■SOCCER
Blackburn beat Cottagers
Blackburn, battling for their English Premier League lives, bagged a precious three points with a come-from-behind 2-1 win at Fulham on Wednesday. Fulham went into an early lead through Clint Dempsey only for El Hadji Diouf to level in the 69th minute, with Jason Roberts producing the winner with five minutes left. Blackburn moved up from third from bottom to the relative safety of sixth from the foot of the tightly congested table, two points above the drop zone. Fulham are five places and four points above them. Fulham got a dream start when in the second minute Blackburn defender Ryan Nelsen was guilty of failing to keep tabs on Dempsey who latched on to a cross to score. Blackburn stepped up the pressure that paid off after the hour mark with Diouf prodding in from close range although he appeared to be offside before he scored. Then, with five minutes remaining, Pedersen knocked the ball into the box for Roberts to lash home after fending off the challenge of Toni Kallio.
■CRICKET
ICC recommends S Africa
The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday recommended South Africa as the venue to stage the biennial Champions Trophy this year. Also vying for the event had been venues in Australia, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates but the ICC Executives’ Committee said in a statement it had chosen South Africa pending confirmation of financial arrangements. The initial recommendation will now go before the ICC Board for consideration on Monday. The elite eight-nation event was moved out of Pakistan after South Africa refused to tour Pakistan, while Australia, England and New Zealand also voiced concerns over touring the troubled country. In addition, the March 3 attack in Lahore on the Sri Lankan team bus has further set back any chance of Pakistan hosting an event.
■ATHLETICS
Doubts raised over record
Doubts have been raised in Spain about the stunning 8.71m long jump by unheralded German Sebastian Bayer at last weekend’s European indoor championships in Turin, Italy. News reports on Wednesday quoted Spanish athletics chief Jose Maria Odriozola as saying that one judge may have made a wrong measurement. “I have the feeling that — apart from the advantage of the run-up track — a measuring error occurred,” Odriozola said. The official said that he was close to the long jump pit and said that one judge “had been measuring wrongly all day.” Bayer stunned the athletics world when he raised his personal best by a massive 54cm to the European indoor record 8.71m. The record was formerly owned by Spain’s Yago Lamego at 8.56m. The jump was just 8cm shy of Carl Lewis’ indoor world record of 8.79m. Bayer attributed the huge leap to “a perfect jump” and the favorable run-up track. Lamela was uncertain whether he may have lost the record due to an error. “Sometimes wrong measurement occur. But normally a second measurement takes place in the case of a record,” Lamela said.
■CRICKET
Sangakkara named captain
Kumar Sangakkara has been appointed Sri Lanka captain, selectors said on Wednesday. Sangakkara, 31, the vice-captain since 2006, replaces Mahela Jayawardene, who stepped down after the recent Pakistan tour. Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has been appointed as Sangakkara’s deputy. Sangakkara’s first tournament in charge will be the ICC World Twenty20 in England in June.
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