WORLD OF SPORT

▷▷▷ Most dominant display of the day Yohann Diniz became the oldest man to become a world athletics champion at the age of 39 as he won the 50-kilometre walk title yesterday in London. The French world record holder produced the secondfastest walk in history at 3 hours, 33 minutes, 12 seconds, a time only he has bettered – with one of the top performances of the entire World Championships. Diniz was so dominant en route to his long-awaited first global title that he lapped nearly all the 43-strong field over the 2km looped circuit on The Mall, finishing less than a minute adrift of his three-year-old world record of 3:32:33. He was even able to take a swift comfort break when leading in the first 15 minutes before rejoining the race. “Last night I kept away from watching the athletics on TV because I did not want to get too excited. I went to bed at nine because I knew it was going to be my day,” he said of his success. ▷▷▷ Biggest in-house row of the day World boxing’s governing body AIBA has escalated farther into farce after one of the two factions claiming leadership of the beleaguered organisation attempted to sack its executive director, William Louis-Marie. The International Management Committee, ostensibly those members of the executive committee who passed a no-confidence motion in AIBA president Wu Ching-kuo last month, sent a letter informing the Frenchman he is suspended with immediate effect. Wu hit back immediately and insisted the attempted suspension was “unlawful”, and accused IMC members of mounting an “unjustified personal attack” on Louis-Marie. The latest move raises more serious questions over the competency of the governing body to stage its World Championships that are scheduled to start in Hamburg on August 25. Biggest return of the day Former chess world champion Garry Kasparov is returning to action today to the excitement of his younger rivals, who are looking forward to going up against him. The 54-yearold Russian, who has not played competitively since 2005, is in action at the new Rapid and Blitz chess tournament at St Louis in the United States. “Everyone is talking about it,” American chess grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez said of Kasparov’s comeback. “People are flying from India and China to see this dude play.” The competition runs through until Saturday, with Kasparov also being expected to play in the following week’s Sinquefield Cup that is also taking place in St Louis.