Britain Will Defer Sports For Funeral

Tue., Sept. 2, 1997

Associated Press

Sports in Britain will come to a halt Saturday for the funeral of Princess Diana at Westminster Abbey.

The major event - the NatWest one-day cricket final between Essex and Warwickshire - was postponed until Sunday.

The other big event - the World Cup qualifying soccer game between Scotland and Belarus - is facing postponement.

“The government will not be bringing any pressure to bear on any of the sporting organizations,” a spokeswoman for sports minister Tony Banks said.

English soccer’s Premier League has no games scheduled Saturday, but a full schedule of first-, second- and third-division games are face a change of dates. A decision is expected today.

Saturday’s European and English rugby program is set for a blanket postponement, and horse racing at Haydock, Epsom, Thirsk, Wolverhampton and Stratford may also be postponed.

A WBC super middleweight title fight Saturday between Robin Reid and Hassine Cherifi was postponed until Sept. 11.

Princess to miss IOC session

Britain’s Princess Anne will not attend this week’s International Olympic Committee session at Lausanne, Switzerland, because of the death of her former-sister-inlaw, Princess Diana.

IOC director general Francois Carrard said that Anne, an IOC member and president of the British Olympic Association, had been excused from the session following Diana’s death.

The session starts today and will be highlighted by Friday’s vote to designate the host city of the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Also excused was Saudi Prince Faisal Fahd Abdul Aziz. Carrard said Faisal was unable to attend because of “some political matters with the cabinet.”

The absence of Anne and Prince Faisal leaves 107 IOC members eligible to vote for the 2004 host. The candidates are Athens, Greece; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Cape Town, South Africa; Rome; and Stockholm, Sweden.

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Britain Will Defer Sports For Funeral

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