Sports Digest

A round-up of today's other Sports stories in brief...

All Blacks call-up for Toeava

RUGBY:The All Blacks have called up Isaia Toeava to replace injured fullback Leon MacDonald for the South African leg of the Tri-Nations competition, the New Zealand Rugby Union said yesterday.

"Isaia is currently at fullback for Auckland and has played there previously at the international and Super 14 level," said coach Graham Henry. "He's also got the ability to play elsewhere in the backline which is helpful when we are a long way from home."

Winger Rudi Wulf misses out on the trip to Cape Town for the August 17th match as selectors opted to include Piri Weepu as the third halfback for the 26-man travelling team.

Meanwhile, Argentina coach Santiago Phelan has named his strongest available team for the Mandela Tribute Test against South Africa in Johannesburg on Saturday.The team shows seven changes from the XV beaten 13-12 by Italy in Cordoba last month.

ARGENTINA:B Stortoni; JM Piossek, F Aramburu, M Avramovic, H Agulla; F Contepomi (capt), N Vergallo; R Roncero, M Ledesma, P Ledesma; R Alvarez, P Albacete; M Durand, JM Lobbe, JM Leguizamon.

Court rejects Germans' case

TENNIS:The German tennis federation (DTB) said yesterday it deeply regretted a Delaware court's decision to reject its challenge to the ATP's calendar restructuring and added it would consider an appeal.

The governing body of men's tennis plans to downgrade the Masters tournament in Hamburg, one of the most prestigious events of the claycourt season and part of the build-up to the French Open, and move it from May to July.

The DTB argued the plans violated anti-trust laws but after nine hours of deliberation jurors in Wilmington rejected the suit.

"We remain convinced the ATP illegally withdrew the Hamburg tournament's Masters status and we were right to challenge the decision," said DTB president Georg von Waldenfels.

"The Masters status was awarded without a time limit and as long as we abide by the ATP's regulations this status must be renewed each year," he added.

Harmison and Broad back to face South Africa

CRICKET:Steve Harmison and Stuart Broad have been recalled to the England team for the fourth and final Test against South Africa which starts today at The Oval.

Ryan Sidebottom, England's leading wicket-taker over the last 12 months, and batsman Ravi Bopara were not included in the team named yesterday by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

New captain Kevin Pietersen said the 29-year-old Harmison, with 212 wickets from 58 tests, was keen to play test cricket again after a five-month absence.

"He had a bounce in his step, and the way he bowled this morning to (Andrew) Flintoff in the nets it can only work for us," added Pietersen.

The inclusion of Harmison and Broad means England will have a five-man bowling attack for the first time in the series.

The resignation of former captain Michael Vaughan means Ian Bell moves up to number three, while Paul Collingwood, Flintoff and wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose all move up one place.

McConvey impresses in Canada

CYCLING:Belfast's Connor McConvey turned in an excellent performance in the UCI World Cup cross country race in Bromont, Canada. The 19-year-old was 25th overall in the mountain bike event but, more importantly, was second in the under-23 classification.

He and Olympic-bound Robin Seymour lined out there as part of an Irish team. Seymour was a non-finisher in the race, his last preparation event before the Games in Beijing. McConvey said: "It was my best result to date. I'm starting to learn how to ride these races and what to expect from my body. It's something to build on."

The winner of the Elite event was Julien Absalon (France), who finished over two minutes ahead of Lukas Flückiger (Switzerland).