Sports digest

Today's other stories in brief

South Africa hold advantage - Smith

CRICKET: South Africa will go into the second Test against England in Durban on Saturday with a big psychological advantage after the draw in Centurion, according to their captain, Graeme Smith. England ended the opening Test desperately hanging on for a draw and Smith said yesterday: "We've left them with a few question marks, especially over the batting line-up.

“Over the five days in Centurion we performed really well, while England can look at just a couple of strong sessions. That’s the positive for us.”

England look set to take the conservative option again by playing an unchanged side. That would mean only four bowlers and a reprieve for the under-pressure batsman Ian Bell, who failed in both innings in Centurion.

South Africa, though, are likely to be strengthened by the return of their number one fast bowler, Dale Steyn, at the expense of Friedel de Wet, while the all-rounder Jacques Kallis is expected to play a full role as the fifth bowler following his rib injury. The pitch at Kingsmead suggested it would be hard and bouncy on Saturday. “There has been a lot of rain lately so the surface is going to be key,” added Smith.

Europe name Royal team

GOLF: Europe yesterday named their line-up for January's Royal Trophy, adding three new names to Colin Montgomerie's eight-man team to face Asia in the matchplay contest. Alexander Noren and Peter Hanson have been included, taking the number of Swedes in the team to four. Also joining the team for the contest in Thailand will be 23-year-old Spaniard Pablo Martin, one of six European debutants.

Europe won the first two Royal Trophy events but paid the price for fielding a weakened team last January.

Europe Team: Colin Montgomerie (player/captain), Soren Kjeldsen, Simon Dyson, Pablo Martin, Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson, Alexander Noren and Peter Hanson.

Cycling 'leading fight against drugs'

CYCLING: David Millar believes cycling has gone from being one of the sports worst affected by doping to leading the fight against performance-enhancing drugs.

Millar (32) this week had a Commonwealth Games life ban for doping overturned on appeal by Scotland. And he said of his sport: “In a decade, we have gone from being probably what was one of the dirtiest professional sports to the sport that is at the vanguard of anti-doping.” Millar was banned for two years in 2004 and stripped of his 2003 world time trial title after admitting using the blood booster EPO but has become a prominent anti-doping spokesman. “My sport was a different sport to what it is now. It was a dirty, fairly dark place for quite a few years. I got very much wrapped up in that for a short period of time and it was almost my compete downfall.”

The sport has recently led the way in adopting initiatives from the World Anti-Doping Association. “We have introduced some of the most advanced anti-doping methods, from bringing in the ‘whereabouts’ system early on, internal testing programmes for teams and the biological passport,” said Millar.

Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is off, says Arum

BOXING: The WBO welterweight title bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao next March will not go ahead due to the American's demands for Olympic-style dope testing procedures, promoter Bob Arum said yesterday.

Arum, who represents the Filipino champion, said using blood tests for the highly anticipated fight on March 13th was unprecedented for professional fights in Las Vegas.

“As far as I’m concerned, the fight is off,” Arum said.

We don’t object to more extensive drug testing, even though it’s certainly not required in Nevada.

“What we’re saying is that the drug testing he is proposing is intrusive and would disturb Pacquiao’s training if it’s done within 30 days of his fight.” Pacquiao had agreed to have blood taken for testing before the initial media conference and after the fight but would not agree to have blood drawn within 30 days of the bout.

Golden Boy is representing the Mayweather camp, while Top Rank are Pacquiao’s promoters.

AWARDS: US Open tennis champion Juan Martin del Potro has been voted Argentina’s sports personality of the year.

Del Potro, who upset world number one Roger Federer in the US Open final, ended the year ranked fifth. He also won tournaments in Auckland and Washington.

Among the ‘silver’ award winners at Tuesday night’s ceremony in Buenos Aires were Barcelona forward Lionel Messi and golfer Angel Cabrera.