IN BRIEF (Page 24)

SWIMMING

World marks for Coventry

MANCHESTER, England: Olympic gold medalist Kirsty Coventry led the way as three world records tumbled on the opening day of the world short-course swimming championships on Wednesday.

Coventry broke the women's 400 m individual medley short-course mark which had stood for six years and the US men and Dutch women brought the evening at the MEN Arena to a tumultuous conclusion, shattering a pair of relay records.

Zimbabwe's Coventry, Olympic 200 m backstroke champion, clocked four minutes 26.52 seconds to beat the 4:27.83 set by Yana Klochkova of Ukraine in Paris on Jan. 19, 2002.

The US quartet swam home in the men's 100 m freestyle relay in 3:08.44 to beat the 3:09.57 mark set by Sweden in Athens on March 16, 2000.

The Dutch team clocked 7:38.90 to annihilate the 7:46.30 mark set by Russia in Moscow on April 3, 2002.

SOCCER

Directors arrested in probe

LONDON: Birmingham City directors David Sullivan and Karren Brady were arrested on Wednesday as part of a police investigation into corruption in English football.

City said the Premier League club's co-owner Sullivan and managing director Brady "were invited to cooperate with a City of London Police investigation and have happily done so.

"Birmingham City football club is fully committed to helping the Police with their inquiries," the club said in a statement on its website (www.blues.premiumtv.co.uk).

City of London Police said earlier on Wednesday that two people had been released on bail.

Previous arrests include Harry Redknapp, manager of FA Cup finalist Portsmouth, in November. He has always insisted that he has done nothing wrong and he has not been charged.

Adebayor: Focus on title race

LONDON: Emmanuel Adebayor wants Arsenal to forget about its Champions League misery and focus on getting back into the Premier League title race.

The Gunners slumped out of Europe in agonizing fashion against Liverpool on Tuesday, but Adebayor knows there is no time for his teammates to feel sorry for themselves.

Arsene Wenger's side faces Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday in a make or break clash. Arsenal is six points behind the league leaders and only a win will keep its faint title hopes alive.

"The most important thing now is to stay focused on what we can achieve this season," the Togo striker said.

"We are still playing for the title and we still believe we can win something at the end of the season.

"Sunday will be another big game for us and we will see what we can do."

TENNIS

Davenport cruises to victory

AMELIA ISLAND, Florida: Lindsay Davenport made short work of fellow American Jill Craybas with a 6-1, 6-4 victory to reach the Amelia Island Championships third round on Wednesday.

Former world No 1 Davenport was one of seven seeds to advance but four went out, including No 3 Daniela Hantuchova, fifth-seeded Patty Schnyder and Austrian Sybille Bammer.

Davenport needed just 55 minutes to dispose of Craybas, dominating with her serve on which she won 24 of 27 points.

Slovakian Hantuchova lost 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to Karolina Sprem of Croatia, Swiss Schnyder went down 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 to Russian Elena Vesnina and ninth seed Bammer was beaten by Alize Cornet of France 6-1, 6-3.

(China Daily 04/11/2008 page24)