Calzaghe eyeing up attendance record

Boxing Joe Calzaghe will be chasing a record held by Muhammad Ali when he makes the 21st defence of his WBO super-middleweight title against Mikkel Kessler, the WBC and WBA champion from Denmark, at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on November 3. The bout could break the indoor attendance record of 63,350, set by Ali’s second bout with Leon Spinks at the Superdome in New Orleans in 1978, with 17,500 tickets sold in five days. “It’s the sort of fight I really get excited for,” Calzaghe said. “It’s the biggest fight out there for me and maybe the most difficult. This is a guy who’s at his peak.”

Wilkin to miss derby

Rugby league Jon Wilkin, the St Helens and Great Britain forward, will miss the engage Super League derby against Wigan Warriors on Friday after he was handed a one-match ban and fined £300 for his dismissal against Bradford Bulls last Friday. Danny Sculthorpe, the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats prop, was given a one-match ban and a £300 fine after being found guilty of a high tackle.

Off-colour oarsman

Rowing Thorsten Engelmann, the world champion from Germany, will not receive a Blue for stroking Cambridge University to victory in this year’s Boat Race after he abandoned his studies to rejoin his national team. The organisers said that they are determined to protect the integrity of the event. However, Engelmann will keep his 2006 Blue because he completed that academic year.

In at the deep end

Swimming Great Britain have selected a 115-strong “2012 training squad” of talented 13 to 17-year-olds in the build-up to the London Olympics in five summers’ time. The target group will receive help with coaching and sports science and be granted more opportunities for international competition. Bill Sweetenham, the performance director, said: “This will increase and intensify each year.”

Latham on the bench

Rugby union Chris Latham, the full back, returns for Australia against New Zealand in the match that will decide the Tri-Nations. After only one club match since knee reconstruction in January, Latham will take his place among the replacements for Saturday’s match at Eden Park in Auckland. Australia will confirm their squad for the World Cup in France this autumn 48 hours later.

Double joy for Wales

Bowls Wales won two Atlantic Championship titles at Ayr Northfield when Martin Selway and Robert Horgan edged home 16-15 in the men’s pairs and Neil Rees, Mike Prosser and Andrew Atwood beat Ireland 23-5 in the triples. In the women’s events, Lynne Whitehead, Jean Baker and Amy Monkhouse, of England, won the triples and Kay Moran and Margaret Letham, of Scotland, the pairs.

Germany too strong

Hockey Lucilla Wright scored an equaliser in the sixth minute for England, but it was not enough to prevent them losing 3-1 to Germany after Natascha Keller, the striker, scored a goal in each half in a friendly at Belle Vue, Manchester, yesterday. In an under-21 match in Nottingham, England beat their Germany counterparts 3-0 thanks to two goals by Katie Long and one by Nicola White.