Navratilova’s Olympic debut

London: Serena and Venus Williams, Martina Navratilova, Jennifer Capriati and Andy Roddick head the US Olympic tennis teams announced at Wimbledon on Saturday.

Navratilova will be making her Olympic debut at 47, while Capriati will represent the US in international team competition for the first time since a falling out with former Fed Cup captain Billie Jean King in April 2002.

The Williams sisters won the women’s doubles at the 2000 Sydney Games, and Venus won the singles gold. They will play singles and doubles at the August 13-29 Athens Olympics. Capriati and Chanda Rubin will play singles, while Navratilova and Lisa Raymond will be the other doubles team. Roddick, the US Open champion who is ranked No. 2, will be joined on the Men’s squad by 20th-ranked Mardy Fish, No. 30 Vince Spadea and No. 31 Taylor Dent in singles, plus the top-ranked doubles team of twins Bob and Mike Bryan. Roddick and Fish will play doubles.

Prakash, Rushmi on top

Mumbai: Davis Cupper Prakash Amritraj and Rushmi Chakravarthy (both from Tamil Nadu) head the All India Tennis Association’s (AITA’s) half-yearly ranking in the men’s and women’s singles, respectively. According to an AITA release on Sunday, Prakash leads with a whopping 835 points, followed by Harsh Mankad (480), Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (330), Rohan Bopanna (285), Vinod Sridhar (160) and Mustafa Ghouse (145).

In the women’s section Rushmi, with 285 points to her credit, is followed by Megha Vakharia (262.5), Sania Mirza (248.75), Isha Lakhani (220), Ankita Bhambri (182.5) and Sai Jayalakshmi (121.25).

Kenyan ‘cut-off’

Nairobi: Kenyan runners selected for the Athens Olympics have been set limits on the number of races they can enter before the Games open on August 13.

Athletics Kenya (AK) said on Sunday that athletes selected for the 10,000m would be allowed to race once only. Those selected for the 3,000m steeplechase and 5,000m can race twice while runners competing in events between 400 and 1,500m will have a maximum of three races.

Officials said no more racing would be allowed after the Zurich Golden League meeting on August 6.

Pakistan boxer tests positive

Karachi: Pakistan’s hopes of an Olympic medal in the ring took a beating as star boxer Nauman Karim tested positive for cannabis and was thrown out of the Athens Games, officials said on Sunday. The 21-year-old, who tested positive for banned cannaboids, has also been disqualified for a year while three other Pakistani boxers have been let off with a warning, they said.

“Karim stands disqualified on account of doping violation as indicated in his positive dope test in the IXth South Asian Federation Games in March-April this year,” said Pakistan’s boxing chief Anwar Chowdhry.

Karim was one of the ten Pakistani boxers who swept all the gold medals in the SAF Games held in Islamabad and was a medal hope for the Athens Olympics.

A year after Marc-Vivien

Yaounde: The first anniversary of the death of Cameroon international footballer Marc-Vivien Foe, who died of heart-related problems while playing football, was marked by a service attended by 2,500 people here on Saturday.

Sport on Screen

Tennis, Wimbledon: Live from 4.30 pm on STAR Sports
Hockey, 4-nation meet: India vs Netherlands, from 4.30 pm on TEN Sports
Soccer, Euro 2004: Highlights from 7.00 pm on ESPN