Sports Digest/Olympics: Iran have given judo world champion Arash Miresmaeili a $125,000 reward, saying he sacrificed a gold medal at the Athens Olympics by refusing to fight an Israeli, a sports official said yesterday.
State television showed Miresmaeili at an award ceremony receiving the same sum as compatriot Hossein Rezazadeh, who took gold in super-heavyweight weightlifting.
"He would definitely have won a gold medal if he had taken part," said the sports official, who declined to be named. "By refusing to fight, Miresmaeili followed the policies of the country."
Iran has refused to recognise the Jewish state's right to exist since its 1979 Islamic revolution.
The International Judo Federation had considered a sanction against Miresmaeili during the Games but concluded that he had been overweight for the fight and could not have taken part. The International Olympic Committee also did not take any action.
Meanwhile, China will save money by building five Olympic stadiums in Beijing instead of the 10 originally planned, state media reported yesterday.
China is due to spend $37 billion on the 2008 Games, with at least $2 billion going towards ultra-modern facilities, many of which are already under construction. But it has stressed the requirement to save where it can and downscaling the venues would spare the need for thousands of tonnes of steel, one of several overheating sectors in the fast-growing Chinese economy.
Elsewhere, Kelly Holmes will compete for the first time since winning the Olympic 800 and 1,500 metres gold medals in this Sunday's IAAF Golden League meeting in Berlin. Holmes will run in the 1,500 metres.
CRICKET: Irish cricketer Eoin Morgan made an impressive 105 off just 83 balls yesterday for a South of England under-19 XI in a regional tournament that is being used to select the England under-19 winter squad, writes James Fitzgerald.
Morgan, who turns 18 this Friday, has been playing for Middlesex seconds as well as Ireland this summer and yesterday was batting against some of the top young bowlers in England as the South took on the Midlands at the ECB national cricket academy at Loughborough. His innings included 13 fours and three sixes and won the admiration of many at Loughborough including the assistant coach at the national academy John Abrahams.
"It was a very impressive knock. He played the shots of a mature and experienced batsman," said Abrahams, who added that the ECB was looking into Morgan's availability for England representative teams.
The ECB is currently trying to arrange an England under-19 winter tour to New Zealand and while Morgan is thought to be eligible for selection, it is unlikely he will be included because as it stands, he cannot play for England at the next ICC under-19 World Cup in 2006. Under current regulations, Morgan would need to declare for England and spend four years there before he would qualify to play for them in a competition under the auspices of the ICC.
MOTOR SPORT: The owners of Silverstone racecourse moved yesterday to break the deadlock over the future of the British Grand Prix by making a proposal to Bernie Ecclestone to act as the race promoter for the next three years until 2007, writes Alan Henry.
Ray Bellm, the chairman of the British Racing Drivers' Club, met Ecclestone yesterday and submitted a written formal offer to the Formula One commercial rights holder. Neither party would comment on the figures involved, but the offer is likely to be around the lower end of Ecclestone's tariff for European grands prix which is about £12 million.
