Sports

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – America’s Mike Rodgers is on  the fast track towards becoming his nation’s leading sprinter  and while he has set a target of winning a 2012 Olympics medal,  he is well aware of the steps needed to achieve his goal.

JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) – England captain Andrew  Strauss said his side would pay dearly if they tried to play for  a draw in the fourth and final test against South Africa  starting at the Wanderers today.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Left-arm spinner Kavesh Kantasingh and opening batsman Omar Phillips have come in for huge praise over the roles they played in the Combined Campuses and Colleges’ stunning victory over Trinidad and Tobago in the opening round of the WICB First-class Championship earlier this week.

SYDNEY,  (Reuters) – Justine Henin has always punched  above her weight but even she knows the odds are stacked  against her landing a knockout blow in this month’s Australian  Open.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Government and cricket authorities here are planning to use the historic day-night match at the Sir Vivian Richards Ground to re-launch the stadium as a premier venue, after it was slapped with a one-year ban in the wake of the aborted England Test last year.

SYDNEY, Australia, CMC – Dwayne Smith failed to fire as his New South Wales crashed out of the Twenty20 Big Bash with a 54-run loss to Queensland yesterday.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Britain’s Ricky Hatton will come  out of retirement for “one more fight” this year against a big  name opponent at a venue and date still to be decided, he  announced yesterday.

SAN ANTONIO, (Reuters) – The San Antonio Spurs beat  the Los Angeles Lakers 105-85 yesterday, extending a poor run  of road form for the NBA Champions who also lost Kobe Bryant to  injury.

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – The ATP Players Council has  proposed the scheduling of a tennis ‘world cup’ to provide a  less rigorous international competition than the current Davis  Cup, Serbian world number three Novak Djokovic said yesterday.

– local cricketers express confidence in facing T&T By Marlon Munroe Local cricketers departed the Dr.

– Linden Foundation and Multi to clash today By Rawle Toney Eight secondary schools in the mining town of Linden will battle for top prizes when the second annual Edwin ‘Screw’ Richmond under-18 football tournament kicks off today.

RHTFM crowned champions The Rose Hall Town Farfan and Mendes (RHTFM) team won $30,000 and the Berbice Under-15 champions crown after they defeated Tucber Park on first innings in the final of the Tenelec Inc Championships held at the Area ‘H’ Ground last Sunday.

ADELAIDE, Australia,  CMC – Kieron Pollard once again played a key role with the bat but it was South Australia’s bowlers who engineered their 23-run victory over Tasmania and their fourth straight triumph in the Twenty20 Big Bash yesterday.

KINGSTON, Jamaica,  CMC – Out-of-favour West Indies pacer Daren Powell has been recalled to Jamaica’s 13-man squad for their second round WICB Four-Day game, following a one-game suspension.

DENVER, Colorado, (Reuters) – Carmelo Anthony marked  his return from a two-week injury layoff with 24 points to  spark the Denver Nuggets to a 105-94 victory over the Minnesota  Timberwolves on Monday.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Former St Louis Cardinals  slugger Mark McGwire has admitted using steroids when he was a  player, including in 1998 when he broke the single-season  home-run record, but denied they improved his performance.

(BBC) Kamran Akmal has paid for his nightmare display in Pakistan’s second Test loss to Australia by being dropped for today’s third Test.

(BBC) A second separatist group has claimed responsibility for a machine-gun attack on Togo’s football team in Angola, in which at least two people died.

BENGUELA, Angola,  (Reuters) – Holders Egypt, seeking  an unprecedented third successive African Nations Cup title,  made a convincing start by defeating Nigeria 3-1 yesterday.

JOHANNESBURG,  (Reuters) – Paul Collingwood, who has  played a key role making sure England go into tomorrow’s fourth  and final test against South Africa 1-0 up in the series, said  he loved annoying the opposition with long, defiant innings.