The Daily Telegraph from London, Greater London, England • 30

30 THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MONDAY FEBRUARY 8 1988 SPORT 5 WIIJlllljLI IU" Ll UNITED STATES GOLF Jones champion in play-off with Tway By Alex Lancaster in Pebble Beach California 1 STEVE JONES 29 a professional from New Mexico who had never won a tournament in five years on the American circuit snatched the $770000 AT National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach yesterday at the second hole of a play-off with fellow American Bob LAST NIGHTS BOXING world title hopes end in tenth round By Ken Mays TONY SIBSON from Leicester failed to win the International Boxing Federation middleweight title when he was knocked out in the 10th round by American Frank Tate at the Bingley Hall Stafford last night but he has never shown more courage Sibson bores in on champion Frank Tate but his challenge ended in failure Matchplay victory for Rafferty By Justin Rogers in Melbourne RONAN RAFFERTY 24 of Northern Ireland defeated Mike Clayton in the 36-hole final of the Mercedes Benz Australian Matchplay Championship at Kingston Heath Melbourne yesterday His victory followed wins in the South Australian and New Zealand Opens and he has now won £40000 since leaving Europe in October Rafferty took the lead for the first time at the 34th when Clayton drove into an unplayable position in the woods The Irishman holed a five-foot putt to halve the 35th and putted stone dead for anothei half in par at the last to finish one up Rafferty looked anything but a winner when Clayton plucked eight birdies from the first 14 holes to lead five up but he recovered to be one down at lunch by capturing the next four holes FINAL Rafferty (GB) bt Clayton 1 up Third 5 fourth play-off: Parry bt Somers 5 4 3 Ian Woosnam has turned down a £20000 appearance payment from the Australian TPC tournament in Sydney on March 3-6 following an invitation to dine with the Queen at Buckingham Palace Bob Charles of New Zealand three shots behind Bruce Devlin overnight shot a seven-under-par 65 in the third and final round to take the $90000 (£51400) cheque in the $300000 First National Bank Seniors classic at Houghton Course Charles finished with a 54-hole total of 206 Charles (N Zealand) 70 71 65: Devlin (Australia) 68 70 71 Hen rung 70 71 72 Crampton (Australia) 72 71 70 Moody (US) 69 73 72 Caspar (US) 75 73 68 Bird (US) 72 69 75: Thomson (Australia) 74 70 76 Tway Jones sank a 20-foot putt to take the $126000 first prize after he had missed a good chance on the 18th and was taken to the play-off with a final round of 74 Greg Norman finished with a 67 in third place together with Craig Stadler while Bernhard Langer who had led by two strokes after six holes fell away with a 73 He seemed to be having trouble with his back The three British players Sandy Lyle Howard Clark and Ken Brown finished with 73 71 and 74 respectively to win good prizes Lyle moved into second place at Spyglass Hill on Saturday after 11 holes but faded and eventually caught the overnight plane back to London Jones is no newcomer and his late emergence into the limelight is due to bad luck and injury as much as anything else Now he looks a Ryder Cup man of the future FINAL POSITIONS AND SCORES: 280 Jonas 72647074 Tway 72736768 ($75600) Jones won play-off 281 Norman (Australia) 68757267 Stadlar 687071 72(S40600 each) 282 Langer (W Germany) 72677073 British placings: 285 Lyla 74657373: 287 Clark 70747271 292 Brown 72737374 Brand wins third Ivory Coast Open Gordon Brand of Yorkshire won the Ivory Coast Open