Doug, Tie heroes to sick kids
They replace AWOL Anna

By TOM GODFREY, TORONTO SUN
June 24, 2004

PAST AND PRESENT Maple Leafs Doug Gilmour and Tie Domi will be pinch-hitting for Anna Kournikova today when they meet with kids today at Hamilton's McMaster Children's Hospital. About 28 children were left "very disappointed" when the world's sexiest tennis player cancelled a June 11 visit, hospital spokesman Colleen Lowe said. "They wanted to see her."

But their disappointment will turn to smiles when Domi and Gilmour visit. "(The kids) are quite excited," Lowe said. "They just can't wait."

Kournikova, 23, was in Hamilton for the second BC Decker/Womens' Challenger tournament and to attend a Children's Cancer and Leukemia Fund dinner.

Lowe said young patients had made posters and signs to welcome the former tennis star to the hospital.

Tournament organizer Brian Decker said he wasn't told why Kournikova failed to visit the children, who had waited more than two hours to see her.

"We felt we had to make it up to the kids," Decker said.

Bob Lavelle, a marketing agent for Gilmour, said the hockey stars regularly visit sick children and the pair volunteered to go to Hamilton after hearing Kournikova had cancelled.

"They wanted to help out," Lavelle said. "They were happy to do it."

Kournikova, who was once ranked No. 8 in the world, is a staple of the tabloids due to past romantic links with hockey players Sergei Federov and Pavel Bure and her current beau, singer Enrique Iglesias.