Sports Digest: Haile Gebrselassie bounced back from the disappointment of finishing only ninth in April's London Marathon with a runaway victory in Berlin yesterday.

The 33-year-old Ethiopian, who clocked an unofficial time of two hours five minutes 56 seconds in the Berlin Marathon, failed in his attempt to break Paul Tergat's world record time despite having been on schedule until the 39th kilometre.

Gebrselassie fell short of the Kenyan's time of 2hrs 4mins 55secs, achieved in Berlin three years ago.

Boost for Australia

Australia gave themselves a major boost before next month's Champions Trophy when they beat the West Indies by 127 runs in the final to win the triangular tournament final in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

After scoring 240 for six in 50 overs, Australia's pace attack tore into the West Indies batting, bowling them out for 113 in 34.2 overs.

Four-wicket hero Brett Lee, who removed Chris Gayle in the first ball of the West Indies innings, and Glenn McGrath never allowed their opponents to settle.

Rossi cuts Hayden's lead

Valentino Rossi cut Nicky Hayden's lead in the MotoGP championship by nine points after finishing second in the Japanese round at Motegi, north of Tokyo, yesterday.

The defending champion trails his rival by 12 points with two races remaining after taking second in Japan behind fellow countryman Loris Capirossi as Italians filled the first three positions.

Capirossi took the race on the Ducati machine from Rossi's Yamaha and the Honda of Marco Melandri.