Basketball, NBA: Denver snapped Memphis Grizzles’ eight-game winning streak with a 97-92 victory over the NBA’s hottest team on Monday. In a battle that raged from start to finish, home team Memphis led 92-88 with two minutes remaining but failed to close the game, going scoreless and making critical mistakes in the final moments. “We got what we deserved,” Grizzlies star player Marc Gasol said. “The last game we didn’t play that well, but the other team wasn’t as talented as Denver.”

Horse Racing: Champion jockey Damien Oliver was yesterday banned from racing for 10 months after blaming his marriage breakdown for a decision to put money on a rival horse that won a race in which he was riding. The Australian two-time Melbourne Cup winner was suspended for eight months over the betting scandal and was slapped with another two-month ban for using a mobile phone in the jockeys’ room prior to the race, which is prohibited. The betting charge related to a race two years ago in Melbourne.

Olympics: Europe’s national Olympic committees scrapped a congress they were due to hold in the Israeli city of Eilat next month because of fighting between Israeli forces and Gaza militants, an Israeli spokeswoman said yesterday. Eilat, a southern resort city on the shores of the Red Sea, had been planning for the annual event for the past three years and a year ago was chosen to host it on December 7-8. It will now be held in Rome on the same dates, the spokeswoman said.

Cricket: Australian limited overs international Dan Christian has been suspended for one match by South Australia for smashing up three dressing rooms this season. Christian was punished after his frustration at being dismissed led to him damage dressing rooms at the Adelaide Oval, Bellerive Oval in Hobart and Perth’s WACA ground. The 29-year-old all-rounder, who has played 17 one-day internationals and 11 Twenty20 matches for his country, will miss this weekend’s Sheffield Shield match against Victoria.