DRUGS IN SPORT: Outgoing Wada president Dick Pound has said the process for choosing his successor was sabotaged by the withdrawal of European candidate Jean-Francois Lamour.

"The process got off the rails because the candidate who had worked very hard to become the European nominee withdrew without consulting anyone," Pound said at a conference in Madrid.

"He wouldn't answer my phone calls, he didn't advise France, he didn't advise the authorities or his colleagues. He simply went to a press conference and made a whole bunch of critical comments about Wada, the very organisation of which he had been vice-president 10 minutes before he made the announcement."

Lamour, a former sports minister in France, was a leading candidate to succeed Pound as president until the late candidacy of Australian John Fahey.

"I don't want to be the president of a body that does not have the strength and the dynamism to fight against doping," Lamour said when he announced his withdrawal last month.

Pound defended the organisation, saying that the new anti-doping code which is being presented at the Madrid conference was proof that the organisation was up to the job.

"One of the main improvements in the code is having tougher sanctions in the case of aggravated doping," said Pound.

Pound highlighted other measures such as more rapid testing of "B" samples.

Joburg now in Europe

GOLF: The second edition of the Joburg Open has been added to the 2007-08 European Tour schedule.

The €1.1 million tournament will be played at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club from January 10th-13th, the tour announced.

Argentina's Ariel Canete won the inaugural Joburg Open earlier this year and will return to South Africa to defend his title.

The Joburg Open will be the third event jointly sanctioned by the European and Sunshine tours on the 2007-08 schedule, following next month's Alfred Dunhill Championship in Mpumalanga and the South African Open in Paarl.

A total of 51 of the 53 tournaments on the schedule count for the order of merit.

Murray to build own team

TENNIS: British number one Andy Murray has split from coach Brad Gilbert, the player has confirmed.

"Despite being injured for almost four months this year, I am pleased with my 2007 results and am very grateful for the help that the LTA have given me by providing Brad Gilbert as a coach," Murray, who began working with the American last July, said in a statement.

"But the time has come to move on to the next stage of my career. I am ranked 11 in the world and can now afford to pay my own way and so will now hire a team of experts each to fulfil a specified role in the development of my tennis and fitness."

It is not clear if Gilbert, whose salary is paid by the LTA, will continue with them as performance director.