Other sports news in brief
Halkia denies drug charge
GREEK hurdler Fani Halkia appeared before a prosecutor yesterday in connection with her positive doping test at the Beijing Olympics.
The 29-year-old, who won gold in the 400 metres hurdles at the Athens Olympics four years ago, tested positive for the steroid methyltrienolone, better known as M3.
The prosecutor is investigating whether she and her coach George Panagiotopoulos, as well as sprinter Tassos Gousis - who also tested positive in the build-up to the Games - have broken Greek law by obtaining and using the steroid.
Following the hearing, Halkia said she had never deliberately taken performance-enhancing steroids.
"That is the one thing that is for sure. I know that better than anyone," she said.
Halkia was given until Friday to prepare her testimony.
Strong British performances
SAILING:After three opening rounds of the SB3 world championships on Dublin bay yesterday the expected strong British performance has materialised with south coast of England entries topping both of the qualifying flights, reports David O'Brien.
Salcombe's Tim Fells leads in the blue flight and Mark Richards of Warsah leads on the Orange course.
Irish entries also finished well with Belfast Lough's Peter Kennedy third in the blue fleet and Cork's Ronan Collins fourth in Orange.
Dublin bay offered up 10-15 knot northerly breezes in bright sunshine and while there were no complaints about the weather by last night there was a dozen protests in the massive 137-boat regatta. Last night it was the job of the international jury to sort out most of the collisions that in some cases involved serious boat damage.
Racing resumes this morning, with three more qualification races.
Hamilton should find out penalty appeal result today
FORMULA ONE:Lewis Hamilton should arrive in Singapore today to hear whether the McLaren team's appeal against his Belgian grand prix penalty has been accepted and he can go into Formula One's inaugural night race with a seven-point championship lead over Ferrari's Felipe Massa rather than the one-point advantage he had after finishing seventh at Monza 10 days ago, reports Alan Henry.
Hamilton was joined in Paris for yesterday's hearing by McLaren's chief executive, Martin Whitmarsh, his race engineer, Phil Prew, the team's director of legal affairs, Tim Murnane, and his solicitors.
Initially the hearing was dominated by the issue of whether the appeal was admissible, given "drive-through" penalties are not subject to appeal under FIA rules.
However, McLaren's barrister, Mark Phillips QC, contended the issue under debate was the 25-second penalty added to Hamilton's time in the Belgian race. The five FIA-appointed judges have 48 hours to deliver their verdict.
