Athletics: Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia broke the women's pole vault world record at the IAAF Super Grand Prix meeting yesterday. She cleared 4.93 metres to break her own previous record of 4.92 set in Brussels in September last year.
Baptista: Sevilla have rejected a bid from Arsenal for Brazil midfielder Julio Baptista, the Liga club's president Jose Maria del Nido said yesterday. "We turned it down because we considered it a derisory offer and we said we wouldn't consider continuing the negotiations based on this amount of money," Del Nido said regarding talks with the English Premier League club. "Furthermore, we told them that we did not want to sell the player," he said. However, Del Nido added that Baptista had rejected an improved deal last week.
Violent fans: Israeli sports fans can be jailed for taking banned items into stadiums or using racist and abusive chants after legislation passed by parliament yesterday. Amendments to the law, which were approved by a large majority, state that supporters found inside stadiums with "forbidden items", including explosive materials such as flares and firecrackers, could face a sentence of up to three years. The maximum jail sentence for offensive or racist abuse has been set at one year. According to the new amendments, rowdy fans can be barred by the courts from attending events for up to three seasons. The previous maximum was one season.
Aloisi: Australia striker John Aloisi will not be joining Panathinaikos after the club revised their contract offer to a one-year deal following knee problems that emerged during his medical. The 29-year-old, available on a free transfer from Spanish Primera Liga club Osasuna, was offered a three-year contract last week but problems with a knee injury prompted Panathinaikos to offer him a shorter one-year deal which he turned down. Aloisi has also been linked with English Premier League clubs Portsmouth and Manchester City as well as teams in France, Spain and Italy.
Chapuisat: Former Swiss international Stephane Chapuisat has signed a one-year contract with Lausanne Sport just weeks after announcing his retirement. The 36-year-old striker joins the second division side, his first club, on a free transfer after being let go by Young Boys Bern last May.
Fabiano: Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano has signed a five-year contract with Sevilla. Sevilla have agreed the deal with his former club Porto and with the investment fund who own the player's rights. Fabiano joined Porto in August 2004 from Sao Paulo. He made his name in 2002 when he was joint top scorer in the Brazilian championship with 19 goals in 23 games, and topped that in 2003 with 29 in 34 games.
Mexico: The Mexican FA has handed out one-year bans to a pair of international defenders after they were expelled from last month's Confederations Cup in Germany for doping offences. "We have decided to suspend Salvador Carmona and Aaron Galindo from all activity controlled by the Mexican FA for the period of one year, as of today," general secretary Decio de Maria said.