Global sports

Controversial Shane Warne should be dumped as Australian cricket vice-captain, say almost 90 per cent of Sports fans who responded to a poll here.

They say Warne should be stripped of his position as deputy to Steve Waugh because he admitted making sexually explicit phone calls to British nurse Donna Smith, 22. Of 1,293 cricket fans who took part in a poll organised by The West Australian newspaper, an overwhelming 1,161 said Warne should be axed as vice-captain by the Australian Cricket Board. Only 132 people said Warne should retain the post.

Pakistan hockey crisis deepens as Shahid quits

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Olympic aspirations received yet another blow as the National assistant coach Shahid Ali Khan resigned leaving its hockey team in tatters. Olympian Shahid became the second official to quit in just over a week’s time.

Shahid, who was in charge of the team’s goal-keeping department, said he was quitting in protest over the dismissal of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president Arif Abbasi by the Pakistan Sports Board. Abbasi was sacked by PSB earlier this month on the charges of mismanagement.

Tyson is a misfit’, says Lewis

LONDON: Britain’s World heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis has picked up the gauntlet thrown down by Mike Tyson following the US fighter’s victory in Glasgow on Saturday, calling Tyson a misfit’ that boxing needs to get rid of.

Lewis, who holds two World heavyweight titles, described Tyson as a train wreck waiting to happen’ and as the last misfit in boxing to get rid of’. “If he’s fit, I’ll go into the ring with him,” Lewis told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Monday. Responding to Tyson’s boast that he would “rip his heart out and feed it to him”, Lewis said: “he’s got to eat my right and left hands first.”

Tyson bout to be reviewed

GLASGOW: British boxing officials will investigate Mike Tyson’s 38-second victory over Lou Savarese and taunting remarks he made afterward against heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis.

The British Boxing Board of Control announced this on Monday, and the referee in the bout said he believed Tyson would face some action for continuing to hit Savarese after the fight was stopped. Simon Block, the Board’s secretary, said his group intends to review the Saturday night bout and a post-fight interview in which Tyson said of Lewis: “I want your heart. I want to eat your children.”

European swimmers to test form in Helsinki

HELSENKI: Europe’s top swimmers will be fine-tuning their performances for the Sydney Olympics during the European Swimming Championships which get underway here on Wednesday.

As this is the final major swimming championship before the Sydney Games in September, it will be the last opportunity for European swimmers to test their form. The results will also be keenly watched by Australian and American swimmers, bearing in mind that over a third of the medals won during the 1996 Atlanta Games went to Europe.

Olympic stadium silencing the critics

SYDNEY: The centerpiece of the 2000 Games is the biggest ever Olympic arena and despite initial hostility from some leading architects the monster 110,000 all-seater Stadium, Australia is beginning to win over its doubters.

Completed some 18 months before the start of the Games -in contrast with the usual race against time to hit the opening ceremony -and costing 640 million dollars (430 million US) to build, the giant stadium could hold four Boeing 747s side-by-side under the span of the main arch.

Torch travels under water

PORT DOUGLAS (AUSTRALIA): The Olympic flame traveled under water – on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – for the first time in its history on Tuesday.

Powered by a special chemical formula, the torch had a three-minute deep-sea adventure at popular diving spot Agincourt Reef off the resort town of Port Douglas, about 1,800 kilometers North of the state capital of Brisbane.