yesterday finishing with a 69 for a 13-under-par 275 Brand winner of the tournament in 1981 and 1986 finished two shots ahead of Richard Fish another Briton who was 1 1 under par 275 Brand (GB) 68 71 67 69 Fish (GB) 69 73 67 68 279 A Stevens (GB) 70 69 72 68 Anable (GB) 69 67 71 72 280-V Singh (Fiji) 72 70 70 69: McEnry (Ireland) 74 74 66 66 MAZDA CLASSIC (Boca Raton Lopez 69 68 71 75 285 Figueras-Dotti 70 70 72 73 288 Inkster 74 71 75 68 Farr 70 74 73 71 Stephenson 72 71 71 74 Sheehan 71 72 71 74 A Benz 69 72 73 74 Foyer 71 70 72 75 289 Peterson 72 75 71 71 Postlewa 70 73 73 73 RUGBY LEAGUE Foreman warms to task had seen him challenge Marvin Hagler for the middleweight title and Dennis Andries for the light-heavyweight crown and on both occasions he was beaten The left hook that had done so much damage in the past often rattled Tate but the American withstood it and often came back with an accurate left Sibson forced the fight early on but Tate who won the Olympic title in Los Angeles four years ago proved a slippery character often moving out of danger when Sibson was geared to throw his best punches The fight exploded in the fourth as first Sibson rattled Tate with a left and then in turn was in trouble as the champion opened out with both hands Sibson tried to fight back but was made to miss and Tate at that stage took control The versatile Tate was concerned when Sibson tried to steam-roller him and midway through the fight he appeared to be sagging By the seventh Tate looked wary of his challenger He was twice trapped in a neutral comer but slipped away like an eel once again as Sibson threw punches from the hip Sibson had the crowd on their feet in the ninth as he hammered into the champion with the left to both head and body and this time Tate dropped all caution to fight back The end came as a surprise for though Sibson slowed up in the 10th he was still forcing the pace when the short right hand struck and it was all over After confirming he would be retiring after a professional career spanning 12 years Sibson have got nothing else to offer This was my third crack at a world title and for the third time it happened have been blessed with the best support in the world They deserved the world title and I got close tonight I will enjoy my family Sibson said that the fight did The tall slim American who had come to Britain for a fight that was surrounded by court cases beforehand and almost interrupted by crowd trouble shortly before the start could not have expected anything like the opposition he met It took a mighty right-hand finally to end the challenge and his career he announced his retirement in the dressing room with only seven seconds of the round remaining It is certain that Tate often unsettled by the bustling tactics and the left hooks from Sibson will not want another defence like this in a hurry Sibson had given his all by the time the end came but he was certainly in no mood to surrender until that lightning punch stretched him flat out on the canvas He tried vainly to get to his feet but he was counted out and then helped up by referee Frank Cappucino It was an ending that was fully accepted by the army of Sibson supporters who had been involved in several scuffles including the use of tear gas just before the fight started When the referee raised hand however they applauded more in respect to their own champion who had fought so well As expected Sibson who was having his third attempt at winning the world title tried hard to hook Tate to the body from the start He succeeded on several occasions