The Soviet Union is holding talks on taking part in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and is expected to announce soon that it will enter the games. The Korea Times reported that Kim Un-yong, the South Korean member of the International Olympic Committee, confirmed in an interview that the Soviet Union is working on plans to send a team to Seoul. Vjatschelav Gavrilin, vice president of the Soviet National Olympic Committee, met Monday in Seoul with Park Seh-jik, president of the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee, in the strongest sign yet that the Soviets would enter the competition. Kim was also quoted as saying that the IOC expected the Soviet Union and its allies to announce next month that they will accept invitations to send teams to Seoul. Invitations to take part in the games must be accepted by Jan. 17. East Germany and Hungary are the only Soviet bloc nations to announce they will participate in the games.
After a 10-year NHL career, Minnesota North Stars left wing Steve Payne is retiring rather than risk serious injury. Payne, 29, injured his neck in the 1985 playoffs, reinjured it this season and played his last game Dec. 5. ”I had to look at what`s ahead, and there`s more than hockey,” said Payne, who played all 613 of his NHL games for the North Stars. . . . Dan Shea collected two goals and three assists as Boston College (6-7-1) beat Illinois-Chicago 7-5 to win the Long Island Invitational at Uniondale, N.Y. UIC (9-10-1) got to within 6-5 on a power-play goal from Rob Klenk at 17:35 of the third period but, with :41 left, John Devereaux scored into an empty net for BC. . . . Anatoli Stepanitchev scored two goals and Vladimir Tiurikov added a goal and an assist to lead the Soviet Selects to a 9-4 victory over the Canadian Olympic team at Regina, Saskatchewan, in the first game of an eight-game series between the teams. . . . In Moscow, the U.S. scored four second-period goals en route to a 6-4 victory over West Germany at the World Junior Hockey Championships.
Steve Comte, the agent for former Texas Rangers reliever Greg Harris, said three teams are very interested in signing the free agent. Supposedly, the Cubs and White Sox are among those teams, but Sox General Manager Larry Himes didn`t sound overly excited. ”Harris would be an interesting guy-at a salary more in line to his production and value to a club,” Himes said. ”I can`t say signing him is in the forefront.” Complicating the possibility of Harris` coming to the Sox is that Himes didn`t tender a contract to veteran reliever Bob James but may sign him at a much lower salary than the $470,000 he made in `87. ”I don`t need them both (James and Harris), and I may not even need one of them,” Himes said. ”I`ve got some guys with good arms, just not a lot of experience.” . . . Former Los Angeles Dodgers catcher John Roseboro, who underwent triple-bypass heart surgery Dec. 21, returned home Monday and is expected to be back to help the Dodgers with workouts in late January. Roseboro, 54, has been serving as a Dodger minor-league instructor. . . . Brad Mills, manager of the Cubs` Wytheville, Va., team in the Appalachian League, will manage the Cubs` Charleston affiliate in 1988, a Charleston, W.Va., radio station reported. The Cubs will announce the appointment later this month, according to radio station WCAW. The Wheelers of the Class A South Atlantic League were an unaffiliated cooperative last year, with players from several organizations, including the Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds, the Atlanta Braves and the Detroit Tigers.
Clarissa Davis led top-ranked Texas (8-0) with 29 points and 15 rebounds in a 90-75 victory over Illinois (5-2) in the opening round of the Orange Bowl Classic. Dee Dee Deeken led the Illini with 22 points and 11 rebounds. In earlier first-round action, Iowa upset Auburn 73-69, and Rutgers held on to beat Maryland 79-76.
Balmoral Park canceled its thoroughbred racing program Monday because of the bad weather. Racing was scheduled to resume Tuesday. . . . Jockey Laffit Pincay, 41, thrown from his mount during a race Sunday at Santa Anita, suffered a broken vertebra and will be sidelined for a month.
