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Swim world records fall in Hungary

DEBRECEN, Hungary (AP) — Sanja Jovanovic of Croatia set a new world record in the women’s 50-meter backstroke at the European Short Course Swimming Championships on Saturday with a time of 26.50 seconds.

Hui Li of China held the previous mark of 26.83, set Dec. 2, 2001, in Shanghai, China.

I still can’t believe that I set a new world record. I thought I could win but I did not expect a world record, said Jovanovic, who finished second in the 100 backstroke Friday.

Germany also set a world record in the women’s 4×50 medley relay, with Janine Pietsch, Janne Schaefer, Annika Mehlhorn and Britta Steffen finishing in 1 minute, 46.67 seconds.

The Netherlands’ team of Hinkelien Schreuder, Moniek Nijhuis, Inge Dekker and Magdalena Veldhuis held the previous mark of 1:47.44, set Dec. 10, 2005, in Trieste, Italy.

Two championship records were also set Saturday.

Alain Bernard of France completed the men’s 100 freestyle in 46.39 to break the previous record of 46.52 set by Filippo Magnini of Italy in 2007.

Magnini finished third Saturday behind Bernard and Sweden’s Stefan Nystrand.

Yuliya Efimova of Russia set the other championship record by clocking 1:05.56 in a semifinal of the women’s 100 breaststroke.

The previous mark of 1:05.56 was set by Anna Khlistunova of Ukraine in Helsinki last year.

Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh won his third gold medal of the competition — and the first in which he failed to set a world record — winning the 200 butterfly in 1:51.55, ahead of Pawel Korzeniowski of Poland and Ioannis Drymonakos of Greece.

Cseh set world marks in the 400 and 200 individual medleys.

Frenchwoman Laure Manaudou won her second gold medal in Debrecen in the 400 freestyle, clocking 3:57.43 to finish ahead of Federica Pellegrini of Italy and Hungary’s Agnes Mutina. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Capello: ‘England job is my last’

LONDON, England — New England manager Fabio Capello will be looking to go out on a high after insisting his new role would be the last of his illustrious career.

Speaking for the first time since being given the task of resurrecting the nation’s footballing dreams following their failure to qualify for Euro 2008, Capello also admitted he has a tough job ahead of him.

The England manager’s job will be the last of my career, the 61-year-old told Italy’s national broadcaster, RAI: It would be really nice to finish in this way.

However, I’m expecting some very tough work because I will have to study a lot more than if I was in charge of a club side.

However, Capello is confident that the team he inherits from Steve McClaren can go a long way in their campaign for the 2010 World Cup.

The former AC Milan, Real Madrid, Roma and Juventus boss said: I know there’s a lot of expectations, but I think that I and my team will reach great objectives.

The former Real Madrid boss has been working as a commentator for the Italian television channel since being sacked from his post with the Spanish giants, despite winning the Primera Liga title.
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French leaders Lyon held by Nice

LONDON, England — Nice held French league leaders Olympique Lyon to a 0-0 draw as the home side struggled after their midweek heroics in the Champions League.

Visiting goalkeeper Hugo Lloris kept Nice in the match with a string of fine saves but they have won the match late on when Ederson’s curling free kick hit the crossbar and bounced on the line.

Lyon were below their best and looked weary after beating Glasgow Rangers 3-0 in a thrilling match at Ibrox on Wednesday to reach the last 16 of Europe’s premier club competition,

Lyon have 38 points from 18 rounds, five more than second-placed Nancy, who play at Strasbourg on Sunday.

Paris Saint-Germain lost at home for the sixth time going down 2-1 to Toulouse at Parc des Princes.

Toulouse striker Johan Elmander scored in each half to take his total to seven goals in the last four games, and Pauleta netted a late penalty kick for PSG.

Meanwhile in the Scottish Premier League, Rangers rebounded from their midweek disappointment against Lyon to beat Hearts 2-1.

The valuable win sees them close to within two points of leaders and reigning champions Celtic who play at Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Sunday.