but as early as the opening three minutes it was obvious that the sharp accurate long left jab from Tate was going to be lethal Sibson felt the sting of this rapier-type punch on many occasions and he finished with his left eye surrounded by bruising For Sibson it was his 61st test in an illustrious career that BADMINTON get some people who are crazy wherever you go but had a really good time over Nigel Benn marched through his 14th contest since switching from a successful amateur career and forced referee John Coyle to stop his middleweight contest against highly rated Canadian Byron Prince in the second round Benn whose 14 fights so far have all ended inside the distance with a total of 28 rounds had the Canadian in trouble from the first bell When Benn really opened up at the start of the second Prince did no more than cover up and it was a wise decision to stop the fight 1 2rds IBF World Middleweight Ch'ship: Frank Tate (US) bt Tony Sibson ko 10th lOrds Midland Area Light-Middle Ch'ship: John Ashton (Derby) bt Kid Milo (Birmingham) pts 8rds middle: Nigel Benn (West Ham) bt Byron Prince (Canada) rsf 2nd 8rds light-heavy: Brian Schumacher (Liverpool) bt Dave Owens (Castleford) ko 1st 6rds light: Peter Till (Walsall) bt Michael Mareden (Leeds) ko 1st 4rds welter: Damien Denny (Belfast) bt Dean Bramhall (Doncaster) pts HOCKEY Podger is dissatisfied with comeback win Coach Hay looks at all his alternatives Reilly no nearer solving GB tour party problems By John By Rutnagur SALLY PODGER once the No 1 yesterday justified her seeding on her comeback appearance in the Carls-berg English National Championships at Crawley By Nancy Tomkins VICKY DIXON and goalkeeper Julie Cook two of British key players will miss bicentennial tournament next month in the interest of bringing greater depth to Olympic challenge Great Britain 30pts France 12 THE BIGGEST disappointment for Mai Reilly the British coach was that the Whitbread Trophy Test at Headingley on Saturday did not reveal anything which will aid the difficult task of selecting the right players for the tour party to Australia in April Tony not run for him tactically was in the fight for about eight rounds but he never opened any doors for me to get close I was drifting out of the he said have got to be truthful the fight was running away It was like a train which missed my stop and I just could not catch it he did tag me it was a good shot but I was asking for that for the last three rounds never fought the way I had trained I wanted to cut the range down and keep him tight so he could not hit me I was always half a pace too far out and I just could not close the Tate said: could have finished him in the fourth but I wanted to do a bit more work He really give me any problems I wanted a jabbing contest and then to come in over the top with my right hand and what Jesse Reid trainer said: would be perfectly happy to come here again You MB SNOOKER Impressive West puts out Hallett By Terry Smith BARRY WEST of Doncaster last night earned the first semi-final appearance of his career when he beat Mike Hallett 6-5 in the £63000 English Professional Snooker Championship at Ipswich West who beat Jimmy White 6-2 in the previous round continued his impressive run as he took the final three frames against Hallett including an outstanding 134 break the best of the tournament so far Foulds so disappointing this season was 2-1 down against Willie Thorne but took five frames in a row to win 6-2 Tony Meo the defending champion still went home with a trophy even though his two-year reign came to an