Boxing: Olympic gold medallist Michael Carruth's world title bid against WBC light middleweight champion Javier Castillejo, which had been scheduled for March 3rd in Madrid, has been postponed.

Castillejo sustained an injury while sparring with former WBO middleweight title challenger Ryan Rhodes. Carruth, who was based at a training camp in Jersey, said: "Obviously it has left me very disappointed. But I'm not going to dwell on it, I'll take a few days off and then get back into training. They were talking about a delay of a month so hopefully the fight will go ahead by the middle of April at the latest."

Cycling: Italy's `pirate king' Marco Pantani eases back into competition today for the first time since being kicked off last year's Tour of Italy. The 1998 Tour de France and Tour of Italy winner is expected to be among the starters for the five-day Tour of Valencia. Pantani (30), who rides for the Mercatone Uno team, was expelled from the Tour of Italy on June 5th last year after failing a dope test. His test came back with a level of blood cells above the 50 percent threshold, a result that is taken as an indicator, but not proof, that a cyclist has taken the banned drug EPO.

Motor Sport: Austrian Alexander Wurz will find his new Benetton formula one car a tight squeeze this season but he expects to gain from the added pain. The tallest and heaviest driver on the grid will have less room to manoeuvre in his Italian team's smaller and lighter B200 car. Team boss Rocco Benetton admitted yesterday the 26-year-old would "have to suffer physically a little bit" during races.