Medal is taken back

Sports Digest/ATHLETICS:Indian Santhi Soundarajan has been stripped of the Asian Games women's 800 metres silver medal after failing a gender test in Doha, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) said yesterday.

The IOA said the 25-year-old was asked to undergo a femininity test after the December 9th race and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) then directed India to return the medal.

The Indian media have criticised the national athletics federation after it was revealed that Santhi's application to the state-run railways for a job was turned down after the athlete failed a medical. A railway official said the test was done about a year ago, but could not confirm whether gynaecological or hormone tests were done.

Champion for London

•  ATHLETICS:Japan's Olympic champion Mizuki Noguchi will make her debut in the London Marathon on April 22nd next year.

Noguchi, winner in Athens two years ago, is yet another top star who will compete in what is considered to be the strongest field to be brought together for a women's marathon race.

"We are extremely pleased to have such a strong field in London, including the Olympic champion," said race director David Bedford. He added: "I feel this is the most competitive women's field that has ever been assembled in London and we are looking forward to witnessing a very exciting race."

The women's race will be run under championship conditions with no male pacemakers.

Hamilton a contender

•  FORMULA ONE:Rising Formula One star Lewis Hamilton is a strong contender to be nominated for a prestigious sporting award.

The McLaren driver, who will make his F1 debut alongside world champion Fernando Alonso next season, won the GP2 title last season and is in line for nomination for the 2007 Laureus Breakthrough Award.

Among the other contenders for nomination are world equestrian gold medallist Zara Phillips who was recently voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

A third Briton, athlete Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, is also in contention after winning the gold medal at the 2006 IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing, China.n MOTOGP: The man behind MotoGP's newest bike is confident veteran Irishman Jeremy McWilliams and Australian team-mate Andrew Pitt can put the Ilmor name at the forefront of motorcycle racing.

Team owner Mario Illien, who is based in Northampton, has gone for experience as his new venture faces up to the challenge of beating the Japanese manufacturers.

Illien said: "Both riders come well equipped with a huge amount of experience to bring to the team as we start out. I've said since the beginning of this project that we are on a steep learning curve and I believe that McWilliams and Pitt will really help us begin to make our mark on the grid."

Team confident Henman takes break

•  TENNIS:Tim Henman will not play a warm-up tournament before he competes at the Australian Open in January.

Instead, the 32-year-old intends to spend time at home with his family before heading to Melbourne where he will be looking to atone for last year's first-round defeat by Dmitry Tursunov.

Henman has suffered a number of injuries in recent years and his participation in Australia had been threatened by a knee injury but he came through a charity game with Mark Philippoussis earlier this month and declared himself fit. He experienced an improvement in results towards the latter part of the season and he ended the campaign with a world ranking of 39.

Wildcard winners

• TENNIS:Alicia Molik and Robert Smeets won their finals at the Australian Open wildcard play-offs yesterday to book their places in the first grand slam of 2007.

Molik beat Jessica Moore 6-4 6-4 in the women's final and 21-year-old Smeets defeated Joe Sirianni 6-1 7-5 3-6 6-3 in the men's decider to secure a place in the main draw.

The Australian Open offers wildcard spots for eight men and eight women for the January 15th-28th tournament at Melbourne Park.

Just six of the total of 16 wildcards are available after six cards were handed over in reciprocal exchanges with the French Open, US Open and winners of the Asian tennis championships.