end with a 6-4 quarter-final defeat by Dean Reynolds There is no sponsor this season and Meo was told he could keep the cup but that will not compensate for missing out on three successive English titles 4th rd: West bt White 6-2 Frames: 67-12 61-38 88-40 55-63 64-31 61-1 1-84 49-37 Johnson bt Martin 6-4 Frames: 34-66 51-82 48-57 77-27 94-16 76-24 66-34 22-70 62-33 77-42 A Meo bt Longworth 6-4 Frames: 53-44 65-16 75-31 23-73 68-16 53-65 69-34 24-69 31-69 75-17 Thorne bt Virgo 6-0 Frames: 83-29 72-49 74-26 77-28 120-12 90-14 Reynolds bt Parrott 6-2 Frames: 7-81 46-76 65-57 65-27 66-13 59-53 112-18 69-8 Hallett bt Williams 6-3 Frames: 34-89 79-65 100-1 27-76 60-23 73-30 13-123 101 -0 62-18 Qtr-fnls: Foulds bt Thorne 6-2 Frames: 69-21 34-66 18-106 69-22 79-48 87-52 46-25 101-0 Reynolds bt Meo 6-4 Frames: 41-87 33-63 61-58 73-14 102-8 71-16 32-78 7 71 67-0 81-34 Johnson bt A Knowles 6-4 Frames: 86-8 81-24 74-18 42-90 21-70 20-67 38-69 78-55 72-25 69-37 West bt Hallett 6-5 Frames 59-55 18-68 84-12 18-66 66-42 51-63 29-52 0-86 134-0 71-36 78-30 Semi-final (17 frames): 1pm (7 frames) 7pm (10 frames): Reynolds A Knowles or Johnson ATHLETICS Schoenlebe beats own world record THOMAS Schoenlebe of East Germany set an indoor world record of 4505 seconds for the 400 metres at an international meeting in Sindelfingen West Germany yesterday Schoenlebe broke his own record of 4541 set in Vienna on Feb 9 1986 Ben Johnson of Canada missed the race with a pulled muscle in his upper left thigh Johnson pulled the muscle on Friday while running in the 60 metre event which he won with a time of 650 seconds meet Eklund of Sweden in Las Vegas on March 19 Meanwhile Marlon Starling of the United States made his first successful defence of his WBA welterweight championship in Atlantic City when he outpointed Fujio Ozaki of Japan over 12 rounds On another bill in the same city Greg Haugen recaptured the IBF lightweight crown with a unanimous 15-round points decision over titleholder and fellow-American Vinny Pazienza Kelvin Seabrooks of the United States retained his IBF bantamweight title when he stopped the Mexican Fernando Beltran in the second round of their scheduled 15-round bout in Paris Yuh Myung-woo of South Korea kept his WBA junior-fly-weight title by outpointing another Mexican Willie Salazar in Seoul yesterday LAWN TENNIS Tauson puts Denmark in last eight lowly-ranked Michael Tauson fought back from a set down to clinch a 3-6 6-1 13-11 6-4 victory over Emilio Sanchez and send fancied Spain out of the Davis Cup yesterday Spain had earlier squared their world group first round tie 2-2 after Sergio Casal had dispatched Morten Christensen in straight sets 6-4 6-4 6-4 in the first of the reverse singles When Sanchez ranked 17th in the world took the first set 6-3 Spain appeared on their way to a quarter-final place But Tausoi immediately fought back racing to a 4-0 lead in the second with two service breaks and clinching the set 6-1 In the third set Sanchez had break point five times but Tauson answered each one with an ace Both held their serves until the Dane broke to make it 12-11 and then held his own serve to go into a 2-1 lead The Dane immediately followed by breaking first service in the fourth set and held on to take the set 6-4 and the match to line up a quarter-final place against West Germany in Frankfurt in April Earlier Christensen had only one break chance in a contest where Sergio Casal was in control throughout Meanwhile defending Davis Cup champions Sweden already leading 3-0 against New Zealand in the first-round world group