主题：【G－7＋1花絮】格老还能打网球 -- 西风陶陶

Greenspan, Snow Topple U.K.'s King at G-7 Tennis (Update1)

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. and U.K. put their relationship to the test on the tennis court yesterday, with Treasury Secretary John Snow and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan triumphing over Bank of England officials.

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King was scheduled to play with Chancellor of Exchequer Gordon Brown, who withdrew and was replaced by Chris Salmon, King's head of international finance. The policy makers, in Washington for today's meeting of the Group of Seven industrial nations, played for two hours at the Chevy Chase Country Club in neighboring Maryland.

After losing the first set 6-4, Snow and Greenspan rallied back from 4-1 down in the second set to secure a tiebreaker 7-6, and then a victory of 6-1 in the final and deciding set. Snow is 65 and Greenspan, who is in his fifth term as Fed chairman, is 78. King is 56 and Salmon's age wasn't immediately available.

``All I can say is Secretary Snow had an ear-to-ear grin this morning and he asked me if it would be proper to insert language into the communique about the results of a tennis match,'' U.S. Treasury Spokesman Rob Nichols said. King told reporters ``we're in training'' for a rematch.

The G-7 is scheduled to release a statement about the world economy at 5:45 p.m. Washington time. An effort to set up a tennis match at last February's G-7 meeting in Boca Raton, Florida, fell through. The U.S. is the host of the G-7 until the end of the year, when it passes the reins to the U.K.

The game was concluded with enough time for the players to view the first debate between President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry. Brown, whose official biography lists tennis as an interest, was spotted watching the debate in the Madison Hotel in downtown Washington.

To contact the reporter for this story:

Simon Kennedy in Washington at [email protected].

To contact the editor responsible for this story:

Kevin Miller at [email protected]