World Sports Briefs

Coe and Bubka elected as IAAF vice-presidents OSAKA – Former Olympic champions and world record holders Sebastien Coe and Sergei Bubka have both been elected as vice-presidents of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

The 50-year-old Coe, who won back-to-back 1500 metres golds at the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and pole vault king Bubka who won in Seoul in 1988 will serve four-year terms. Also elected to the position of vice-presidents ahead of the World Championships here were American Robert Hersh, a longtime expert in the IAAf and Dahlan Al-Hamad, the head of Qatar’s Association of Athletic Federations.Senegal’s Lamine Diack was voted into a final four-year term as the IAAF president.Real Madrid close in on Heinze MADRID – Real Madrid are close to signing Manchester United’s Argentine defender Gabriel Heinze for around 12 million euros, Spanish sports daily Marca reported yesterday.The two clubs reached an agreement in principle for the transfer of the 29-year-old on Tuesday, the newspaper said.Six-time French champions Lyon, who are looking to fill the void left by Brazilian centre-back Cris who has been ruled out for six months with a knee injury, have also made a offer for Heinze worth nine million euros, it said.Heinze is eager to join Liverpool but his wish has been firmly rebuffed by the Premier League champions.Kluft looking for perfect end OSAKA – Sweden’s Olympic and world heptathlon gold medallist Carolina Kluft is hoping that the 2007 world championships will be the beginning of a perfect end to her reign.She even hinted Osaka would be her last heptathlon, in which she has remained unbeaten since 2000, despite her earlier plan to quit the seven-sport spectacle after the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and compete in single events.”I’m focusing on now, not on the future,” the 24-year-old ‘Golden Girl’ told reporters yesterday ahead of the weekend competition, when asked if Osaka would be her last heptathlon.”I’ll do the heptathlon Saturday and Sunday, event by event.I’m not thinking about what will happen afterwards,” said Kluft, who excels particularly in the long jump.NBA player Griffin dies in car-train crash HOUSTON – Eddie Griffin, a former Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves power forward, has been identified as the man who died when his car struck a moving train in Houston last week.Griffin, 25, drove his sport utility vehicle through a railway crossing barrier and into a moving train at about 1:30 a.m.on August 17, officials said.The vehicle burst into flames on impact, damaging Griffin’s body so badly that investigators had to use his dental records to verify his identity Tuesday, a report in the Houston Chronicle stated.Essien is from another planet: Le Roy LONDON – Ghana coach Claude Le Roy believes his side can live up to their billing as favourites to win the African Nations Cup as long as Michael Essien stays fit.Le Roy made Essien captain for his country’s 1-1 friendly draw against Senegal in London on Tuesday and was rewarded with a typical lung-bursting display from the Chelsea midfielder.Essien’s performance was even more impressive considering he had played in Chelsea’s Premier League match at Liverpool just 48 hours earlier.”Michael is a not a normal player, he is from another planet,” Le Roy said.”I was telling him there is no player of his level anywhere in the world.Nampa-ReutersAlso elected to the position of vice-presidents ahead of the World Championships here were American Robert Hersh, a longtime expert in the IAAf and Dahlan Al-Hamad, the head of Qatar’s Association of Athletic Federations.Senegal’s Lamine Diack was voted into a final four-year term as the IAAF president.Real Madrid close in on Heinze MADRID – Real Madrid are close to signing Manchester United’s Argentine defender Gabriel Heinze for around 12 million euros, Spanish sports daily Marca reported yesterday.The two clubs reached an agreement in principle for the transfer of the 29-year-old on Tuesday, the newspaper said.Six-time French champions Lyon, who are looking to fill the void left by Brazilian centre-back Cris who has been ruled out for six months with a knee injury, have also made a offer for Heinze worth nine million euros, it said.Heinze is eager to join Liverpool but his wish has been firmly rebuffed by the Premier League champions.Kluft looking for perfect end OSAKA – Sweden’s Olympic and world heptathlon gold medallist Carolina Kluft is hoping that the 2007 world championships will be the beginning of a perfect end to her reign.She even hinted Osaka would be her last heptathlon, in which she has remained unbeaten since 2000, despite her earlier plan to quit the seven-sport spectacle after the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and compete in single events.”I’m focusing on now, not on the future,” the 24-year-old ‘Golden Girl’ told reporters yesterday ahead of the weekend competition, when asked if Osaka would be her last heptathlon.”I’ll do the heptathlon Saturday and Sunday, event by event.I’m not thinking about what will happen afterwards,” said Kluft, who excels particularly in the long jump.NBA player Griffin dies in car-train crash HOUSTON – Eddie Griffin, a former Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves power forward, has been identified as the man who died when his car struck a moving train in Houston last week.Griffin, 25, drove his sport utility vehicle through a railway crossing barrier and into a moving train at about 1:30 a.m.on August 17, officials said.The vehicle burst into flames on impact, damaging Griffin’s body so badly that investigators had to use his dental records to verify his identity Tuesday, a report in the Houston Chronicle stated.Essien is from another planet: Le Roy LONDON – Ghana coach Claude Le Roy believes his side can live up to their billing as favourites to win the African Nations Cup as long as Michael Essien stays fit.Le Roy made Essien captain for his country’s 1-1 friendly draw against Senegal in London on Tuesday and was rewarded with a typical lung-bursting display from the Chelsea midfielder.Essien’s performance was even more impressive considering he had played in Chelsea’s Premier League match at Liverpool just 48 hours earlier.”Michael is a not a normal player, he is from another planet,” Le Roy said.”I was telling him there is no player of his level anywhere in the world.Nampa-Reuters