World sport shares a country's pain

The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington have plunged world sports into chaos, with events cancelled in the United States and Europe, and concern growing for the winter Olympics.

The latest casualties were European club soccer matches, with governing body Uefa, in an unprecedented move, postponing all games scheduled for yesterday and today as a mark of respect for the victims of the attacks.

Chief executive Gerhard Aigner said Uefa would continue to monitor security within Europe over the next few days and make a further decision when to reschedule the games.

Eight matches in the prestigious Champions League were completed on Wednesday after a minute's silence was observed at each game.

But Uefa decided that the eight remaining games yesterday involving such household names as Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Barcelona could not go ahead as planned.

It also scrapped 43 games counting toward the less important Uefa Cup, which were scheduled to be played tomorrow.

Leading matches, however, will take place at the weekend, with Asian region World Cup qualifiers and action in top leagues in Spain, England, France and Germany.

World governing body Fifa said it "would not capitulate in the face of violence."

A minute's silence will be observed before all weekend matches in the German first and second divisions, and all players and referees will wear a black armband.

The head of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, said the winter Olympics would go ahead as planned in Salt Lake City, Utah, in February, despite growing concern that it could be an easy target for terrorists.

But security for the Games would be reassessed.

"We have always put security as the No 1 priority," Rogge said.

Security is also a key issue for Athens which will stage the next summer Olympics in 2004. Greece has had a problem of deadly attacks by leftist urban guerrillas in the past 26 years.

In another reaction to the attacks, South Korea authorities said they would order no-fly zones over their 10 stadiums during next year's World Cup soccer finals and set up a special security force.

In the United States, Major League baseball called off its entire schedule for yesterday and today.

Professional and college sports were brought to a standstill nationwide, and it was unclear when they would resume.

Baseball's move was without precedent since 1918, when the season was cut short by almost a month because of the First World War.

It raised the total of postponed games to 45, calling into question whether the regular season could be completed as scheduled.

The $US5 million ($11.7 million) American Express golf tournament scheduled for this week in St Louis has been cancelled.

The US PGA Tour also announced that the Tampa Bay Classic, a regular tour stop, the Buy.com Oregon Classic and the senior tour's Vantage Championship were also being called off.

None of the events would be rescheduled in this year's calendar.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said: "American Express, our sponsor of the event in St Louis and headquartered in lower Manhattan, have been directly affected by the tragedy and all of our players and staff send our heartfelt condolences and prayers to all victims and their families."

The Tour had at first postponed the opening round of the elite-field American Express tournament, which is part of the World Golf Championship series, for 24 hours.

Australian Craig Parry, who was slated to compete in the Tampa Bay tournament, agreed with the move to cancel the competitions.

"I think they made the right decision," Parry said. "I haven't heard a player complain about it. It was never going to work."

The European Tour's Monte Carlo invitational seniors event scheduled to start today has been cancelled on the orders of the Monaco Government.

Tomorrow's world championship middleweight unification fight between Bernard Hopkins and Felix Trinidad at New York City's Madison Square Garden arena has been postponed.

Madison Square Garden is being used as a temporary shelter for people caught up in the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Motor racing's governing body FIA said there were no plans to cancel the US Grand Prix in Indianapolis scheduled for September 30.

Wrestling officials are discussing whether to go ahead with the world championships scheduled in New York City from September 26 to 29. About 80 teams are due to compete in the event. Some of the competitors were supposed to arrive in the US next week to start training.

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The fatal flights

Emergency telephone numbers for friends and family of victims and survivors

These numbers are valid for calls from within New Zealand, but may be overloaded at the moment.

United Airlines: 0168 1800 932 8555

American Airlines: 0168 1800 245 0999

NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade: 0800 872 111

US Embassy in Wellington (recorded info): 04 472 2068

Survivor databases

Air New Zealand flights affected

Air NZ flight information: 0800 737-000.