Members of the Austrian swimming team had to dig a teammate out of a hole he had dug in the sand at a beach in Florida. Jakub Maly, who went with teammates to the beach to relax after a three-week training camp, dug a two-metre hole at Pompano Beach on Sunday to impress his friends. But when he jumped in the hole the walls collapsed, burying him. Maly's teammates used their hands to dig the sand away from his face to allow him to breathe, before firefighters and lifeguards arrived. Maly, who swam at last year's European Championships, spent the night in a medical centre before being released. ''It was like a crater,'' Sandra King, of the Pompano Beach fire rescue department, told The Guardian. ''When we got the call we had no idea this person was buried up to his chin … the fear was the walls would collapse again … it was a dangerous situation.''
NOTABAD SCORE
The city where Osama bin Laden was killed will host a one-day cricket match between Afghanistan and Pakistan's second-string team. The Pakistan Cricket Board says the one-dayer will be played in Abbottabad on May 29. Afghanistan will be the first team to tour Pakistan since gunmen attacked the Sri Lanka team bus in 2009, killing six police officials and a van driver. The PCB finalised the series last week after meeting Afghanistan Cricket Board officials but only revealed the itinerary on Monday.
GREEK JUSTICE
A Greek court has sentenced Olympic sprinters Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou to a suspended 31-month jail term, meaning they will not likely serve time in prison despite being found guilty of faking a motorcycle accident on the eve of the 2004 Olympics. The Sydney Olympic medallists, who were not present at court on Tuesday, immediately appealed against the sentences. Kenteris and Thanou blamed the accident for missing a doping test just before the 2004 Athens Games. The runners' coach Christos Tzekos was sentenced to 33 months in jail. Six state hospital doctors who treated the athletes and two witnesses to the alleged crash were handed sentences of between six and 15 months, all suspended.
RACE ROW
Under-fire France football coach Laurent Blanc told a hearing on Monday he ''regretted that certain opinions'' were made at a meeting last November that canvassed the introduction of limits on the number of dual-nationality players at youth training centres, according to a source close to the inquiry. Blanc confirmed to the joint hearing of the French Football Federation and the Sports Ministry that the discussion had taken place on November 8 last year but he emphasised that it did not concern him directly. Several members of France's World Cup-winning 1998 squad have since spoken out about the affair, including Zinedine Zidane, who voiced his support for the beleaguered Blanc on Saturday. Asked if Blanc's words in the meeting were discriminatory, Zidane said: ''No, and concerning Laurent, let's be straight and clear: I know him well, of course he's not racist.'' Public opinion has been overwhelmingly behind Blanc with a poll finding that 71 per cent think he should remain as coach.
Agencies
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