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■ SKING

Morgenstern wins again

Austria's double Olympic champion Thomas Morgenstern reinforced his World Cup victory bid by claiming his fourth consecutive ski jump victory of the season on Thursday. The 21-year-old produced jumps of 94.5m and 96m on the small hill in Villach, Austria, to claim a total of 254.5 points and maintain his perfect start to the season. That left flying Finn Janne Ahonen in second place with 243.5 points, with another Austrian, Gregor Schlierenzauer, claiming 242.5. After just four of 28 events Morgenstern has 400 points, Schlierenzauer is in second on 219 with Norwegian Tom Hilde on 196, with a 12-point cushion on Ahonen.



■ CRICKET

Twenty20 qualifiers planned

Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands and Scotland will clash in Belfast next August in the inaugural World Twenty20 qualifier with the top two sides booking places in the 2009 world championship. As well as taking part in the finals, to be staged in England, the two successful teams will also stand to win US$250,000 each for qualifying.



■ BOXING

Pain no barrier to Abraham

World champion Arthur Abraham has again proved pain is no barrier after revealing on Thursday he beat Britain's Wayne Elcock last weekend despite fracturing ribs in pre-fight training. The 27-year-old IBF middleweight champ told German tabloid Bild how he stopped Elcock in the fifth round in Basle last Saturday despite fracturing two ribs in training, which caused him considerable pain in the ring. Berlin-based Arthur was unable to throw any strong punches against Elcock with his preferred fist, relying almost exclusively on his left. "The injury happened in training," Abraham said. "I didn't want to call off the fight under any circumstances and just gritted my teeth."



■ TUNA THROWING

Frozen fish to be replaced

Australia's competition to see how far someone can throw a tuna will be missing something next year -- the fish. Organizers of the Tunarama Festival held each January in Port Lincoln on the remote Eyre Peninsula are replacing the real thing with polyurethane replicas for the highlight event, the frozen tuna toss. Each year, contestants in four categories hurl fish weighing up to 10kg as far as they can, usually using a technique akin to an Olympic hammer thrower. The fake fish have been sculpted by a locally born artist to look just like the real thing. "The dimensions are perfect," said Merriwyne Hore, the acting manager of next year's festival. "We road tested it with one of our champions. He had a few throws and he was really impressed. It felt good, very balanced."



■ OLYMPICS

Rights petition handed in

Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng (魏京生) delivered a petition to the International Olympic Committee on Thursday to call for the respect of human rights in China during the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing. "The government must liberate political prisoners and guarantee freedom of expression," said Wei, considered the father of the democracy movement in China, after handing over the petition at IOC headquarters. The petition, signed by more than 11,000 Chinese, is significant because they signed their real names, Wei said, as he called on the IOC to put pressure on the Chinese government to respect human rights.
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