Today's other stories in brief
Security tight for Chennai Open
TENNIS:Security will be tightened ahead of next week's Chennai Open ATP tennis tournament following the militant attacks in Mumbai, a tournament official said yesterday.
Independent security consultant Reg Dickason will inspect the venue in the southern Indian city for the January 5th-11th event and the players will receive a security briefing. Security concerns have heightened following last month's three-day siege in India's financial capital which killed 179 people.
England's cricket team suspended their tour following the attacks but returned after they were given tight security, including commando protection, and the Test matches were shifted out of the original venues.
Russian world number five Nikolay Davydenko heads the field in the €320,000 event that also features Spain's former number one Carlos Moya, who was a previous winner in Chennai.
Lebid targets Edinburgh race
ATHLETICS:European champion Sergiy Lebid will attempt to become the first non-African winner of the Bupa Great Edinburgh International Cross Country on January 10th.
The 33-year-old Ukrainian competes in the Scottish capital just a few weeks after roaring to an eighth European crown in Brussels, where he outsprinted British number one, Mo Farah, in a thrilling encounter.
Farah will be an absentee at the Holyrood Park venue having opted instead to return to Ethiopia for another spell of high-altitude training after a successful period there last month.
With Kenenisa Bekele, the race winner for the last three years, absent through injury, Andy Caine, the event's elite athletes manager, believes it will be the most open competition in the meeting's history.
"He (Bekele) may unfortunately be injured, but it still has the makings of being a cracking race and I wouldn't like to forecast the outcome, although I would love to see Lebid pull a win off," said Caine.
Williams remains an injury doubt
RUGBY:The Ospreys are waiting to hear if Wales winger Shane Williams will be fit for the upcoming Heineken Cup matches.
Williams has not appeared for the Ospreys over the holiday period because of a shoulder injury he suffered earlier this month during a Heineken Cup game with Treviso .
"The injury is a bit more severe than we first thought," said the Ospreys coach, Sean Holley.
"We hope he could be available to face Munster in the Magners League, but we do not know yet whether the problem will need further investigation."
Williams scored six tries in last season's grand slam success, including crucial scores against Ireland and France.
Wales head coach Warren Gatland will also be keeping a close on the player's fitness just six weeks before the start of their Six Nations campaign in Scotland.
Barry to miss Wexford's national league campaign
FOOTBALL: Wexford's star attacker Redmond Barry will miss out on the county's National Football League campaign, writes Brendan Furlong.
Barry, who is due to get married early next month, is spending the next three months on a world voyage. One of the county's top forwards during their run to the All-Ireland senior football semi-final and their success in Division Three last season, Barry's absence is a severe blow to manager Jason Ryan.
However, Ryan has received a real boost with the news that Castletown's Diarmuid Kinsella has returned from Hong Kong after completing a two-year work contract.
Kinsella was one of the outstanding footballers in the county before his emigration. Ryan is further boosted by the decision of St Anne's clubman David Fogarty to once again make himself available.
Meanwhile Derek Hayden has returned to the Carlow senior football set-up after taking a year out of the inter-county game.
ICC to increase drug testing
CRICKET: Cricketers can be tested out of competition for the first time under a new anti-doping code announced yesterday by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The rules, revised after amendments to the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) code and unanimously approved by the ICC Board, will come into effect from January 1st.
Until now, dope tests have been conducted only in ICC events such as the World Cup. The ICC became a Wada signatory two years ago.
