Sports round-up

Athletics: Berlin is set to bid for the 2018 European Championships. Ber-lin’s Olympic Stadium hosted the 2009 World Championships and organisers are hoping the German capital can stage another major event with the decision to be made by the European Athletic Association in late 2013. The European Championships were held in Stuttgart in 1986 and Munich in 2002, while Helsinki hosts this year’s tournament.

Boxing: Nathan Cleverly outclassed American challenger Tommy Karpency to easily retain his World Boxing Organisation light-heavyweight crown at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena late Saturday. The talented Welshman dominated his opponent from start to finish of a one-sided contest to extend his record to 24-0, including 11 knockouts, with a unanimous 120-108, 120-108, 120-108 victory. The defeat saw Kar-pency’s record go to 21-3-1 with 14 knockouts.

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Cricket: Test great Shane Warne (picture) will be inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame today. The legendary leg-spinner, the first cricketer to take 700 Test wickets, will be inducted at the Allan Border Medal ceremony in Melbourne. Warne, 42, who retired from Test cricket in 2007, was the selection committee’s unanimous choice. He took 708 wickets at 25.41 in 145 Tests and 293 wickets in 194 one-day internationals.

Tokyo Marathon: Kenya’s Michael Kipkorir Kipyego got the better of former world record holder Haile Gebrselassie, of Ethiopia, in the last four kilometres to win the Tokyo marathon yesterday. Gebrselassie was locked in a shoulder-to-shoulder battle against his compatriot and defending champion Hailu Mekonnen until the 35km mark. As Mekonnen started to slow, Kipyego caught up with Gebrselassie at the 38km mark and crossed the line in 2:07.37.

Golf: Angela Stanford won the Women’s Champions tournament in Singapore yesterday after prevailing in a four-way play-off for the title. It was the fifth career LPGA Tour title for the 34-year-old Texan and the first time that an American had won the $1.4m event at the Tanah Merah Country Club. Stanford had to call on all her experience to hold off South Korea’s 19-year-old Jenny Shin who threw down the gauntlet all the way to the third play-off hole.