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Samuels found guilty

MIAMI: West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels has been found guilty of breaching regulations after a probe into allegations of links with a bookmaker, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) said on Monday.

Samuels, 27, could now face a two-year ban from the game if the International Cricket Council (ICC) enforces a mandatory ban.

The WICB said their disciplinary committee had found that Samuels had breached ICC Rules of Conduct 4 in that he "received money, benefit or other reward which could bring him or the game of cricket into disrepute".

The committee looked into charges that Jamaican Samuels passed on team information to a bookmaker during a one-day series in India in January 2007. A second charge that Samuels had "directly or indirectly... engaged in conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game," was dismissed.

Bekele attempts new record

NEW YORK: Ethiopian Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele will attempt to break his 10,000m world record at next month's Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, organizers said on Monday.

The race will take place at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field on June 8. The stadium is also the site of the June 27-July 6 US Olympic trials.

Bekele set his current record of 26 minutes 17.53 seconds on August 26, 2005 in Brussels.

"The record is not easy," Bekele's manager Jos Hermens said in a statement. "But this is an absolutely serious attempt. His training is going well, and he is 100 per cent 'go' for the record."

It will be the 25-year-old Bekele's first outdoor appearance in the United States.

Striker injured arm-wrestling

LONDON: English fourth division striker Lee Thorpe faces a miserable summer after breaking his arm in three places while arm-wrestling with a Rochdale teammate on the bus taking the team to a playoff match at Darlington.

Thorpe would have missed Saturday's match in any case because of a dead leg but now faces surgery on the arm injury, the club said.

"It was an unfortunate, freak accident occuring during something we have been doing all season," manager Keith Hill told the club's website (www.rochdaleafc.premiumtv.co.uk).

"No one is to blame and it is certainly not that we are unprofessional, but it is not something we will be doing again. We have learnt a valuable lesson from what might occur."

Rochdale, seeking promotion from League Two (fourth division), lost the first leg of its playoff semifinal with Darlington 2-1 after conceding a last-minute goal. The return leg is at Rochdale on Saturday with the final at Wembley on May 26.

Rochdale has been in the bottom tier of the English Football League for 34 years.

Hewitt in danger of long layoff

SYDNEY: A hip injury is threatening to force Australia's Lleyton Hewitt out of this year's French Open and Wimbledon.

The former Wimbledon and US Open champion has been undergoing treatment and tests at a Sydney hospital and is waiting on the results to determine when he can resume playing after a month on the sidelines.

"The hip is starting to feel a little better but I'm yet to fully test it out on court," Hewitt said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The specialist did a couple more tests today but the results won't be back for a few days. Once I get those I can make a decision on the French Open and the grass-court season."

The hip injury is the latest in a series of setbacks that have plagued Hewitt since he lost the world No 1 ranking in 2003.

He won the US Open in 2001 and Wimbledon the following season but has not won a Grand Slam title since and has steadily slipped down the rankings to 19th.

A-Rod out of 'Subway Series'

NEW YORK: The New York Yankees' American League MVP Alex Rodriguez has been ruled out of this weekend's "Subway Series" against the New York Mets.

The third baseman has been sidelined since April 30 after he aggravated an injury to his right quadriceps.

The Yankees had hoped to reintroduce him in training games this week before a possible return against the Mets but ruled him out after a test on Monday.

"It is still not completely healed," manager Joe Girardi told the team's website (newyork.yankees.mlb.com)

"It's still not where it needs to be. We can't afford to have him come back again and lose him for six weeks," he added.

(China Daily 05/14/2008 page22)