Sports that will have to make room for more women will be named by the IOC later this year.A bid by women's boxing - the only Olympic event without female participation - to be included in the Beijing Games was rejected, although the IOC's sports director, Kelly Fairweather, raised the prospect of its inclusion in London provided technical shortcomings are addressed."We look forward to seeing progress in women's boxing in the next few years," he said. Planners of the London Olympics are faced with having to find an extra competition venue after the prospect was raised of open-water swimming being included in the 2012 Games. The 10km race is one of six new disciplines that the International Olympic Committee agreed yesterday to introduce at the Beijing Games but it is the only one that will require a new venue for 2012. Likely locations for the race, a freestyle event in which each lap must be at least two kilometres, include the rowing lake at Eton Dorney, already a Games venue, and the Royal Docks in London's Docklands, which hosts the swimming section of the London Triathlon. Britain has a real medal hope in open-water swimming in Alan Bircher, 24, who made the transition from the pool three years ago and has won the European Cup in the last two years and won silver at last year's world championships.David Sparkes, the chief executive of British Swimming, said: "We welcome the inclusion of this event. The Frenchman, who earned the wrong sort of sporting immortality at Carnoustie in 1999 when so comically tossing away the claret jug, is to send a letter to the Ladies' Golfing Union asking for an entry form to next year's Women's British Open at Lytham.. Indeed, as the two protagonists in the most exciting finish to a season in years went out in the last group, there was a distinctly surreal feel to the first round of the Volvo Masters and a pairing that was matchplay in everything but classification.. "I'll shave my legs and wear a kilt if I have to." So said Jean Van De Velde yesterday when stunning the golfing world by announcing he is to do a "Michelle Wie in reverse" and try to become the first male to play in a women's major.
In the normal course of events, Michael Campbell's one-over 72 would be no disaster, except this was no normal event. He declined to comment on the Hearts job, for which he has already had preliminary talks with Hearts' chief executive, Phil Anderton.. The race for the Order of Merit turned into something of a leisurely stroll for Colin Montgomerie here yesterday as he ambled to a 67 to put enough daylight between him and his nearest rival in the money list to bring an eighth Order of Merit title alluringly into focus. Whether Romanov's alleged meddling in the day-to-day running of the team acts as a deterrent to Robson remains to be seen.The former England manager was in Edinburgh yesterday to attend the funeral of his former Fulham and England team-mate, Johnny Haynes. However, with Hearts now topping the Scottish Premier League and looking like genuine contenders, Romanov has a much wider pool of experienced candidates.George Burley parted company with Hearts because of "irreconcilable differences" with Romanov.
He has been linked to the Republic of Ireland manager's post, which sources confirm he is interested in, but the prospect of taking Hearts into Europe would also appeal if his application was successful. Robson has been considered the front runner because Hearts offered him the job the last time it was available, during the summer, and nothing has happened since to dent his credentials. The referee on the evening was very close to the incident and no action was taken."Barnet have appealed to the Football Association against a red card for their goalkeeper Ross Flitney's red card for handball outside the area in their Carling Cup defeat by Manchester United. Ranieri, 54, has been out of work since leaving Valencia in February. Flitney was sent off by referee Richard Beeby less than two minutes into the 4-1 third-round defeat at Old Trafford.. Claudio Ranieri yesterday became the latest in a string of high-profile candidates to be interviewed for the managerial vacancy at Hearts. The former Chelsea manager faces stiff competition from Sir Bobby Robson and others but flew to Edinburgh to make a face-to-face pitch for the job to the Hearts owner, Vladimir Romanov. He admitted that he had to restrain himself from retaliating after the defender's elbow struck him in the face. A statement from the League Two side said: "Grimsby Town Football Club have reviewed last night's clash between Justin Whittle and Alan Shearer."We feel that there was no deliberate intent on behalf of Justin to catch Alan with his arm.