Sports Briefs

■ BASEBALL
Massive demand for tickets
The Colorado Rockies had to suspend sales of World Series tickets on Monday after massive demand caused the Major League Baseball team's Web site to crash. "It has been an extremely frustrating morning for our fans and the entire Rockies' organization," Rockies president Keli McGregor said. "We are working diligently with Major League Baseball and Paciolan to resolve the issues impacting online ticket sales for the 2007 World Series." Online ticket vendor Paciolan experienced an outage after receiving more than 8.5 million hits on the Rockies Web site. Fewer than than 500 tickets had been sold before the site crashed. The Rockies will be making their World Series debut against the Boston Red Sox with Game One in Boston today.

■ CYCLING
Iban Mayo cleared
The Spanish cycling federation on Monday cleared Spanish cyclist Iban Mayo, who tested positive for doping during this year's Tour de France, after a second test proved negative, his lawyer and the federation said. The federation informed Mayo "that the B sample had come out negative and for this reason it had ended" its inquiry, Mayo's lawyer Jose Rodriguez said. The cycling federation confirmed the news and said there had been a mistake with the first sample. Mayo, a specialist climber, tested positive for blood-booster EPO during the Tour on July 24 and a test on his B sample was carried out in August. He would have been suspended for a minimum of two years if his B sample had proved positive.

■ Soccer
Kiwis withdraw hosting bid
New Zealand was yesterday forced to withdraw its bid to host the Oceania men's soccer qualifying tournament for next year's Beijing Games because it could not guarantee visas for all players. The decision was an "unfortunate consequence" of the postponement of the World Cup qualifier between New Zealand and Fiji earlier this month, New Zealand Football (NZF) chief executive Graham Seatter said. Seatter said NZF could not guarantee there would be no repeat of the visa storm in which Fiji's goalkeeper was denied entry into New Zealand because the government said his father-in-law is in the Fiji military. Wellington placed a ban on travel to New Zealand by members of the Fijian military and their families following last December's coup which toppled the elected government in the South Pacific nation. The refusal to allow goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau into the country prompted FIFA to postpone the match 24 hours before the kickoff.

■ CRICKET
Sri Lanka determined
Sri Lanka flew out to Australia yesterday determined to win their first Test Down Under after an improved performance in recent away matches. "We have played consistently good cricket away from home in the recent times, so we want to maintain that," captain Mahela Jayewardene said before the team's departure. "Obviously we want to beat Australia. We have to play as a team and put up our best effort to try and win the series." Sri Lanka will play two Tests in Brisbane and Hobart next month, before returning to Australia in February for a limited-overs tri-series also featuring India. Sri Lanka have lost six Tests and drawn two in Australia since their maiden appearance there in 1988.