BRITAIN’S Commonwealth and European triple jump champion, Ashia Hansen, will miss the Olympics after suffering a serious knee injury yesterday at the European Cup in Bydgoszcz, Poland, writes Richard Lewis.
Hansen was just launching into the take-off mode on her second jump of the competition when she seemed to twist her left foot and ended up lying in the sandpit holding her knee, screaming in pain.
She was taken to hospital, where it was discovered that she had damaged her patella tendon. She will fly home tomorrow to undergo surgery early next week.
Hansen, 32, was also forced to miss last year’s world championships after having a heel operation. Chris Rawlinson, the 400m hurdler, said: ‘It looked a very bad one. I heard Ashia scream loudly twice and then she appeared to pass out. It is a terrible thing to happen so close to the Olympics.’ Britain suffered more bad news when Mark Lewis Francis was disqualified in the 100m because of a false start, but he regained his composure to lead the team to victory in the 4 x 100m relay. There were also victories for Carl Myerscough in the shot-put, Rawlinson in the 400m hurdles, Chris Tomlinson, who bettered his British record in the long jump at 8.28m, Tim Benjamin in the 400m and John Mayock in the 5,000m.
Rugby league
Advertisement
LEEDS went down to only their second Super League defeat of the season as Wigan hung on for a dramatic 26-22 win at the JJB Stadium last night. The Rhinos twice fought back to level the score but the Warriors held them off in a dramatic finish to maintain their unbeaten home record.
Boxing
AUDLEY HARRISON failed to save the best for last as the boos rang out at Alexandra Palace after his ninth-round stoppage of Poland’s Tomasz Bonin last night. The Olympic gold medallist from the Sydney Games struggled to impose himself on the unheralded Pole, who penetrated Harrison’s guard with surprising frequency. ‘I would like to have finished with a knockout but the referee made the decision he made,’ said Harrison, who was winning his 17th and toughest fight since turning pro. In Glasgow, Scott Harrison retained his WBO world featherweight title with an impressive third-round win over William Abelyan at the Braehead Arena. Harrison stunned the Armenian challenger with a ferocious right hand which dropped Abelyan to the canvas. The Scot had Abelyan down twice more before the referee stepped in.
Advertisement
Rowing
BRITAIN has 14 crews in the finals at the Lucerne Regatta today, and six of those are in the Olympic events in the last international tests before Athens. The mouth-watering final of the day comes in the men’s coxless fours, in which there is the first direct confrontation between Canada, the world champions, and the new British crew, with James Cracknell back in the line-up.
Cycling
Advertisement
PAOLO BETTINI won stage eight of the Tour of Switzerland yesterday after a long breakaway. Switzerland’s Fabian Jeker, of Saunier Duval, retained his overall lead, 41 seconds ahead of the German T-Mobile rider Jan Ullrich.
Golf
DAVID GEALL, born in Eastbourne but now living in Germany, shot a third-round 67 to move into contention at the Aa St Omer Open in Lumbres, France, yesterday. Geall shares the lead with five other players, Carl Suneson of Spain, Britain’s Simon Dyson, Massimo Florioli of Italy, Pasi Purhonen of Finland and Frenchman Jean-Francois Lucquin, on three-under-par 210, one stroke ahead of the field.
Motorcycling
Advertisement
YUKIO KAGAYAMA will start the seventh round of the British Championship from pole position, having set the fastest ever lap of the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit by a motorcycle racer.
The Japanese rider recorded a time of 1min 26.177sec on his Suzuki.
Championship leader John Reynolds, riding despite breaking his left collarbone in the previous round, was sixth fastest.
Rugby union
Advertisement
ENGLAND’S women were overpowered 38-0 at Edmontron’s Commonwealth Stadium as New Zealand added the Churchill Cup to their world title crown last night.