tie extended their winning margin to 5-0 after reverse singles matches Sweden now meet Czechoslovakia in the quarter-finals New Zealand must fight for their survival in the world group with a relegation fixture against Paraguay Advantage to Hetherington AFTER the drama of two superb semi-finals Jill 55-minute victory over Katrina Adams in the final of the Femleaf Classic in Wellington was an anti-climax A pulled back muscle during practice shortly before the final left Miss Adams in considerable pain and unable to reproduce the form that allowed her to overcome top seed Patty Fendick WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL TMENT (Wellington): Singles final: Hetherington (Canada) bt Adams (US) 6-1 6-1 GEORGE FOREMAN the former world heavyweight champion warmed up for his fight against Scandinavian champion Anders Ek-lund next month with a convincing victory over Guido Trane of Italy in Las Vegas The American who has stopped all seven of his opponents since returning to the ring 11 months ago after a 10-year lay-off had no problem with the Italian champion halting him two minutes and 39 seconds into the fifth round The one-sided bout was stopped by the ringside doctor after Trane suffered a possible broken nose and sustained a deep cut on his left eyelid both inflicted in the fifth round Foreman 39 who reigned as heavyweight champion from 1973 to 1974 improved his record to 52 victories and only two defeats and is scheduled to CYCLO-CROSS Trophy goes to Baker By Phil Liggett DAVID BAKER the Sheffield amateur won the Holdsworth National Trophy for the first time yesterday producing a tenacious performance to finish second in the final event at Wolverhampton Baker faced with the impossible task of catching a determined Steve Douce yesterday concentrated on finishing second Anything less would have given Douce the trophy for a fourth successive year Douce leading from the first lap was more than a minute ahead halfway through the 14-mile race But by the time Douce crossed the line 43 seconds ahead Baker had fought back to within 300 yards and so too the trophy by a single point SNR RACE Douce (Raleigh Banana) Ihr 7m 6s 2 Baker (Ace RT) at 43s 3 Young (Paragon RT) at 50s 4 Vervael (Belgium) at 1m 2s 5 Clarke (Surrey RCC) at 4-24 6 Gould (Ace RT) at 4-47 Teem: Ace RT-Peugeot JNRSVETERANS I Wright (VC Lincoln) 46-51 2 McGhee (Elizabethean CC) at 28s 3 Bradbury (Polytechnic CC) at 1-44 4 Lay he (Kenilworth Whs) at 1-54 5 Mavin (Bradford RCC) at 2-22 6 A Layhe (Kenilworth Whs) at 2-36 FINAL TROPHY POSITIONS Snrs: 1 Baker 116pts 2 Douce 115 3 Young 92 Jnrs: 1 Wright 120 2 Craig (VC Oldham) 98 3 Mavin 91 Veterans: 1 Bradbury 1 20 2 Ravenhill (Sapphire RC) 108 3 Johnson (Zodiac CRC) 99 NETBALL Hopkins spot-on Andrea Hopkins playing her first full international stole the show as Wales comfortably beat Scotland 51-38 in Glasgow on Saturday writes Geoff Young The goalshoot from Gwent scored 41 goals from 48 attempts as Wales avenged a defeat by Scotland in last world tournament Goal-attack Jane Allthrich chipped in with 10 goals from 11 attempts Scotland 38 (S Robertson 23) Whies 51 (A Hopkins 41 Allthrich 10) Under-IB: Scotland 29 Wales 65 Mrs Podger 26 today who is seven pounds lighter than in her prune beat Claire Palmer a promising youngster 8-11 8-3 8-4 to qualify for a quarter-final meeting with Gillian Gowers the third seed experience was enough to see me through but I have to raise my game for the next one" said Mrs Podger the equal-fifth seed who has not competed at this level for four years Mrs Podger said she would