A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Doherty fortunate to escape early defeat
Ken Doherty narrowly avoided an early defeat when he fought from 0-3 and 2-4 down to beat Nottingham's Michael Holt 5-4 in the second round of the Welsh snooker Open at the Newport Centre yesterday.
Doherty - who recovered from 5-8 to edge John Higgins 9-8 in the final of the Malta Cup, his first ranking title in five years - thought he had blown it when Holt potted the last red in the deciding frame.
But the world number 24 missed the black off its spot and, with Doherty needing just a simple yellow for the match, conceded. "Michael had the balls at his mercy," Doherty admitted. "I think I must have used up all my get-out-of-jail-free cards now."
Ryan Day made short work of Jimmy White, winning 5-0. This latest defeat means White has not won a match since last October. Day fired breaks of 90, 135, 84 and 73 to win in only 82 minutes.
Matthew Stevens arrested a decline in fortunes with a 5-0 victory over Mark Davis. Stevens had not won a match in a ranking event since beating Ian McCulloch 17-14 in the World Championship semi-finals last April. Stevens marked his whitewash with a 138 total clearance and contributed breaks of 68 and 85 to complete the rout.
Robert Milkins, a semi-finalist in last season's Irish Masters, clinched a third-round meeting with McCulloch by edging world number 12 Alan McManus 5-4.
Signs good for Scanlon
Irish rider Mark Scanlon continued his return to form when he finished fifth in the 1.1-ranked Memorial Samyn cycling race in Belgium yesterday, reports Shane Stokes.
The AG2R Prévoyance rider came home 17 seconds after his victorious team-mate Renaud Dion. Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux) and Matti Breschel (Team CSC) were second and third, some 14 seconds behind Dion.
Scanlon suffered illness and injury last season but showed he is on the way back with an aggressive ride in the Het Volk semi-classic last Saturday. He was clear in the final break there and while he faded inside the final seven kilometres, yesterday's performance is a further sign that a strong 2006 should be in store.
Gebrselassie is patient
Twice Olympic 10,000 metres champion Haile Gebrselassie will not target Paul Tergat's marathon world record when he runs against the Kenyan in London on April 23rd.
"I am still chasing the world record but London will certainly not be the place," Gebrselassie said in Nairobi yesterday where he will attend a sports awards ceremony organised by Tergat.
"I might have chased the record a bit too soon after retiring from the track, not knowing or ignoring the fact that road racing and track running are very different. I tried to break it in Amsterdam last year but I realised how difficult it is."
Tergat set the record of two hours, four minutes, 55 seconds in Berlin in September 2003.
