Sports News

By Rob Cameron

Yes and the sports world has also been touched by the terrorist attacks on the United States. The Czech first division will play its seventh round of matches at the weekend, despite the decision of football's governing body UEFA to postpone this week's European club games, including Sparta Prague's Champions League match against Spartak Moscow. A spokesman for the Czech Football Association told the Reuters news agency that all games under its jurisdiction, from children's leagues to the first division, will hold a minute's silence for those affected by the terror attacks in the U.S.

Staying with football, and hundreds of police officers from North Bohemia will be on hand on Thursday in the hope of preventing violent clashes between fans of local team Slovan Liberec and Slovakia's Slovan Bratislava. The Internet daily IDnes said some 400 officers - including border patrol guards and policemen from cities across the region - would be ready to deal with any trouble at Thursday afternoon's match. Police are afraid hooligans from across Slovakia will make the journey to Liberec, and officers plan to accompany fans on trains from Bratislava to prevent hooligans from invading the city.

One international sporting event that will go ahead despite the events in the U.S. is this Sunday's Italian Grand Prix in Monza, and among the drivers lining up will be Tomas Enge - the first Czech ever to drive in a Formula One race. Enge will be making his debut for Prost, taking over from Brazilian Luciano Burti who sustained head injuries in a crash at the Belgian Grand Prix on September 2. John Walton is the Prost team's sporting director, and he clearly has high hopes for the Czech driver.

"Tomas's talents as a racing driver are very apparent. We've been watching him for a whole year now, and we really think that he's going to have a very bright future in Formula 1. He's very, very fast, and his technical feedback with the behaviour of the car, is excellent. So all in all, I'd just like to wish him all the best, and I'd like to take this opportunity to officially welcome him to the Prost Grand Prix team."

Prost's John Walton, summing up the prospects for Czech driver Tomas Enge ahead of Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.