again like to play Uber Cup She was a member of silver medabwinning team in 1984 the best result Two seeds fell in the third round of the singles Miles Johnson carrying an arm injury could not hit a length consistent enough to contain Terry Fljmn Peter Smith who was expected to confront Steve Butler in quarter-finals lost to Dave Wright CARLSBERG ENGUSH NAT CH'SHIPS (Crawley) Men's singles 1st rd: Adams (Yorks) bt Peck ham (Hants) 15-9 15-9 A Fairhurst (Lancs) bt A Bush (Wits) 6-15 15-12 15-9 Riley (Middx) bt Bush (Sussex) 15-7 15-8 Elliott (Surrey) bt Knowles (Kent) 15-1 8-15 18-16 Smith (Hants) bt I Bucfcnetl (Yorks) 1-5 15-3 Palmer (Essex) bt Dixon (Northumb) 15-5 15-9: Kum Wsi Kok (Essex) bt Dennis (Surrey) 15-1 17-15 Hunt (Lancs) bt Collier (Yorks) 15-12 11-15 15-7 Jolly (Essex) bt Stevens (Essex) 15-8 0-15 Whalley FENCING Harper edged out in final By Bill Meredith PIERRE HARPER the British national foil champion lost to the talented Italian Luca Vitalesta in the final of the international Leon Paul Cup at the Sedgwick Centre London last night Harper who beat team colleague Francesco Rossi in an outstanding semifinal led 7-3 at one stage of the final but the Italian kept his fiery temperament under strict control and finally edged home 10-8 Even so Harper earned crucial points towards being one of three individual representatives in the Seoul Olympics although he already has enough points for team selection Bill Gosbee the holder surprisingly went out in the quarter-final 10-7 to fellow-Briton Johnny Davis who is also hoping to be in the top three for Seoul Gosbee being already assured of an individual place Davis went on to meet Vitalesta in the semi-final and was desperately unlucky to go down 11-9 after leading for most of the way Indeed many thought the winning hit should have gone the other way LEON-PAUL (Sedgwick Centre London): Qtr-Final: Davis bt Gosbee 10-7 Vitalsats (Italy) bt A Garcia (Spain 12-11 Roasi (My) bt Bartlett 10-2 Harper bt da Lageria (Franca) 10-4 Sami-Finais: Vitalesta bt Davis 11-9: Harper bt Rossi 10-7 3rd 4th Place: Roan bt Daws 10-8 Final: Vitalesta bt Harper 10-8 CROSS-COUNTRY SURREY Div 1 (S miles Richmond Park): 1 Ford (Aldershot) 27-26 Wight (Betgrsve) 27-40 3 Jones (Rane-lagh) 27-48 Teem: 1 Aldershot 229pt 2 Beigrsve 326: 3 Rsnslsgh 333 CHILTERN Div 1 (5 mil Wind sor): 1 (Old Geytonians) 29-59 2 Marlow (Bracknell) 30-33 3 Cackett (Windsor) Team: 1 Bracknell 1269pts 2 Reading 1218 3 Old Gayton ns 1196 SWIMMING INT'NAL SHORT-COURSE MTG (Pans) 200m medley: 1 A Pa- trascoiu (Rumania) 2m 1536 2 Bensimon 2-1666 3 Long (GB) 2-17 77 15-7 Flynn (Worcs) bt Panesar (Yorks) 15-715-9 Darlington (Hants) bt A Casey (Staffs) 15-10 15-6 Johnson (Devon) bt Dyus (Surrey) 15-7 15-4 Edevane (Hants) bt A Wallwork (Lancs) 15-3 15-11 Wright (Yorks) bt I Wight (Derbys) 15-10 15-12 Harmsworth (Essex) bt Pallant (Sussex) 15-4 17-14 Smith (Surrey) bt Yates (Surrey) 15-5 11-15 15-6 2nd rd: Adams bt Fairhurst 15-6 15-12 Elliott bt Riley 15-10 15-9 Smith bt Palmer 15-3 15-5 Kok bt Hunt 10-15 15-2 15-9 Flynn bt Jolly 15-4 15-10 Johnson bt Darlington 15-7 15-2: Wright bt Edevane 17-14 15-8 Smith bt Harmsworth 6-15 15-215-4 3rd rd: Adams bt Elliott 15-2 15-1 Smith bt Kok 15-3 15-2 Flynn bt Johnson (Devon) 18-14 15-7 Wright bt Smith (Surrey) 15-9 15-9 Women's 1st rd: Groves (Sussex) bt Egerton (Gloucs) woK Peat-field (Notts) bt Wills (Oxford) wo A Fisher (Essex) bt A Humby (Hants) 11-3 11-1 Greenwood (Yorks) bt Batten (Sussex) 11-4 11-5 Smith (Hants) bt McCann (Worcs) 9-12 11-2 11-5 Gallup (Surrey) btT Dineen (Essex) 