Former NHL and current Moscow CSKA goalkeeper Peteris Skudra has rejoined the Latvian national ice hockey team. Skudra, who left the team in 1997, will begin playing again this December, after recovering from an injury. New head coach Olegs Znaroks will also join the team. Skudra had declined to return to the Latvian team in past years, and last played during the 1997 World Championships.
French tennis player Amelie Mauresmo will struggle to keep her number one ranking as she defends her WTA Championships title in Madrid this week. Mauresmo will face the talented Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin-Hardenne at the eight-woman season finale. To stay at number one, Mauresmo must retain her title with Henin-Hardenne fourth in their round-robin group, and Sharapova losing in the semi-finals. Mauresmo has just recovered from a shoulder injury. "I'm feeling better," she told the BBC. "I picked up my racket last week and started serving and everything was OK."
Cycling legend Lance Armstrong finished last weekend's New York Marathon in what he called "the hardest physical thing I have ever done." It was the seven-time Tour de France champion's first marathon. Armstrong finished with a time of 2 hours, 59 minutes and 36 seconds, reaching his goal of breaking three hours. The retired cyclist, who has been battling shin splints, had never before run farther than 16 miles. "In 20 years of pro sports and endurance sports, even the worst days on the Tour, nothing felt like that or left me the way I feel now." Armstrong finished the men's race in 856th place.
