia’s Olympic pole vault winner Yelena Isinbayeva, Sweden’s heptathlon gold medallist Carolina Kluft, Holland’s Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel, the most successful cyclist in Olympic history, Russia’s 17-year-old Wimbledon tennis champion Maria Sharapova and Swedish golfing great Annika Sorenstam.
Greece, shock winners at Euro 2004, were named world team of the year.
The award for World Newcomer of the Year went to China’s Liu Xiang, who became the first Chinese man to win a track athletics medal in Olympic history when he won the 110 meters hurdles in Athens.
The winners were decided by a panel of more than 500 journalists from 82 countries.

MADRID, Spain, May 17--Former world champion Carlos Sainz is to come out of retirement for a one-off return drive for his former Citroen team in the June 3-5 Rally of Turkey, Reuters reported.
Citroen confirmed on Monday they had called in the 43-year-old Spaniard to replace Belgium’s Francois Duval.
A statement said: “This one-off participation will not lead to his comeback in the championship.“
Thanks largely to France’s Sebastien Loeb, Citroen lie second in the constructors’ championship after last weekend’s Cyprus Rally with 53 points, nine behind Peugeot.
Loeb won his third race in a row on Sunday and has 45 points, 40 more than 11th-placed Duval.
The Belgian was forced to retire from his third race of the season on Saturday when his Citroen caught fire after hitting a tree and flipping over.
Team boss Guy Frequelin said in Monday’s statement: “Citroen’s results in the manufacturers’ championship are not matching our goals.
“To give ourselves more time to think about the strategy we will adopt for the rest of the season and considering Carlos’s record and his consistent performance during the past two years I’ve asked him if he could drive for us in Turkey.“
Spanish sports daily Marca said on Monday Duval had been ousted after falling out with co-driver Stephane Prevot.
Sainz, who has not driven for seven months, said: “With this temporary measure I hope to contribute to the team’s success.“ World champion in 1990 and 1992, the Spaniard retired at the end of last year after competing in a record 194 rallies.