Today's other stories in brief

Salvado takes third victory

ATHLETICS:Spaniard Jon Salvado has won the Sahara Marathon for the third time.

The 43-year-old crossed the finish line at Smara Refugee Camp in Algeria in a time of 2 hrs 42mins.

Salvado finished ahead of 800 entries who braved conditions at the event which takes place in Algeria, between three refugee camps.

The camps house around 200,000 Saharawi people, exiled from their Western Sahara homeland since 1975.

Salvado said “ I paced one of my colleagues in the Amsterdam Marathon last October and surprised myself by running 2:32, so I decided to run the full marathon here.

“Some athletes took off early but having run the ‘half’ before, the second half of the marathon course, I knew it was more difficult, so I saved myself, and it paid off.”

He added: “Us, athletes understand the suffering that the Saharawi people are going through.

“The competition is important but so are the problems that the people are having”.

Beckman takes third Tour title

GOLF:Cameron Beckman produced his fourth consecutive sub-70 round on Sunday to win the PGA Tour Mayakoba Golf Classic by two shots at Riviera Maya-Cancun.

Having posted rounds of 65, 68, 69 over the first three days, the 40-year-old closed the competition with a four-under-par 67 to finish on 15 under overall and secure the third Tour title of his career.

Beckman started his final round three strokes behind Joe Durant, who had set the pace from the outset, but the Floridian could only manage a 72 on Sunday and had to settle for joint second place alongside fellow American Brian Stuard (66). Sweden’s Richard S Johnson carded a final round of 65 to end in a tie for fourth a further shot back alongside US quartet Skip Kendall (64), Briny Baird (68), Chad Collins (70) and JP Hayes (71).

Test for hGH praised after ban

DOPING:Anti-doping chiefs believe the positive result for human growth hormone which has seen rugby league player Terry Newton banned for two years and sacked by his club to be the most important development since a test for the blood agent EPO was developed.

Suspicions about some of the worlds most-famous athletes using human growth hormone (hGH) have persisted for decades but until now there has been no reliable scientific test.

Newton, the 31-year-old former Britain forward, is the first athlete in the world to have had hGH analysed from a blood sample.

He accepted the charge last week and was banned for two years, after which Wakefield Wildcats announced they were terminating his contract with immediate effect.

UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) chief executive Andy Parkinson said athletes who had previously believed they could get away with taking hGH because it is also naturally produced in the body now face being caught.

Ireland lose first warm-up game

WOMEN'S HOCKEY: Ireland lost 4-0 to Britain at Bisham Abbey yesterday in the first of three uncapped challenge matches that form part of their build-up to April's World Cup Qualifier in Chile. The hosts were 3-0 up by half-time, converting their only two penalty corners of the game, completing the scoring two minutes after the break. Armagh's Rachel Mulligan had Ireland's best chance but failed to take advantage. The teams meet again today at 2.30.

CRICKET: Craig Kieswetter could make his debut in Englands opening match of their tour of Bangladesh in Dhaka today.

The Somerset wicketkeeper-batsman, who was born in South Africa, only became eligible for England last week after completing his residency qualification. He was a late call-up to the tour having impressed for England Lions. The 22-year-old looks set to open the innings alongside new captain Alastair Cook

Olympian arrested for shoplifting

DIVING: Olympic diver Blake Aldridge, who partnered Tom Daley in Beijing, has been arrested on suspicion of shoplifting and attacking a supermarket security guard, police said.

Aldridge, 27, has been bailed to mid-March pending inquiries into the incident in the early hours of Friday at the Tesco in south-east London.

Police were alerted to calls of a “shoplifter causing a disturbance” at 2.30am.

A 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm to a security guard and shoplifting.

The other suspect had already left by the time officers arrived at the store, police said.

Aldridge and Daley came eighth in the 10-metre synchronised dive in Beijing.

Aldridge made a phone call midway through the final blaming Daley’s nerves for the pair’s placing.

Dublin to host World Cup trophy

SOCCER: THE World Cup trophy will be in Dublin for three days at the start of April and members of the public who secure free tickets will be able to have their pictures taken with the trophy and members of 1990 and 1994 Republic of Ireland squads who played at the tournaments at Dublin's Mansion House on Sunday the 4th.

Details of how to secure tickets for the event will be announced in the coming weeks.

Murray overcomes gutsy display by Kunitsyn

TENNIS: World number four Andy Murray overcame a gutsy display from Russian Igor Kunitsyn to win 6-2 6-3 in a floodlit first-round encounter at the Dubai Championships yesterday.

After defending champion Novak Djokovic eased into tomorrow’s second round with a straight-sets victory, the Briton started slowly in his first match since losing the Australian Open final to Roger Federer, surviving two break points in the opening game.

The Russian’s high-energy approach disturbed a rusty Murray in an epic 24-minute second game which included 14 deuces.

Murray’s right knee was wrapped in an ice pack before the game and the Scot visibly slumped after failing to convert an eighth break point, but won at the ninth attempt for a 2-0 lead. “It was really tough – that was probably the longest game I’ve ever played on the tour,” Murray said in a courtside interview. “I served well. It’s a pretty quick court compared to Australia and the balls are faster too.”