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Sports Briefs

■ Rowing

`Lay Down Sally’ struggling

Controversial Australian rower Sally Robbins will have one last chance to gain selection for the Beijing Olympics when trials continue in Sydney today. Robbins was dubbed “Lay Down Sally” when she stopped rowing toward the end of the women’s eights final in Athens four years ago, slumping into the lap of the rower behind her. She is now trying to qualify for Beijing but her results have not been impressive. Without a win over the weekend, Robbins’s chances of selection appear doomed. Her absence would not cause too many tears to be shed among her teammates according to Australian media reports. “All the rowers on the team know and think [Robbins] needs to have a fair go but there are benefits with her missing selection,” one rower said.



■ Soccer

Chelsea duo get all clear

Malaysia said yesterday that it would lift a travel ban on Israelis to allow Chelsea coach Avram Grant and midfielder Tal Ben Haim to visit in July as part of a mini-Asian tour. Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said that “although we don’t have diplomatic relations with Israel or direct trade with the country, we don’t have objections over their visit. They are a sports team with two Israeli members. We don’t see it as something wrong,” he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency. Chelsea are expected to play a Malaysian squad on July 29.



■ Swimming

Basketball training pays off

Austrian swimmer Markus Rogan has revealed his secret for breaking world records — going on holiday and training like a basketball player. Rogan said he smashed the world 200m backstroke mark at the world short-course championships on Sunday after a two-week break in Austria with his girlfriend and training sessions with a basketball player. “The way I train in swimming is touch the wall, feel it and go,” he told reporters. “In basketball, you jump up for a rebound, so we did that a lot. I didn’t believe it made any sense, but my best friend is a basketball player not a swimmer, and my coach wasn’t there.” Rogan clocked one minute 47.84 seconds to beat the 1:49.05 set by Ryan Lochte of the US in Shanghai in 2006. “I’ve no scientific proof it’s good training for swimming but it seems to work for me,” the 26-year-old said.



■ Athletics

Greene named in report

US federal investigators have named former Olympic 100m champion Maurice Greene in a report into doping. According to the New York Times, Greene was listed as one of a dozen athletes by witness Angel Guillermo Heredia. Four of the dozen athletes, including Marion Jones, have already been named and barred from competition for illicit drug use. Eight of the 12 — including, most notably, Greene — have never been previously linked to performance-enhancing drugs. Heredia, who is serving as the main witness in the case against Trevor Graham — coach of Jones, Greene and others — will testify that Graham supplied illicit drugs and advice to elite athletes. Heredia has said he supplied illicit drugs and advice on their use to Graham and his athletes. Heredia showed the paper a copy of a bank transaction form showing a US$10,000 wire transfer from Maurice Greene to a relative of the witness. Heredia also showed the paper two sets of blood-test lab reports with Greene’s name and age on them and an e-mail message from a close friend and track-club teammate of the runner, attaching one of the lab reports and saying, “Angel, [these are] Maurice’s results, sorry it took so long.”