DRUGS IN SPORT: A US federal judge yesterday sentenced the head of the Balco nutritional lab to four months in prison in a global sports steroid scandal that has badly damaged some of the top names in international sport.
US district judge Susan Illston also sentenced Balco founder Victor Conte to four months home confinement and to two years of court supervision.
Conte, his deputy James Valente, and Greg Anderson, personal trainer to baseball superstar Barry Bonds, all admitted guilt to steroid distribution in July in plea deals that knocked out almost all of the original charges against them.
OLYMPICS: London's triumphant bid team won the 2012 Olympics for Britain's capital earlier this year without using all the cash in their war chest, bid leader Sebastian Coe has said.
Coe, now chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), told Westminster's Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport that £1.4 million would be returned to stakeholders.
"This represents a significant saving of public funds and we will strive to bring the same discipline to the financing of the Games," Coe said.
London 2012 Ltd's bid budget was £29.1 million, of which £20 million was in the form of grants from Britain's Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and London Development Agency (LDA).
TENNIS: Greg Rusedski was left cursing his luck after bowing out of the Madrid Masters in the first round yesterday.
The British number two lost 7-6 6-7 6-7 to 6ft 10in Croatian Ivo Karlovic in a big-hitting match which featured no breaks of serve.
"If you could have written the worst draw to get here, that was it, he didn't miss more than three or four volleys in the entire match," said Rusedski. "Credit to him for that, I didn't drop my serve either, but he gave me no chances.
"You don't expect to get a rhythm but you hope for chances. If he plays like this against Andy Roddick in the next round there could be some more tiebreaks because he came up with the goods when it counted."
RUGBY: France coach Bernard Laporte is considering recalling former outhalf Thomas Castaignede for a Test against Australia next month after two years out of the national side.
Castaignede (30), who plays either full back or centre for English club Saracens, has not played for his country since 2003 and was not selected for that year's World Cup.
"His physical tests show that he's practically the number one among the backs," Laporte told L'Equipe.
"I have never had anything against Thomas Castaignede. Now he is back among the best. Will he be in the squad for Australia? We will talk about it."
BOXING: Ireland's Damaen Kelly will face IBF world flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan in Sydney on November 25th.
Armenian-born Darchinyan is a rising star in Australia having won all 24 of his contests, 19 via knockout, and will be making the third defence of his title. It will be Kelly's second attempt at winning the IBF belt. Two years ago he lost to Colombian Irene Pacheco, who subsequently lost to Darchinyan.