11-5 11-7 Allwright (Essex) bt Clark (Surrey) wo C- Palmer (Hampshire) bt Blair (Devon) 6-11 11-6 11-5 A Abbott (Notts) bt Hillman (Berks) 11-2 11-4 Bradbury (Oxford) bt Buddie (Middx) 11-7 11-6 Bad man (Sussex) bt Sait (Lancs) wo Clarke (Yorks) bt Salmon (Essex) 11-9 11-12 11-6 2nd rd Groves bt A Heywood (Yorks) 11-3 11-2 Fisher bt PeatfiekJ 11-4 11-1 Halsall (Lancs) bt Greenwood 11-2 11-5 Gallup bt Smith 11 -7 11 -4 Palmer bt Allwright 11-7 11-8 Podger (Guernsey) bt Abbott 11-1 11-3 Bradbury bt Badman 1 1 -7 1 1 -0 unday (Surrey) bl Clarke 1 1-6 11-4 3rd rd: Fisher bt Groves 11-2 11-0 Halsall bt Gallup 5-11 12-11 11-1 Podger bt Palmer 8-11 11-3 11-4 Munday bt Bradbury (Oxon) 8-11 11-8 11-2 Players 2 Sutton Coldfield 1 Lichfield 0 Wolverhampton 1 Beeston 1 SCHOOLS: Bedford 7 Millhill Bloxham 4 Dean Close Caterham 5 Sutton Valence 0 Cranbrook 2 King's Canterbury Dulwich Eastbourne 1 King Edward's VI Southampton 0 Bryanston 1 Merchant Taylors North wood 2 Berkhamsted Reeds 2 Wellington (Berks) 6 Reigate GS 2 Huret-pierpoint The Leys 2 Uppingham Trinity Croydon 2 Kings Rochester 1 King Edward School (Bath) 0 Dauntsey's Taunton 1 Canford 1 WOMEN Bath 3 Firebrands BAC 2 Gloucester Cheltenham 3 St Gregory's Chard 0 Westlands 0 Georgians 0 Trowbridge 3 Frome 0 Yeovil 1 Niatsea 4 Bath Univ 1 Sidmouth 1 Green Dragons 1 Sun Life 3 Cleeve Weymouth 2 Exmouth West-berries 2 Jaspers 2 NAT WEST SURREY Div 1: Nat West Bk 0 Barnes 2 YESTERDAY McEWANS LAGER SOUTH Pram Div: Eastcote 1 Havant 5 COUNTIES: Bedfordshire 1 Essex 3 Hertfordshire 4 Norfolk 1 U-21: Bedfordshire 0 Essex Hertfordshire 0 Norfolk 0 SUN UFE WEST Pram Div: Taunton Vale 5 Marlborough 0 SOMERSET PLATE Qtr Finals: Bath Bucks 2 Clevedon Breen 0 Minehead Firebrands 2 Taunton Vale Bristolians 1 Bath 2 GLOUCESTERSHIRE Finals: Westbury Bks 1 Cheltenham 0 Denis Hay Great coach yesterday announced his squad of 16 to compete in the Australian Six Nations Tournament and stressed his intention of looking at as many Olympic prospects as possible The team was announced after a training involving 26 players at Lilleshall As expected Sue Williams third representative will fill the void left by Mary Cheetham unavailable because of professional demands Gillian Messenger who lost her place before the Olympic play-off against the Soviet Union is given another chance Like Williams Julie Elms the Welsh and Carmarthen goalkeeper is a new cap Wales now take full responsibility for goal with Wendy Banks of Buckley the established alternative to Cook remaining in the 16 GREAT BRITAIN: Atkin (Bradford) Banks (Buckley) Brown (Leicester) Brown (Slough) Elms (Carmarthen) Fraser (Glasgow Western) Hambty (Sutton Coldfield) Jordan (Hyndland) McBride (Portadown) McLeod (Glasgow Western) Messenger (Edinburgh) Parker (Slough) A Ramsay (Perthshire) "Rule (Leicester) Sixsmith (Sutton Coldfield) Williams (Slough) Race for league places hots up By Chris Moore THE race for the remaining National Hockey League places is heading for a close finish in London where St Albans Bromley and Reading all failed to collect much-needed points over the weekend St Albans beaten 2-1 at Ted-dington on Saturday ran into further trouble yesterday when Sean Kerly Steve Batchelor and Dave Thomas gave Southgate a 3-0 interval lead St Albans fought back well in the second half but had goalkeeper John Spicer to thank for restricting the lead until the dying minutes when Paul Moulton made it 4-0 Teddington beat Reading 3-2 yesterday with goals from Philip McGuire Neil Barker and Russell Benzies Bromley rarely ventured into the Hounslow