Jaguar accept defeat

Motor Sport: McLaren yesterday scored a decisive victory over Jaguar in the struggle for Adrian Newey's services. Jaguar decided to withdraw from a potentially costly legal battle with their Formula One rivals, following the injunction they took out last week preventing McLaren from employing Newey when his contract expired in 2002.

Faced with the reality that European law would not force somebody - in this case the McLaren technical director Newey - to take a job against his will, Jaguar bowed to the inevitable.

Instead they accepted apologies from Newey and the McLaren chairman Ron Dennis in addition to legal expenses of around £30,000.

Newey, who had apparently signed a contract with Jaguar then changed his mind and decided to stay with McLaren, said: "I regret this misunderstanding has occurred but am delighted it has been resolved and apologise for what has occurred."

Athletics: Jamaica's veteran sprinter Merlene Ottey will not compete at the World Championships in Edmonton in August, her manager Daniel Zimmerman said yesterday.

He said Ottey, who has won 14 world championship medals, was still upset over protests by Jamaica team-mates at her inclusion in the Sydney Olympic Games.

Cricket: Michael Bevan will return to the Australia side for today's triangular series clash against England as the world champions continue to rotate their squad.

Bevan, arguably the world's best one-day batsman, was left out of the team that beat England at Bristol on Sunday, but captain Steve Waugh said someone else would miss out at Old Trafford.

Olympic Games: The head of the committee promoting the Paris bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games was being questioned yesterday by police investigating a case of alleged money laundering, a judicial source said in Paris.

Claude Bebear, founder and former chairman of French insurer AXA, faced police questioning in connection with a probe into Luxembourg-based Pan-Eurolife, an insurer suspected of money laundering, the source said.