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■ ATHLETICS

Australian Olympian dies

Shooter Neville Holt, who was Australia's oldest Olympian, has died at the age of 95, the country's Olympic Web site reported yesterday. Holt represented his country in the small-bore shooting event at the 1948 London Olympics and participated in the Torch Relay at the 2000 Games in Sydney. Equestrian gold medalist Bill Roycroft, aged 92, becomes Australia's oldest Olympian. He was in the team that won the three-day event at the 1960 Olympics in Rome and claimed bronze in the same competition in Montreal 16 years later.



■ BASEBALL

Orix pursues Powell case

Not satisfied with a three-month suspension, the Orix Buffaloes are taking their grievance with US pitcher Jeremy Powell and the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks to the commissioner of Japanese baseball. Powell was suspended for three months for signing contracts for this year's season with both the Buffaloes and the Softbank Hawks of Japan's Pacific League. The league ruled that Powell will play for Softbank in 2008, but slapped the 31-year-old pitcher with the suspension earlier this month. However the Buffaloes say that's not enough and want the commissioner of Japanese professional baseball to intervene. "Since the Pacific League's ruling has not changed, we have no other option than to appeal," Orix official Toshio Hatatani told reporters yesterday.



■ FOOTBALL

Feagles re-ups with Giants

New York Giants punter Jeff Feagles, who became the oldest player to compete in the Super Bowl earlier this month, isn't done yet. Feagles inked a two-year contract extension with the Giants on Tuesday in New Jersey. Financial terms were not disclosed. Feagles, 41, made US$1 million last season, the last of a five-year deal with the Giants. "I am excited because I love this team," Feagles said. "I love my teammates, I love the coaches, I love playing for this organization, and I love playing football. That is probably why I am doing what I am doing."



■ HANDBALL

Dispute headed to courts

The bitter Asian handball refereeing row is headed to the courts, with Beijing Olympics berths at stake, according to a press report. The International Handball Federation (IHF) and the Asian Handball Federation (AHF) have agreed to bring their dispute to the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport, Japan's Kyodo News reported from the Swiss city. IHF president Hassan Moustafa and the AHF chief, Kuwaiti prince Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, met in Lausanne on Sunday and agreed to seek a settlement at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Kyodo News said.



■ MOTORCYCLING

Champ settles tax dispute

Seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi paid about 19 million euros (US$27.6 million) on Tuesday to settle a dispute with Italian tax authorities, news reports said. The figure could rise to 35 million euros when his 2005-2006 earnings are also taken into consideration, the ANSA news agency reported. "I'm much more serene now. Everything is much clearer, and I can concentrate on my work," Rossi said in a televised news conference after exiting the tax agency in his hometown. Italy's tax agency announced in August that it was investigating Rossi -- the country's highest paid athlete -- for possible undeclared earnings of 60 million euros from 2000-04.



■ CRICKET

Dev takes BCCI to court

Retired cricket great Kapil Dev has taken the powerful Indian board to court for alleged victimization after he headed the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), reports said yesterday. Dev applied to the Delhi High Court on Tuesday after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) stopped his pension as a former international player and also sacked him as head of the National Cricket Academy. "The only way of earning a livelihood for us retired cricketers is through the game and the board cannot, by illegally changing its rules and regulations, deprive us of the benefits," media reports quoted Dev's court affidavit as saying. Dev, India's only World Cup winning captain and one of the game's great all-rounders, heads the ICL, which is bankrolled by the country's largest listed media firm, Zee Telefilms. Among former Indian players whose pensions were stopped by the BCCI for joining the ICL are Kiran More, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Sandeep Patil, Erapalli Prasanna, Madan Lal and Rajesh Chauhan.



■ TENNIS

Safin to miss SAP Open

Marat Safin withdrew from the upcoming SAP Open in San Jose, California, because of a stress fracture in his right leg and stomach flu. Safin missed last weekend's Davis Cup tie for Russia against Serbia. He had been scheduled to play an exhibition next Monday against Pete Sampras to start the tournament. Tommy Haas will replace Safin in that match. Fernando Gonzalez and Juan Martin Del Potro withdrew on Monday from the San Jose tournament with injuries.



■ FORMULA ONE

Hamilton fastest in test

Lewis Hamilton, who was racially taunted by fans 10 days ago in Barcelona, returned to Spain on Tuesday and was the fastest in opening a three-day test session in Jerez de la Frontera. The 23-year-old McLaren driver completed 89 laps and had a best time of one minute, 19.102 seconds. Teammate Pedro de la Rosa was second, less than 0.2 seconds behind the Englishman. BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, Williams' Kazuki Nakajima, BMW's Nick Heidfeld and Renault's Nelson Piquet Jr all finished under 1:20. The Spanish Grand Prix is scheduled for April 27 at the Montmelo circuit and the European GP is at Valencia on Aug. 24. Hamilton was widely blamed in Spain for Fernando Alonso's failure to clinch a third straight F1 championship last season after joining McLaren from Renault.



■ CYCLING

Rojas sprints to win

Spaniard Jose Joaquin Rojas, riding for the Caisse D'Epargne team, sprinted to victory in the third stage of the Tour of Mallorca on Tuesday. Rojas covered the 168.4km course between Pollenca and Port D'Alcudia in just over four hours. Belgian Philippe Gilbert of the Francaise des Jeux team reclaimed the leader's jersey from Australian Graeme Brown after finishing third.
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