Bitter-sweet success for Allen

Basketball Ray Allen celebrated the Boston Celtics' seventeenth NBA title early yesterday, just hours after learning that his baby son has diabetes. The Celtics guard, who took up the sport as a child while living on a US Air Force base near Ipswich, scored 26 points as Boston beat the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 at the TD Banknorth Garden to win the series 4-2.

However, Allen almost missed the victory because he had to stay in Los Angeles, where his son was taken into hospital over the weekend. “On Sunday morning, we had to admit him to hospital and found out he was diagnosed with diabetes,” Allen said.

Chinese driver killed

Motor rallying Xu Lang, the top Chinese racing driver, was killed when a trailer tow hook struck him in the face during a rally in Russia, race organisers said last night. Xu died on Tuesday during the fifth leg of the Transoriental Rally. The incident occurred as Xu was helping to pull another vehicle out of the mud. The towing cable broke, striking Xu hard in the face. Xu was a two-times Paris-Dakar veteran, who was driving for the Nissan Zhengzhou Corp team.

More money on offer

Darts The Professional Darts Corporation is to increase its annual prize-money from £3.1 million to £5 million, starting from next year, with the introduction of a projected 13 new events. Five existing televised tournaments will offer a first prize of at least £100,000. Some of the extra prize-money has been generated by the success of the Whyte & Mackay Premier League.

Tindall turns on the style

Hockey James Tindall scored the only goal of the match with a superb individual effort in the 24th minute to steer Great Britain to a 1-0 victory over New Zealand in a one-off international in Amsterdam last night. In the team's last match before the squad for the Beijing Olympic Games is announced on Tuesday, the Surbiton striker beat three defenders before finishing with a powerful shot.

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