ATP set to trim season

London: The gruelling men?s tennis tour, which traditionally leads to an injury pile-up by the end of every season, will be cut back. That?s the pledge from Etienne de Villiers, the new head of the ATP, the ruling body of the men?s tour.

?We will shorten the season and will give players at least eight weeks to recover both mentally and physically but it?s not the only solution,? the South African told the BBC.

The ATP chairman is not convinced that the huge amount of withdrawals which affected, in particular, the Paris Masters at the end of 2005, were solely down to the demands of a calendar which this year features 68 tournaments world wide.

De Villiers believes the stress placed on players by new technology and the increased physicality of the game may be causing more injuries.

Ian Thorpe to lead

Sydney: Ian Thorpe, who could contest six events, will lead a 45-strong Australian swimming squad at the March Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

The men?s team has been weakened by the absence of long-distance specialist Grant Hackett but is still expected to win the lion?s share of the medals. Australia?s selectors named a squad of 19 men and 26 women, plus another eight swimmers for the disabled events, on Saturday.

Thorpe, a multiple world and Olympic champion, was selected for a minimum of five events with the option of a sixth. He won the 100 and 200 metres freestyle finals at the Australian trials to qualify for those events and the three relays.

Mosley proposal

London: Max Mosley, the head of Formula One?s governing body, has suggested that carmaker teams should be denied any share of the sport?s revenues from 2008.

?I believe it would be entirely reasonable to offer the manufacturers that join the Formula One world championship no income,? the International Automobile Federation (FIA) quoted him as saying on Friday.

Lagat leaves Bekele behind

New York: Bernard Lagat beat Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele in the Wanamaker Mile for his fourth victory in the showcase event in the 99th Millrose Games at the Madison Square Garden on Friday.

The 35-year-old Lagat finished 3:56.95. Last year he finished 3:52.87 to break seven-time champion Eamonn Coghlan's 24-year-old meet record and Noureddine Morceli's 1999 Arena mark.

The 23-year-old Bekele, competing at a mile for the first time in his pro career, finished the 11-lap race on the banked 160-yard (146 m) board track in 4:01.57. He's the Olympic 10,000 m winner and eight-time world cross-country champion and holds world records in the indoor and outdoor 5,000 and the outdoor 10,000.

Earlier, Veronica Campbell of Jamaica in the women's 60m sprint and hurdles, rallying to edge American Me'Lisa Barber by 0.003 seconds. Campbell finished in 7.095 seconds. Lauryn Williams was third in 7.19.

Olympian dies

Budapest: Hungarian Olympic soccer gold medallist Jeno Dalnoki died on Saturday aged 74, state news agency MTI reported.

The left-sided defender won 14 caps for Hungary and played 283 league games for Ferencvaros between 1950 and 1966. He won his gold at the Helsinki Games in 1952, and he was also a member of the team that captured Olympic bronze in 1960 in Rome.

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