Sports briefs

■Rugby union
Old guard shown the door
Long-serving players Nathan Grey and Jeremy Paul have been cut from the Australian rugby union squad for its opening Tri Nations match against South Africa in Cape Town on July 12. Four players have returned from injury into the 26-man squad -- Stephen Larkham (elbow), Owen Finegan (shoulder), Matthew Burke (knee) and George Smith (neck). The changes follow Australia's 25-14 loss to England last weekend in Melbourne. Adam Freier, Matt Dunning and Elton Flatley also come into the squad for the Tri Nations opener. Flatley returns after being dropped for disciplinary reasons.

■ Motor racing
Schumacher defends brother
World Michael Schumacher jumped to the defense of his younger brother Ralf on Thursday, saying people who believed he could have passed him at the Canadian Grand Prix didn't know what they were talking about. "There is a lot of people who talk without knowing what is going on and that is a problem," Michael Schumacher said. "It's all about a nice story, how to make people look a little stupid and that is what I dislike." Ralf was leading the race in his Williams-BMW when his older brother came out of the pit stop on the 48th lap and regained the lead. He was accused afterwards of failing to really try to pass Michael during the remaining 30 laps. "If you look, it wasn't only him being behind me, there was [Juan Pablo] Montoya behind Ralf and [Fernando] Alonso behind Montoya and no one could pass anyone," Michael Schumacher said.

■ Tennis
Hewitt's dad hits back
Lleyton Hewitt's father says critics of the former No. 1 following his shock first-round loss at Wimbledon were being jealous and fickle. "It's at times like these when you find out who your true friends are," Glynn Hewitt said in a front-page interview for yesterday's Adelaide Advertiser newspaper Lleyton Hewitt was the first defending champion in 30 years to be bundled out in the first round at Wimbledon when he lost in four sets to Croatian qualifier Ivo Karlovic on Monday. Former Wimbledon champion Ashley Cooper also weighed in, saying Hewitt needed to be more independent of parents and "become his own man." Glynn Hewitt said Cooper's criticism was unwarranted and unwelcome. "How Ashley Cooper, who I've met once and Lleyton's met once, can make a comment about what family situation should be or should not be is beyond me," he said.

■ Olympics
Stray dogs earn reprieve
Athens' dogs won't have to run for their life at next year's Olympics. Organizers insisted on Thursday that thousands of dogs roaming the capital would not be rounded up and killed ahead of the games. The assurance follows an outcry by animal welfare groups who feared a mass cull of strays, which are so numerous they sometimes snooze on the marble across from the Greek parliament. Instead, a campaign will be launched this summer to sterilize strays and penalize dog owners who abandon their pets, chief Athens organizer Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki said. "We reject euthanasia," Angelopoulos-Daskalaki said. Athens organizers had initially suggested plans to round up the animals and place them in shelters. "Our initiatives have three stages, starting with the collection of the stray animals from the broader area of Athens," she said. "This is followed by vaccination of the animals and neutering them ... and relocation to their natural environment."

Agencies