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Mendis sacked as selection committee chairmanCOLOMBO: In the first post-World Cup shake-up in Sri Lanka, the newly reconstituted cricket ...

Mendis sacked as selection committee chairman

COLOMBO: In the first post-World Cup shake-up in Sri Lanka, the newly reconstituted cricket board has set up a new selection committee replacing Duleep Mendis with former Test opener Sidath Wettimuni as its chairman. Mendis, manager of the World Cup squad, was apparently sacked for Sri Lanka8217;s miserable run in the tournament and replaced by Wettimuni, a member of the five-man interim panel appointed by the Government to look after the Board affairs after a Colombo court stayed functioning of the office-bearers as their controversial election was challenged.

Meanwhile, the opposition United National Party decided in a parliamentary committee meeting on Tuesday to move a no-confidence motion against sports minister S B Dissanayake accusing him of being responsible for the rapid decline of sports and sports bodies in the country, party sources said.

Three dead in Tunisia football match

TUNIS: Three people died and 10 seriously injured by stone-throwing during a football match at Beja in the north west of the country, Tunisian authorities said on Tuesday. An investigation was immediately launched by the country8217;s President.

The Tunisian Cup semi-final match between Beja 100km north of Tunis and League Champions Esperance Sportive of Tunis, was abandoned 10 minutes into the second half.

Asian sprinter breaks 10-sec barrier

TOKYO: Asia8217;s fastest sprinter Koji Ito broke the 10-second barrier for the first time on Wednesday with a run of 9.9 seconds in the 100 metres, measured by manual timing at an athletics meet.

However the record remains unofficial because the Japan Amateur Athletic Federation only recognizes times measured electronically.

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Ito set new Asian records of 20.16 seconds in the 200m at the Japanese National Championships in October last year and 10.00 seconds in the 100m semi-finals in Bangkok, where he won the accolade of top athlete of the 13th Asian Games.

It8217;s over the Hill for Damon

LONDON: Former World champion Damon Hill announced his retirement from Formula One on Wednesday, declaring that he had fulfilled his ambitions. 8220;After much reflection, I have decided not to continue racing in Formula One after the end of the 1999 season,8221; the 38-year-old Briton said in a statement. The oldest driver on the Grand Prix grid, Hill has finished just two out of six races for Jordan this season and has been eclipsed by German teammate Heinz-Herald Frentzen.

Hill was a late entry to the rarefied world of Formula One after starting out in motorcycle racing. He sparred with Michael Schumacher repeatedly as championship rivals, with the German clinching his first title in Adelaide in 1994 after colliding with Hill8217;s Williams.

8220;The difference between the rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost and mine with Michael is that I was never held in esteem by Michael,8221; Hill wrote last year.

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The son of the late World champion Graham Hill, he had racing in his blood but little financial muscle behind him and had to pay for his early career by working as a London motorcycle despatch rider.