A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Saeed quits as Pakistan boss
CRICKET: Yawar Saeed has stepped down as Pakistan manager following the team’s controversial tour of England, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said yesterday.
The PCB said Saeed had asked the board chairman if he could be relieved of his duties.
The 75-year-old Saeed had come in for severe criticism for his handling of team affairs on the tour of England, which was marred by corruption allegations.
Blaney takes gold in Serbia
BOXING: Irish middleweight Chris Blaney claimed gold and the boxer of the tournament award at the 11-nation Vojvodina Golden Gloves Youth Multi-Nations in Novi Sad, Serbia.
Kildare flyweight Chris Phelan also finished on top of the podium, but Stephen Broadhurst and Michael McDonagh had to settle for silver after being edged out in their finals.
Navan BC fighter Blaney, who beat Russian 2008 World Junior champion Andrey Fgorov in the semi-finals on Saturday, stopped Ferenc Orbanc of Hungary in the second round on Sunday.
Phelan, of the Ryston BC, claimed gold after Orbanc’s compatriot Gyorgy Mizsei was retired in round two after taking a standing count.
However, Broadhurst, who beat 2008 Russian World Junior champion Mag Abdulamagomedoc in the last four, controversially lost to Serb puncher Denis Memerovic in the welterweight final. And Michael McDonagh was edged out 1-0 by Russian lightweight Maxim Shmyglev.
Baa-Baas watching Henson's steps
RUGBY: Gavin Henson's performances on Strictly Come Dancingthis autumn will dictate whether he is able to make an appearance for the Barbarians in December.
Centre Henson is set to make his return to rugby after accepting an invitation to play for the Barbarians against South Africa at Twickenham on December 4th.
The controversial Ospreys back has not played since March 2009 after suffering an ankle injury in an Anglo-Welsh Cup defeat against Gloucester and then opting to go on unpaid leave.
He is in training for the BBC's Strictly Come Dancingprogramme, and Baa-Baas registrar Alan Evans admits if he follows the lead of another rugby-playing dancer — Matt Dawson, who was the runner-up to cricketer Mark Ramprakash in 2006 — he is unlikely to be available because the programme does not conclude its live run until just before Christmas.
Player discipline crackdown promised for Heineken Cup
RUGBY: Player discipline is to be tightened up ahead of this season’s Heineken Cup, which was launched at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium yesterday.
Derek McGrath, chief executive of European Rugby Cup Limited, said talks had been held with the world governing body, the International Rugby Board about on and off-field foul play in an effort to protect the integrity of the competition.
Those talks referred to both the Heineken Cup and the second-tier Amlin Challenge Cup, and McGrath said: “Although structures are very important for ERC and the tournament, we have, during the summer period, contributed to the discussions to IRB regulation 17 which governs discipline.
“We have the benefit of being able to review our structures on an annual basis and we are focused on protecting the integrity of the tournaments and, through that, ensuring consistency of standards, fairness and transparency of our approach.”
McGrath insisted the move was not a response to the “Bloodgate” scandal which rocked rugby union last year.
The Heineken Cup kicks-off in just under two weeks.
McGrath looked forward to this year’s tournament, which will see the final held at the Millennium Stadium in May, saying: “We have seen so much drama and tight games that go right the way down to the wire in recent years and, along the way, we will see fantastic entertainment.”
Owners vow to block Team Lotus
MOTOR SPORT: Malaysia’s Proton, owner of Lotus road cars, will “take all necessary steps” to stop Lotus Racing team manager Tony Fernandes using the brand in Formula One next year, Proton said yesterday.
Fernandes announced at last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix Lotus Racing would compete as Team Lotus, the name given the outfit by founder Colin Chapman in the 1950s, after acquiring the rights from David Hunt.
Proton disputed Hunt’s right to the Team Lotus name and said it would support Group Lotus in protecting its rights.
Proton chairman Nadzmi Salleh said: “We believe the Lotus brand to be one of the most valuable brands in Formula One today.
“We are the owners of this brand, and will take all necessary steps to protect it. Tony Fernandes has no rights to use the Lotus brand in the 2011 Formula One season, and we will strongly resist any attempts by him to use our brand without our permission and will withdraw our sponsorship of the Lotus Racing team.”
Sixth win for Robertson
SNOOKER: Neil Robertson celebrated his new status as world number one by sweeping aside an in-form Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final of the World Open in Glasgow.
The Australian continued his perfect record in world ranking event finals to claim his sixth tournament success with a 5-1 victory.
The world champion potted confidently to beat clear favourite O’Sullivan, who had excelled in the shorter-match format throughout the tournament at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre.
O’Sullivan, who pocketed a break of 135 in a 3-1 semi-final win over Peter Ebdon, was full of praise for Robertson but typically scathing of his own performance.
“He was so solid and so good, he deserved his victory,” the 34-year-old said. “He despatched me like world champions and world number ones do”.