half on Saturday and went down 4-0 to goals from Parmi Soor David Dixon Mike Allcock and Tony Diamond What emerged from the game was already known the British are stronger than the French Steve Hampson is the best full back in the country Ellery Hanley and Garry Schofield are a match-winning pair of centres and the pack will need to improve The question the first-choice wing men remains unanswered as neither Ford or Plange were given sufficient service to show their mettle Schofield was given the goal-kicking role on Saturday for the first time in three years He managed five successes and got his inevitable try but like his side was not at his spectacular best Unlike at Avignon two weeks ago there was never the remotest chance of a surprise defeat Tries by Gregory and Hanley in the opening four minutes effectively ended the game as a contest France showed a flash of flair when Pons touched down midway through the first half but Hanley put Schofield away to give Britain a comfortable 18-6 advantage Brave defence restricted the British to two second-half tries but France could do nothing to halt powerful surge from the 25 Plange added the fifth try eight minutes from time Khedimi scored the second French try in the final minute and Bourrel kicked the second of his conversions GREAT BRITAIN: Hampton (Wigan): Planga (Castleford) Schofield (Leeds) Hanley (Wigan) Ford (Bradford) Edwards (Wigan) (sub Stephenson Leeds 71) Gregory (Wigan) Ward Beard more (Castleford) Weddell (Oldham) Powell (Leeds) (sub Medley Leeds 59) Dixon (Halifax) Platt (St Helens) FRANCE: Pougeeu Ratier Fourquet Delaunay Pons Espunga Bourrel: Tis-seyra Khedimi Ailleres (sub Moliner 52) Montgailtard Vardas Geetas Referee: Kesha (New Zealand) Martin Offiah the winger omitted from the Great Britain squad staked his claim for a tour place yesterday by scoring three tries as Widnes beat Bradford Northern 26-4 to go eight points clear at the top of the Stones Bitter Championship STONES BITTER Hull 30 Hunslst 22 Leigh 18 Leeds 6 St Helens 16 Halifax Warrington 32 Castleford 6 Widnes 26 Bradford 4 Div 2 Barrow 14 Keighley 6 Bremley 6 Whitehaven Dewsbury 16 Doncaster 6 Feat her st one Rov 14 Fulham 0 Spring-field 14 Mansfield 7 Wbkefietd 14 Bailey 0 Workington 8 Oldham 16 WEEKEND HOCKEY RESULTS Me EWANS LAGER SOUTH LGE Pram Div: Amersham 0 Havant 1 Berks Bucks 4 Oxon Div 1: Milton Keynes 1 Trirtg 4 Newbury 1 Morris Mtrs 1 Middlesex Div 1 Meadhuret 2 Imperial Coll 4 Staines 1 Ashford 1 Div 1: Bk of England 1 Walton Barclays Bk Wellington 2 Div 2: Shirley 0 Epsom 4 Sute ex Div 1: Brighton 1 Crawley 0 Penguins 4 Hailsham 2 Kent Sussex: Uoyds Bk 2 Heme Bay 1 SUN LIFE WEST Pram Div: Breen 3 Cheltenham 0 Firebrand 2 Exter City Univ Hereford 1 Gloucester 1 Div 3: Almans-buryO Bristol YMCA0 Clubs: Bristol 2 Bristol Univ 0 Bath Buccs 1 Gloucestershire 0 Clevedon 1 Cardiff 2 Exmouth 0 Plymouth 3 Imperial 2 Chard 3 Lydney 0 Bridgend 2 Midsomerset 3 Minehead 2 Newport 4 Bath 1 Porteshead a Cumbran Wilts 2 Swindon Wsst-bury Bks 3 Yate 0 Weymouth 4 Petersfield 1 Yatton 3 Bristolians 2 WILSON Div 1: Coventry 4 Warwickshire 5 Chesterfield Derby 1 Worn-bourne 2 arbor ne 2 Stone 0 Kidderminster 2 Bloxwich 2 Leicester Westteigh 0 Cannock 1 Olton 4 Warwickshire 0 Stourport 1 Pickwick 1 Khalsa 2 Nottingham 0 Boumville 0 Div 2: Aldridge 3 Northampton Saints 2 Barford Tigers 4 Hampton in Arden 0 Bel per 2 Nottingham Leicester 3 Kings Heath Redditch 2 Bndgford Streetty 3 Stafford 1 Worcester Norton 1 Edgbaston 2 Div 3: Birmingham Univ 1 Gynrfit 2 Finchfield 1 Bridgnorth GEC Coventry 2 1 4 I i.