Top Shot

Former 400m world champion Guevara retires

MEXICO CITY: Former world 400m champion Ana Guevara of Mexico said on Wednesday she was retiring from the track because of a lack of support from sports authorities.

Guevara, 30, won the world title over the one lap in Paris in 2003 and also took Olympic silver in Athens a year later.

"It turns me off ... not seeing a promising path for sports in Mexico. I am tired of not finding answers, of fighting in vain, after an 11-year career," a somber Guevara told local television.

She said sport in Mexico was plagued with corruption. "It continues to be dirty politics and benefits for just a handful," she said.

Guevara also won world bronze in 2001 and 2005.

Russia's Khanafeyeva fails drug test, officials say

MOSCOW: Former women's hammer world-record holder, Gulfia Khanafeyeva, has tested positive for a stimulant, the Russian athletics chief said on Wednesday.

"We were notified that Khanafeyeva had failed a drug test at the 2007 World Military Games in Hyderabad, India," president of the Russian athletics federation Valentin Balakhnichyov told Reuters without specifying the substance.

"We're still waiting for the results of the B sample."

Russia's military sports chief Alexander Romanov confirmed Khanafeyeva's positive test, which was carried out last October.

"We've received a letter, saying that Khanafeyeva's A sample had showed the presence of a banned drug," he said.

Khanafeyeva, 25, who set a world record of 77.26m in June 2006, became the third high-profile Russian hammer thrower to recently fail drugs tests.

Dolphins name Sparano as head coach

MIAMI: The Miami Dolphins have appointed former Dallas Cowboys assistant coach Tony Sparano as their head coach, the NFL team said on Wednesday.

Sparano was the favorite for the job since Cam Cameron was sacked after a dreadful season in which the Dolphins managed just one win.

"I look forward to this challenge, I can't wait to get involved in it and I am looking to build the character and chemistry of this team," Sparano told a news conference.

Sparano, who was assistant to Wade Phillips this year at Dallas, has spent nine years coaching in the NFL - the last five of them with the Cowboys, who lost their NFC playoff to the New York Giants on Sunday.

The Dolphins have assembled a new staff dominated by ex-Cowboys with Sparano working under overall head of football operations Bill Parcells - who was his boss at the Cowboys until 2006.

Austrian Buder breaks leg in Kitzbuehel crash

KITZBUEHEL, Austria: Austrian Andreas Buder broke his right leg in training on Wednesday and will miss the rest of the season.

Buder, fourth in the World Cup men's downhill standings after podium finishes in Lake Louise and Bormio, crashed on the Hausbergkant jump at Kitzbuehel.

Buder was taken by helicopter to a local hospital.

American Marco Sullivan also fell badly and is a doubt to compete this weekend on the infamous Streif piste.

On Tuesday, Czech Ondrej Bank, third in a super-combined last November in Beaver Creek, fractured his right leg after crashing on the final jump taking the skiers to the finish line.

Otto books British Open ticket with last-gasp eagle

JOHANNESBURG: Josh Cunliffe led the way at the end of British Open International Final Qualifying (IFQ) on Wednesday while fellow South African Hennie Otto booked his ticket in spectacular fashion with a last-hole eagle.

Cunliffe fired a second successive 65 for a 12-under tally of 130 to win by one stroke from compatriot Darren Fichardt (63). Otto (65) and Doug McGuigan completed a South African sweep of the four qualifying berths by finishing on 134.

Otto rolled in a 16-foot eagle putt at the 18th at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington to deny compatriots Ulrich van den Berg and Brandon Pieters, on 135, the chance of a playoff for the final spot on offer.

"I knew I needed an eagle to tie Doug," Otto told reporters. "I flew the fairway bunkers with a big drive but that was just half the job done.

"I then hit probably the best four-iron of my career up on to the green. It was still a bit nerve-wracking, standing over that putt. It breaks about three foot from left to right and it's quite pacy...I timed it just right."

(China Daily 01/18/2008 page22)