Hibernian players who have met chairman Rod Petrie to protest about John Collins' management style are not seeking his removal, captain Rob Jones said on Monday. A meeting took place last week ahead of Sunday's Scottish FA Cup semi-final with Dunfermline which ended in a 0-0 draw. Hibernian's first team squad and management met again on Monday to discuss the recent bust-up but Jones later told the BBC in a statement: "At no point did the players ask for or seek in any way the removal of the management." Hibs are sixth in the league and last month won the League Cup for the first time in 16 years.
■ SAILING
Weather scuppers LV Cup
The start of the Louis Vuitton Cup was postponed on Monday because of inconsistent wind. The 11 competing yachts circled along the race course off Port America's Cup aided only by a light sea breeze -- until organizers halted the first day of the challengers series. Racing was expected to resume yesterday. Valencia was picked to host the America's Cup because it averages 300 days of sunshine and temperatures of 19oC that usually provide a strong and consistent breeze. But Spring has brought cold, wet weather and a persistent northeasterly wind that doesn't aid sailing.
■ HORSE RACING
Horse trainer suspended
A New Zealand racehorse trainer who supplied horses to the British Queen Mother has been suspended for three months for switching horses in a trials race, New Zealand newspapers reported yesterday. Kim Clotworthy, who trains in partnership with son Shaun, admitted a charge brought by New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing's Judicial Control Authority and incurred a fine and hearing costs in addition to the suspension. The authority heard Shaun Clotworthy had allowed the mare Laurette, a winner of two races, to run in a maiden trials race at Pukekohe, near Auckland, in place of the gelding Punchestown, which was a non-winner. Trials races are informal and do not attract betting.
■ MARATHON
Boston in anthem blunder
Boston Marathon women's winner Lidiya Grigoryeva didn't notice organizers were playing the wrong Russian national anthem as she wore the victor's olive wreath and accepted her trophy. But Russians in Boston watching the race -- and others watching on television -- were horrified to hear the wrong anthem for the second time since another Russian woman won in 2003. "This, once again, shows how America does not understand the rest of the world," said Oleg Kotlyarevsky, a Russian magazine reporter. Boston Athletics Association officials didn't realize they had played the national anthem used only between 1996 and 2000.
■ GOLF
Seve heads to the seniors
Five-times major winner Seve Ballesteros will make his Champions Tour debut at next month's Regions Charity Classic in Birmingham, Alabama, the Tour said on Monday. Spaniard Ballesteros, one of the most gifted and charismatic players to have graced the game, became eligible for the US seniors circuit after turning 50 on April 9. "Seve is the third member of our `Class of 2007' to become eligible for our Tour and he continues the momentum started when Nick Price and Mark O'Meara joined us earlier this year," Tour president Rick George said in a statement.
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