Gebrselassie fails in Olympics quest

Former marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie will not compete in the London Olympics after failing to a place in Ethiopia's marathon team.

Gebrselassie won gold in the 10,000m in Atlanta and Sydney before switching his attention to the marathon in 2004, going on to win the Berlin event in four consecutive years, including setting a new world record time of 2:03:59 in 2008.
He had hoped to compete in the London Olympics but his time of 2:08:17 in Tokyo was some way below his best and with eighteen of his compatriots having clocked faster times he has had to give up on his dream.
"Many Ethiopian athletes run 2:04 and Haile cannot run that any more. He has given up on the Olympics with pain in his heart," said manager Jos Hermans.
Although he will miss out on the Olympics, Gebrselassie intends to run long distance and will compete in the Great Manchester Run over 10,000m in May.
"Although I will not be taking part in the Olympic marathon I am still enjoying my athletics career and looking forward to coming to Manchester again and to a course which I love," he confirmed before revealing he will run his last 10k race in the Netherlands next month.
"This will be my last 10,000 metres race. But I still feel good. There is only a small difference compared to 2011. I am just a bit slower now," he added.

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Brits stay on course

 Smith, Ogogo and Baister close on Olympic spots

Three British boxers took a step closer to reaching the London Olympics with victories in the final qualifying tournament in Trabzon, Turkey. Liverpool light-heavyweight Callum Smith is now two wins away from claiming a place at the Games after an 18-8 success over Bosko Draskovic of Montenegro. Middleweight Anthony Ogogo beat Macedonia's Fatlum Zuta 18-5. And Sunderland heavyweight Warren Baister - who must win his weight category to qualify - reached the last eight with an 18-17 win over Aboulaye Diane of France.

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Final fling for pair

Woodbridge misses out after finishing 16th in his semi-final

British duo Jamie Cooke and Sam Weale have qualified for the men's final at the third Modern Pentathlon World Cup of the year in Hungary.

World junior champion Cooke progressed safely from semi-final B at the competition in Szazhalombatta and was joined in the final by Beijing 2008 Olympian Weale, who qualified from semi-final C. A top-12 spot was needed in each of the three semi-finals to book a berth in Sunday's final. Cooke was 13th going into the run/shoot, but clocked a time of 10:49.41 - the fifth best - to finish in 11th place. The news was not so good for Nick Woodbridge, however, as he ended up in 16th. Weale was just outside the qualification berths in joint 15th going into the run/shoot but his time of 10:46.41 was fourth quickest in his semi, pushing him up to seventh place overall. Mhairi Spence and Samantha Murray will contest the women's final on Saturday after qualifying in first and second place in their semi-final on Thursday.

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Smith makes the grade

Londoner eases past qualifying mark at the European Championships

Zoe Smith put in a commanding performance at the European Weightlifting Championships in Turkey to pass the Olympic qualifying A standard with ease.

The Greenwich-born athlete, 17, lifted 92kg in the snatch and 116kg in the clean and jerk to register a superb total of 208kg, well above the 196kg minimum required.

It was enough to earn Smith fourth place in the women's 58kg category - just outside the medal places and only seven kilograms behind the overall winner.

Her total eclipsed the 204kg she registered at November's World Weightlifting Championships in Paris, where she set two personal bests and broke more than a dozen British records.

Amazingly, Smith was competing in the heavier 63kg weight category back then and duly finished outside the top 10, but she has since focused on slimming down ahead of the Olympic Games in an attempt to boost her medal chances.

Helen Jewell, competing in the same category on Wednesday, failed to record an overall total and was therefore not placed in the final standings.

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Olympic line-up complete

Six nations qualify to complete London handball line-up

Former Olympic champions Croatia headlined the six countries who qualified for the London 2012 Olympic handball tournament to complete the 12-team line-up for the men's competition.

Croatia won Olympic gold in 1996 and 2004 and will be back looking for a third title in London after they beat Iceland 31-28 but both teams managed to progress. Comfortable victories over Japan and Chile meant that both Croatia and Iceland will be going for gold in London this summer, joined by four other nations who also booked their places over Easter.

Sweden, who have won Olympic silver three times, also made it through alongside Hungary, Spain and Serbia as the 12-team Olympic line-up was completed. World champions France had already won a place at London 2012 with that victory, to join hosts Great Britain, European champions Denmark, South Korea, Tunisia and Argentina in the tournament.

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GB handball take positives

Men's handball team take heart in close defeat to South Korea

Great Britain men's handball team are taking the positives despite finishing in last place in the Pinsent Masons' London Handball Cup.

GB finished bottom with three defeats against Argentina, South Korea and Tunisia, who rank among the best in the world, in the round-robin tournament at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. Playing in the tournament as practice for this summer's Olympic Games, they found life tough against the South Americans on Thursday night, going down to a hefty 32-15 defeat, before being put to the sword by eventual event winners Tunisia on Good Friday in a 41-15 loss. But Dragan Djukic's side can take heart by giving a fast and athletic South Korea a test on Saturday before losing 29-25.

Another positive GB can take is the performance of right-back Steven Larsson, who finished top scorer with 19 goals, 14 of those coming in a fine individual showing against Korea. A spokesman for British Handball said: "The plan for the Pinsent Masons' London Handball Cup was to give Great Britain experience of playing against the top nations so they can better prepare for this summer's Olympics. "On that score it is very much 'job done' with lessons learned, and Great Britain will take heart from their performance against a very strong Korean side." GB next take to the court in June for their Euro 2014 pre-qualification tournament in Italy, where they face Greece, Switzerland and the host nation in a bid to get through to the group stage of qualifying.

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Bottom line is moved

Clothing rules changed to allow shorts and sleeved tops

Female beach volleyball Olympians have been offered the chance to wear shorts and sleeved tops - as opposed to bikinis - at London 2012.

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) have announced new dress-code rules in a bid to make the sport more inclusive.

Until now, players had to choose between the bikinis or a full bodysuit - usually used in cold weather - but the FIVB insist they are not trying to shed the sport's sexy image.

Richard Baker, the FIVB's communications director, explained: "The athletes have had a choice - a full body suit or the bikini - and we have now expanded that choice even further to cater for religious or cultural reasons.

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