OLYMPICS: Jacques Rogge pledged yesterday to make all efforts to protect spectators at Olympic Games from attacks and said security had always been a top priority. On a visit to Athens, the International Olympic Committee president said the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11th would probably lead to only minor changes in security plans for the 2002 Salt Lake City and 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
"Since Munich 1972, the IOC has always put priority number one on security," he said referring to the Games in which 11 Israelis died after an attack on the Olympic village.
TENNIS: Yvonne Doyle beat promising English junior qualifier Anne Hawkins 7-5 5-7 6-4 in a marathon two hours 55 minutes to go through to the quarter-finals of the LTA Futures Tournament in Sunderland yesterday.
Doyle now meets second seed Anne Keothavong after the English teenager beat Ireland's Karen Nugent 6-1 6-2 in their second-round match. British junior champion Annabel Blow knocked out Elsa O'Riain 7-6 6-2.
CRICKET: Disgraced former South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje wants a life-ban lifted to enable him to earn a living, his lawyer told the Pretoria High Court yesterday. A lawyer for the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB) countered that "what he doesn't understand is that cheats don't belong in the cricket establishment".
Cronje, who was banned for life last November after admitting at a commission of inquiry to accepting some $100,000 from bookmakers and bribing other players, is suing the board in a bid to overturn the ban.
BASEBALL: The New York Yankees, in their first home game since the attack on the World Trade Centre on September 11th, lost 4-0 to Tampa Bay on Tuesday but still won their fourth straight American League East Division title.
BASKETBALL: Michael Jordan, who led Chicago to six National Basketball Association titles, confirmed his return for the Washington Wizards on Tuesday, and league commissioner David Stern was first in line to greet him. "I am happy to welcome Michael Jordan, the player, back to the NBA, although, as Commissioner, I'm sorry to lose him in the boardroom," Stern said in a statement.
