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■ Soccer
Wolves keep cocaine striker
Wolverhampton striker Chris Cornes will remain with the club, despite his six-month ban for testing positive for cocaine. Wolverhampton chief executive Jez Moxey said on Tuesday that the club condemned the use of banned substances but, after discussions with Cornes, decided not to sack him. "However, we have made it clear to him that he could be dismissed if he is unable to demonstrate to the club and its supporters that he is a model professional from this point onwards," Moxey said. Cornes, 19, was banned by the Football Association on Monday for testing positive for cocaine in a random drug test taken in February. He denies ever knowingly taking a banned substance. Cornes will be fined and will work with the club's Football in the Community department during his suspension when he isn't training.

■ Soccer
Kirkland on loan to Wigan
Wigan signed Liverpool goalkeeper Chris Kirkland on a six-month loan on Tuesday. "Chris is a top quality goalkeeper, he is a very imposing figure who can command his box, and he combines that with a tremendous shot-stopping ability," Wigan coach Paul Jewell told Wigan's Web site. Kirkland, a former England Under-21 international, spent last season on loan at West Bromwich Albion. The 25-year-old moved to Liverpool in August 2001 from Coventry. Last season, Mike Pollitt was Wigan's No. 1 goalkeeper, with John Filan making 19 appearances. Both are still at the club.

■ Swimming
No early Melbourne finals
Finals at next year's World Swimming Championships in Melbourne will be held in the evening, not in the morning as world body FINA had considered, organizers said yesterday. The organizing committee, working with the Victoria state government and FINA, confirmed the program for the championships with heats starting at 10am and semifinals and finals beginning at 7pm. American broadcaster NBC has strongly lobbied FINA to hold finals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the morning to allow them to be shown in prime-time in the US. FINA then considered holding morning finals at the Melbourne world championships on a trial basis. The decision to stick to an evening format came as a relief to swimmers and organizers, including Australian Swimming chief executive Glenn Tasker, who applauded the decision. The International Olympic Committee will decide next month whether to program morning finals at the 2008 Beijing games.

■ Soccer
Portugal players must pay
Portugal's government on Tuesday rejected a proposal that the national soccer team be exempt from paying tax on their World Cup bonuses. Each player received 50,000 euros (US$64,000) for having reached the semi-finals. "At a moment when the country has to make sacrifices I think those sacrifices must be made by all," Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos told reporters. "I think that public recognition for the good results obtained should be enough for those who carry out with professionalism and dedication a job which they are supposed to do," he added. Earlier on Tuesday the president of the Portuguese Football Federation, Gilberto Madail, was quoted as saying in business daily Jornal de Negocios that he would seek the tax break from the government for the 23 players.

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