SPORTS AWARDS: World tennis number one Roger Federer was chosen as the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award for a record fourth year in a row yesterday.
Fellow tennis world number one Justine Henin was named the best sportswoman for the first time, ahead of last year's winner, world and Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva.
Lewis Hamilton took the Breakthrough of the Year award for his remarkable debut season in Formula One, while a fellow Briton, long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe, was named the Comeback Athlete of the Year.
Rugby world champions South Africa, who beat England in the final, won the Team of the Year award.
The winners were announced at a gala ceremony attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin at St Petersburg's famous Mariinsky Theatre.
MOTOR SPORT: Former Ferrari engineer Nigel Stepney told reporters he was "very calm" after being interviewed yesterday by an Italian magistrate probing last year's Formula One spying scandal.
The Briton, sacked by Ferrari, is accused of supplying technical information about the Italian team to McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan, who is now suspended.
McLaren were stripped of their 2007 constructors' points and fined €68 million in September by the International Automobile Federation (FIA), but legal probes into the controversy continue, with Modena prosecutor Giuseppe Tibis weighing up the evidence.
Tibis said Stepney had been "collaborative and thorough".
Stepney's lawyer Sonia Bartolini said her client did have contact with Coughlan, but had denied passing on the information.
BOXING:World lightweight champion Katie Taylor may have to box an extra 10 minutes to retain her title next November following world boxing chiefs AIBA's announcement yesterday they are to add an extra round to women's senior bouts after next summer's Olympics.
However, given Taylor's tendency to win her fights well inside the distance, the changes might prove to be academic for the Bray woman, who won her third European title in a row last year.
Men's senior bouts will be one minute longer with three three-minute rounds as opposed to four two-minute rounds.
Rather than three two-minute rounds women's senior bouts will have four two-minute rounds.
Meanwhile, Irish welterweight Roy Sheehan will see a specialist in Dublin today after breaking his left hand in a sparring session with a Latvian at the Irish training camp in Perugia, Italy on Sunday.
ATHLETICS: British sprinter Dwain Chambers has missed the deadline to lodge an appeal against his ban from the Beijing Olympics for serving a two-year doping suspension, the British Olympic Association (BOA) said yesterday.
A BOA spokeswoman said athletes had been given until February 15th to appeal against any ban to ensure it was processed in time for the Games opening on August 8th.
"The deadline was February 15th if he (Chambers) wanted to compete in Beijing," she said. "We haven't received any communication from him as far as I am aware."
Last week Chambers was selected to compete at the world indoor championships in Valencia, Spain, next month after winning the 60 metres title at the British trials, although UK Athletics made it clear they had not wanted to pick him.
