SPORTS DIGEST

 Other sports stories in brief

Petacchi to miss Tour de France after CAS ban

CYCLING: Italy's Alessandro Petacchi will miss this year's Tour de France after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) banned him until August 31st for testing positive for excess salbutamol in the Giro d'Italia last year.

In a statement yesterday, CAS said it had imposed a one-year ban but had backdated the start to November 2007, and had also taken into account two months in which he did not race following the test.

Top sprinter Petacchi, who had a medical certificate to use a set amount of salbutamol in his asthma inhaler, will skip this month's Giro in any case because of bronchitis but will miss July's Tour de France and August's Beijing Olympics.

The Italian Olympic Committee's (CONI) anti-doping prosecutor charged Petacchi with doping in July but the 34-year-old argued that any overuse of salbutamol during the Giro had been human error.

The Italian Cycling Federation backed his stance and refused the prosecutor's request for a one-year ban, meaning the case went to CAS.

Federer settles score with Canas

TENNIS:Roger Federer settled a score with his bogey player Guillermo Canas yesterday, easing his way into the third round of the Rome Masters with a 6-3 6-3 victory.

Canas went into the game as one of the few players on the tour to hold a winning record against the world number one, but yesterday's result evens things up at three victories apiece.

Rafael Nadal, aiming for his fourth consecutive Rome Masters title, will meet unseeded 2001 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in a second-round match today after his compatriot came from behind to beat German Nicolas Kiefer 6-7 6-3 6-4.

Sixth seed Andy Roddick breezed into the third round with a 6-1 6-4 win over fellow American Mardy Fish.

Croatian wildcard Mario Ancic defeated Spain's Feliciano Lopez 6-4 6-4 and will meet fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in the second round.

No contract for Chambers

RUGBY LEAGUE:Dwain Chambers will not be offered a contract with British Super League club Castleford. The Tigers agreed to give the disgraced sprinter a month's trial but have concluded that, at 30, he does not have enough time to carve out a career in rugby league. "Our coaching team feels that he would need a significant amount of additional time to prove whether or not he would be capable of making the grade,"said Richard Wright.

EAACI dismiss Beijing asthma risk

OLYMPIC GAMES:Athletes suffering from asthma face no greater health risk at this summer's Beijing Olympics than other athletes, despite the city's pollution problem, a European anti-asthma organisation said yesterday.

Beijing has been under increasing pressure to improve air quality ahead of the August 8th-24th Games after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said there was some risk to athletes competing in endurance events lasting more than an hour.

Beijing is one of the most polluted cities in the world and air quality remains a big concern.

"I don't see any greater danger to the athletes suffering from asthma who will be competing in the Beijing Olympics than the other athletes," said Nikos Papadopoulos, vice president of the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (EAACI).

Super Aguri withdraw from F1 

FORMULA ONE:The struggling Super Aguri team withdrew from the Formula One world championship yesterday due to financial difficulties.

The team had been fighting for their survival since last season when promised major sponsorship failed to emerge while backers Honda were not prepared to offer long-term support.

"Super Aguri will be ceasing its racing activities as of today," team founder Aguri Suzuki told a hastily convened news conference ahead of Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix.

A planned takeover by the Magma Group, with Dubai money, collapsed last month and Honda were lukewarm about an 11th-hour rescue bid from Germany's Weigl Group. "We simply ran out of time to put together a deal with Weigl," said Suzuki, who had been due to meet Honda's board in Tokyo yesterday to discuss the team's fate.

MCC to revise rules on bats

CRICKET:The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), guardians of the laws of the game, plan to revise rules to make most bats currently used in the international game illegal. The MCC are aiming to clarify the law banning all composite materials used in bats or handles.

John Stephenson, head of cricket for the club based at Lord's, will present a paper to MCC members today after which a vote will be taken.

"We are concerned at the moment about the balance of the game between bat and ball," said Stephenson yesterday.

"While we do not want to discourage innovation, we want to ensure bat manufacturers make bats made of willow and bat handles of cane, rubber and glue."

The issue of whether batsmen were gaining an advantage came up in 2006 when graphite bats of the kind used by Australia captain Ricky Ponting were withdrawn from international cricket by its manufacturer Kookaburra.