A round up of today's other sports news in brief...
Still a long way to go for Hamilton
FORMULA ONE: Lewis Hamilton knows now is the time for a cool, calm, collected head in the wake of back-to-back wins that have reignited his Formula One world title challenge.
With eight races remaining, Hamilton knows as easily as the situation has remarkably turned in his favour, it could all go so horribly wrong again.
"It's too early to say that I'm now the man to beat," assessed Hamilton. "We're looking strong, looking good, and we're in a good position, but as you know in a Formula One season things change, teams always make steps here and there.
"As you saw last year we were swapping and changing, so in the next few races I don't know what to expect. All I know is we will have a competitive car, and if we can keep challenging for wins, then great.
"I've said it before, but we've really transformed this year's car over the past six weeks."
Henson extends run with Ospreys
WALES CENTRE Gavin Henson has signed a new three-year contract with the Ospreys.
Henson (26) becomes the 12th player to sign a new deal with the Magners Celtic League side recently and will remain at the Liberty Stadium until 2011.
The Lions star is currently sidelined by a long-term ankle injury but is scheduled to return to action in September.
"I'm delighted to sign a new contract, I wouldn't want to play rugby anywhere else," said Henson. "I'm an ambitious person and I want to win things and the Ospreys share my ambitions. There's a real buzz about the place at the moment."
Betting Czech players banned
TENNIS: The Czech Republic's Frantisek Cermak and Slovakia's Michal Mertinak became the latest players to be banned and fined for betting on tennis matches, the ATP said yesterday.
As the governing body of men's tennis continues to crack down on gambling in the sport, the two Eastern European doubles specialists became the first non-Italians to be sanctioned under the ATP's anti-corruption programme.
Cermak (31) who does not have a singles ranking, was banned for 10 weeks from Monday and fined €9,500, while world number 616 Mertinak received a two-week suspension and a €1,800 penalty.
"An ATP investigation launched in November 2007 found that Mr Cermak had wagered on tennis matches during a period dating from September 9th 2006 through Feb 1st, 2007," the ATP said in a statement.
"The same investigation found that Mertinak had wagered on tennis matches during October of 2006."
Parmentier to replace Pierce on French team
TENNIS: Two-time Grand Slam winner Mary Pierce has pulled out of the French Olympic team and will be replaced by Pauline Parmentier. Parmentier, ranked 40th in the world, will be playing singles and doubles at the Beijing Olympics, the ITF said in an emailed statement. Earlier yesterday, the ITF issued a statement saying former Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo would be replacing Pierce in the singles event.
"The French Tennis Federation sent us a list on Friday, which included Mauresmo's name," ITF spokeswoman Barbara Travers said. "Just after we issued our statement we got an amendment from them, saying she isn't going after all."
Mauresmo, a silver medalist at the 2004 Athens Games, withdrew from the team on July 3rd after she wasn't selected in singles.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga runner-up at this year's Australian Open, also pulled out of the Olympic tennis competition because of an knee injury. He's replaced by compatriot Michael Llodra.
Seymour adds to list of successes
CYCLING: Robin Seymour took a 15th consecutive Irish MTB cross country championship on Sunday, beating closest competitors Conor McConvey and Niall Davis by 28 and 37 seconds respectively.
Caitlin Elliot and Liam McGreevy dominated the women's and junior competitions, while Peter Buggle was best of the veterans. Matthew Adair, Ben Gregory and Mark Dowhey won the various underage categories.
Abroad, Sean Downey finished 24th of 161 riders in the World Junior Road Race championships in Cape Town, South Africa. He crossed the line five seconds behind the winner Johan Le Bon (France).
In China, David McCann finished an excellent fourth in the Tour de Langkawi yesterday, ending the prestigious 2.HC ranked event one minute and 17 seconds behind the victor Tyler Hamilton (Rock Racing). He was 13th in the points list.
Powell and Bolt renew rivalry
ATHLETICS: Asafa Powell has stressed his clash with Usain Bolt in today's DN Galan Super Grand Prix in Sweden is not just about the two of them.
Powell's head to head with his younger Jamaican rival will undoubtedly be the highlight of the meeting in Stockholm.
The pair have developed a great rivalry with Bolt having recently lowered Powell's 100 metres world record by two hundredths of a second to 9.72.
But Powell points out that 10 other sub 10-second sprinters have entered the event and the heats will be anything but straightforward. "It's a very strong field," said Powell, who posted a stadium record of 9.86secs at the 1912 Olympic venue two years ago.
Powell insists he suffered few effects after pulling up with cramp at the Rome meeting on July 11th, and was back in full training three days later.
