RUSSIA: For Dear Old Alma Ata

The Russians reported last week, not without a touch of pride, that they, too, could have their sports scandals.

The Central Asiatic Spartakiad—a tournament, including soccer, among five Central Asiatic Soviet Socialist Republics —was in full swing. The Alma Ata soccer team (representing the Kazakh Republic) was playing the Ashkhabad eleven (representing Turkmenistan). Alma Ata was ahead in the game, but what counts in the Spartakiad is not the number of games won; it is the number of goals scored. In goals, the Tashkent team (representing Uzbekistan), which did not play that day, had a narrow lead. The game between...