SPORTS DIGEST:Wimbledon officials have agreed to a substantial increase to the prize money for the 2012 Championships following talks with Andy Murray and the world's leading players.

All England club chairman Philip Brook met with Murray, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer at Indian Wells in March to discuss the increasingly thorny issue.

As a result, the total fund for 2012 will increase by 10 per cent to €19.7 million with the men’s and women’s champions receiving an extra €61,000 each, taking their prize money to €1.4 million.

The biggest percentage increases goes to those players knocked out in qualifying (21 per cent) and to the first round losers, whose prize money has been boosted by 26 per cent from last year to €17,700.

There have been reports that players were prepared to go on strike over the issue of prize money at Grand Slams but Brook said that was never mentioned in the discussions.

Taylor may have to reach final to gain Olympic place

Katie Taylor will have to reach the lightweight final at the AIBA World Women’s Championships in China next month to guarantee qualification for the 2012 Olympics – if the latter end of the tournament is dominated by Europe.

Four Olympic places are up for grabs for Europe in Taylor’s lightweight class at the seventh AIBA World Women’s Championships, which will act as the only Olympic qualifier for female boxers.

However, and in conjunction with the continental quota system, just three European Olympic places can be won in competition in the lightweight class in China.

The other lightweight Olympic berth for Europe will be awarded by invitation of the Tripartite Commission.

If Taylor, who will be aiming for her fourth world title in-a-row in China, reaches the semi-finals and there are three other Europeans in the last-four she still won’t have qualified for London 2012.

Long jumper Meleshina banned for two years

Russia’s former Olympic silver medallist Irina Meleshina has been banned for two years after failing a doping test.

The 29-year-old tested positive for the prohibitive substance testosterone in an out-of-competition check in February, the Russian federation said yesterday.

Meleshina won silver in the women’s long jump at the 2004 Athens Olympics under her maiden name of Simagina and also finished third at the 2008 World Indoor Championships in Valencia – her last major international competition.

The federation also handed a two-year ban to 21-year-old hurdler Alina Antipova, a member of the Russian under-23 team, for the same offence.

Allen apologises for ‘cheat’ outburst

Mark Allen last night apologised for his outburst against Cao Yupeng and Chinese players as a whole. The 26-year-old was fiercely critical of Cao, having claimed the 21-year-old should have called a foul on himself during their first-round match at the World Championship on Sunday.

And Allen, who lost 10-6 to the Crucible debutant, also said in his post-match press conference that “blatant cheating” might be “a bit of a trait for the Chinese players”.

Last night he issued a statement which said: “Following my recent comments in the press conference after my first-round defeat to Cao Yupeng, I would like to formally apologise to anyone who may have been offended. Having taken some time to reflect on my comments I can appreciate that I overstepped the line at a time when I was heavily influenced by the emotions of a disappointing defeat. I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to Cao Yupeng if he felt that my comments were insinuating he was a cheat.”

Matfield considers appeal to return

Victor Matfield is considering coming out of international retirement to lead the Springboks in the three-Test series against England this summer after an appeal from the new South Africa coach, Heyneke Meyer, writes Paul Rees.

The 34-year old Matfield won the last of his 110 caps against Australia in the World Cup quarter-final last October and announced afterwards that he was retiring. He has not played since and has this year been working as a consultant for the Bulls and as a television analyst.

Meyer needs to find a new captain, with John Smit joining Saracens after the World Cup. The lead contender, Schalk Burger, is injured and may not be fit by the start of the England series and his fellow back rower Juan Smith, who has led the Cheetahs, has not played for a year.

Meyer also has a problem in the second row, with Bakkies Botha and Danie Rossouw moving overseas after the World Cup.

Guardian Service