Karen Shinkins, the national 400 metres record holder, was among a group of Irish athletes who left yesterday for warm weather training in South Africa.

Shinkins, a member of the team which competed in the world championships at Seville last August, is accompanied by two other women sprinters, Ciara Sheehy and Martin McCarthy.

Among the male sprinters making the trip are Gary Ryan, Tom Comyns, Paul Oppermann and David Keogan. David Matthews, hoping to gain an Olympic nomination in the 800 metres, is also included.

With the co-operation of the South African Athletics Federation, the Irish will take part in a number of competitions to complement their training programmes. The squad is under the management of Patsy McGonagle with Jim Kilty acting as coach.

Motor Sport: Kenjiro Shinozuka retained his six-minute lead in the Dakar-Cairo Rally as organisers cancelled today's stage and set up an airlift out of Niger to Libya following warnings of a terrorist threat yesterday.

The four stages in the Niger desert, regarded as the highlight of the rally, plus a rest day at Agadez have been cancelled.

Organisers decided to set up an airlift to Libya where they hoped to resume the rally next Tuesday.

Tennis: Four-times Australian Open champion Monica Seles has pulled out of the first Grand Slam tournament of the new century next week after failing to recover from a foot injury.

Seles, who won the event in 1991, 92, 93 and 96, has been sidelined since October but had hoped to recover in time to play.