Global Sport

Chanda Rubin threatenedMELBOURNE: American tennis player Chanda Rubin received an E-mail death threat during the Australian Open and cons...

Chanda Rubin threatened

MELBOURNE: American tennis player Chanda Rubin received an E-mail death threat during the Australian Open and considered withdrawing from the tournament, a court heard today.

Melbourne school student Peter Stipsianos, 17, was convicted on two charges after sending Rubin an E-mail from an IBM internet site at the tournament in January. The message, which was relayed to Rubin, included an expletive and racial slur and added, 8220;I8217;m going to assassinate you on the court.8221;

Stipsianos was ordered to undertake 100 hours community work over six months on the first offense and was fined 250 Australian dollars 200 on the second.

Venus on a high

NEW YORK: American Venus Williams, coming off a victory over Lindsay Davenport in the final US Open tuneup event, rose to a career-best third in the WTA rankings as the Grand Slam event began here.

Williams advanced one spot from fourth when Steffi Graf, who had been number three, was removed from the rankings in the wake ofher retirement earlier this month.

Her sister Serena also advanced to a career-best number six, jumping two places by passing South Africa8217;s Amanda Coetzer as well as moving up with Graf8217;s exit.

Vieri warning

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MILAN: Christian Vieri said he still needed to improve his fitness after scoring a hat-trick on his debut for Inter Milan yesterday. 8220;I8217;m not yet at my peak,8221; the Italian international striker said after Inter started their Serie A season with a 3-0 win against Verona.

8220;I need to work hard to improve my fitness. That doesn8217;t mean I8217;m going to score four in the next game, but I will be fitter,8221; he told reporters. Vieri was dominant in the air and showed some neat touches on the ground, as well as shome sharp turns that few players of his height are capable of.

Golden shoes

SEVILLE: Three years8217; development went into the shoes worn by Michael Johnson when he set his world 400 metres record at the World Championships last Friday.

Johnson wore golden shoes during his 1996Atlanta Olympics 200-400 double. His footwear in Seville carried a more sober black and gold design. Nike had made the spike plate in Johnson8217;s shoes more rigid, a modification which helps keep the four times world 400 gold medallist on his toes more easily. They had also reduced the number of spikes from six to five and made the upper part of the shoe seamless, using a lightweight fabric common in parachutes.