Hood ban after doping shame
Drugs in sport: Mariano Hood, of Argentina, has been suspended from tennis for a year for using a hair restorer that contained a banned substance, while Zach Lund, the United States skeleton racer, will compete in the Winter Olympics, which open tomorrow, after he received a warning for taking the same product.
The World Anti-Doping Agency has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, over the eligibility of Lund, who tested positive for finasteride — a banned masking agent — last November. Hood is out of tennis until October after a sample that he provided at the French Open tested positive.
Spa cancelled
Motor racing: The Belgian Grand Prix, scheduled for September 17, has been cancelled because an extensive refurbishment of the track and facilities in Spa will not be finished in time for the race. Authorities hope that one of the world’s most historic and awe-inspiring circuits will be back on the calendar in 2007, although teams might welcome the reduction in the fixture list to 18 races for the new season.
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Showdown looms
Squash: The two-pronged attack on the men’s British National Championship by the Pontefract training partners continued apace at the National Squash Centre, Manchester, yesterday as James Willstrop, the top seed, and Lee Beachill, the defending champion and No 3 seed, came through their second-round matches against Phillip Barker and Nick Taylor respectively.
Happy Harlow
Bowls: Greg Harlow lifted his hopes of ending the season at the top of the World Bowls Tour rankings by beating John Price, the new Welsh indoor singles champion, 12-5, 4-10, 2-0 in the second round of the Welsh International Open in Llanelli yesterday. Paul Foster, 10-0 adrift in the second set, beat Billy Jackson 7-4, 12-10.
Mantell returns
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Hockey: Richard Mantell, the England defender, will return to action after recovering from surgery to reconstruct a knee when he plays for Reading in the fifth round of the Men’s Cup against Loughborough Students on Sunday. Mantell suffered the injury in July last year.
Park convicted
Olympic Games: Park Young Sung, a South Korean IOC member, was convicted in Seoul of embezzlement yesterday in a case relating to a feud in a business enterprise. Park, who received a three-year suspended jail term and a £5 million fine, could be removed from the board.