Sports briefs for February 16, 2005

Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2005 | 9:26 a.m.

Armstrong will ride in 2005 Tour de France

Six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will attempt his seventh consecutive win in cycling's most prestigious race this summer.

Armstrong's schedule "will include this summer's Tour de France, where he will go for a seventh straight victory," his Discovery Channel team said on its Web site Wednesday.

"I am grateful for the opportunity that Discovery Communications has given the team and look forward to achieving my goal of a seventh Tour de France (victory)," it quoted the Texan as saying.

The announcement ended speculation about whether Armstrong would skip the race to focus on other events. Last year he became the first cyclist to win the Tour de France six times.

Clijsters wins first match of comeback

Former No. 1 Kim Clijsters beat Jelena Kostanic of Croatia 6-2, 6-3 in the Diamond Games at Antwerp, Belgium, on Tuesday in her first match in four months.

Clijsters said the left wrist injury that sidelined her in 2004 did not bother her as she opened the defense of her hometown title.

"So far, so good," Clijsters told the crowd of more than 10,000. "I had good backhands, not always perfect ones, but that is to be expected at this point. I hope all will go better now."

Roddick took less than an hour to defeat Lee. The South Korean had pushed Roddick to three sets in San Jose.

This time Roddick lost only five points during his service games and registered 11 aces, his fastest serve reaching 148 mph.

"It wasn't because of the light, but possibly because of the colors," Nalbandian said. "After a good second set, I had trouble with my concentration, and I made too many mistakes. It's too bad."

RCA Dome gets new playing field

The worst playing surface in the NFL will be replaced by a new synthetic turf for the 2005 season.

The city's Capital Improvement Board has approved $800,000 for a new field for the Indianapolis Colts along with $900,000 for a hard cover to protect the turf when the RCA Dome hosts nonfootball events.

The 8-year-old AstroTurf in the downtown stadium was voted the worst surface in the league, according to a survey of 1,514 players by the NFL Players Association two weeks ago.

The top four fields in the survey of players -- Tampa Bay's Raymond James Stadium, Arizona's Sun Devil Stadium, Carolina's Bank of America Stadium and Houston's Reliant Stadium -- all have natural grass. The fifth-best, Seattle's Qwest Field, has FieldTurf, the same playing surface the Colts installed in their indoor practice facility.