Rowing: James Cracknell, suffering from a heavy cold, was a spectator at the British Indoor Championships at Birmingham yesterday when the bulk of the top event medals fell into the hands of overseas athletes. The men’s title was won by Jamie Schroeder, from the United States, an accomplished musician who only became involved in rowing in 2001. His winning time, 5min 47.6sec, was identical to that recorded by Cracknell in the 2001 championships but Cracknell admitted that he would not have matched it. Josh West was the fastest Briton in fifth place overall. Britain’s fastest woman was Debbie Flood in overall fourth place, the winner being Carli Halpenny, of Canada, a recently converted basketball player. Rebecca Romero retained her women’s under-23 title and Steve Rowbotham became the new men’s under-23 champion.

Rules appeal

Badminton: England and three other countries are to go ahead with a complaint to the Court for Arbitration in Sport in Lausanne that a scoring system which discriminates against women has been imposed unlawfully by the International Badminton Federation (IBF). The IBF discussed the matter at a council meeting in Bangkok on Saturday, but refused to change its mind.

Baxter revival

Skiing: Alain Baxter, in his first competitive race since being stripped of his Olympic bronze medal after failing a drug test, finished third in the NorAm Cup in Loveland, Colorado, yesterday. Baxter, who is preparing for next weekend’s World Cup event, finished 0.18sec behind the winner, Rainer Schonfelder, from Austria, in the slalom.

Meads in final

Squash: Stephen Meads, of England, will meet Davide Bianchetti, from Italy, in the final of the Porto Cup in Portugal. Meads, 32, the No 1 seed and world No 31, from Berkshire, cruised to his third successive straight games victory in the event when he beat Borja Golan, an unseeded Spaniard, 15-9, 15-12, 15-7.

Lutton on form

Netball: Josie Lutton, a schoolgirl from Stockport, turned in her best display of the season when her almost flawless shooting helped YWCA Bury, the champions, to defeat Kent Club 59-43 and consolidate their position at the top of the National Clubs League. Lutton and Karen Greig converted 80 per cent of their chances.

Finishing touch

Rugby league: England A completed their South Pacific tour with a 30-18 defeat of Tonga, in the wake of their controversial loss to a Fiji President’s XIII, in which Sean O’Loughlin, the captain, was sent off but avoided suspension. Saturday was a better day for O’Loughlin, who opened the scoring.

Holders bow out

Bowls: Durham, the defending champions, and Devon, who lost in the final of the national inter-county championship last winter, surprisingly failed to clinch places in the Liberty Trophy quarter-finals. Durham lost by ten shots to Leicestershire and Devon were beaten by 20 shots by Kent.