Lee McCulloch scored the opener for Rangers when he collected a loose ball and shot past goalkeeper Eduardas Kurskis.

Andrius Velicka got his eighth goal of the season in the 56th for Hearts and McCulloch scored the winner with three minutes left.

Rangers have 34 points from 15 games, two more than third-place Motherwell, which scored three times in the first half to beat Aberdeen 3-0. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Bayern lead disappears after draw

BERLIN, Germany — Bayern Munich will go into the German Bundesliga midwinter break as leaders despite being held to a dour goalless draw at Hertha Berlin on Saturday.

But Bayern’s advantage is only on goal difference ahead of Werder Bremen who drew level on points with a 5-2 rout of Bayer Leverkusen.

Bayern’s once-commanding lead has been gradually whittled down in the run-up to Christmas and they were made to struggle in Berlin

The pre-match mood was hardly helpful with captain Oliver Kahn suspended and heavily fined after criticizing teammates Luca Toni and Franck Ribery for lackluster performances.

Italian World Cup star Toni was out through injury, leaving Miroslav Klose as the sole striker and he made little impression, wasting the best chance of the match in the second half.

Bremen, hammered 4-0 by Bayern in the opening game of the season are certainly finding form and came from behind to hammer Leverkusen who led through Tranquillo Barnetta’s early goal.

Ivan Klasnic scored twice and Diego, Clemens Fritz and Markus Rosenberg once apiece for Bremen before Stefan Kiessling struck a consolation.

Four points behind Bayern and Werder are Hamburg who drew 1-1 with Karlsruhe. Champions Stuttgart lost 2-0 at Arminia Bielefeld, Schalke won 2-1 against Nurnberg and Wolfsburg beat Borussia Dortmund 4-0 E-mail to a friend

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City keep 100 per cent home record

LONDON, England — Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Manchester City maintained their perfect home record with a 4-2 win over struggling north-west neighbors Bolton to move into fourth place in the Premier League.

It was the ninth win in nine matches at Eastlands for City, who have 33 points from 17 games. Fifth-placed Liverpool, who are three points behind with two games in hand, take on champions Manchester United in the first of two key games on Sunday.

Leaders Arsenal play Chelsea later in the afternoon in another match which will play a big part in the outcome of the title race.

Eriksson’s men are showing every sign of being able to gatecrash the big four but after trailing 2-1 to Bolton, who have enjoyed a good recent run under new manager Gary Megson, hit back with three second half goals.

City went ahead in the seventh minute through Rolando Bianchi.before El-Hadji Diuof completed a neat move to make it 1-1 in the 31st minute.

Just before half-time Bolton regainded the lead when Kevin Nolan turned in Ricardo Gardner’s cross.

City drew level in the 48th minute when Bolton’s Lubomir Michalik headed into his own net as he tried to block a shot from Dietmar Hamann.

Darius Vassell put them 3-2 ahead with substitute Kelvin Etuhu wrapping up the win with his first Premier League goal in injury time.

Tottenham Hotspur had started the season with Champions League pretensions of their own, but a disastrous start under the now departed Martin Jol saw them in the relegation zone.

Their 1-0 win at Portsmouth, courtesy of a second half strike from Dimitar Berbatov, was their first away win of the season and lifted them to the comparative safety of 12th place.

Sunderland manager Roy Keane was furious with referee Steve Bennett after his side had a late goal disallowed in the 1-1 home draw with Aston Villa to leave them in the thick of the relegation dogfiight, while Middlesbrough had Sanli Tuncay to thank again for another vital goal in the 1-0 win at bottom side Derby.

Turkish star Tuncay scored the winner in last week’s 2-1 win over Arsenal and was on target for the third successive game.

Marcus Bent’s hat-trick lifted fellow strugglers Wigan to a 5-3 win over Blackburn in an incident-packed match, but Steve Bruce’s men are still second bottom.

Blackburn, who had Brett Emerton sent off in the second half, hit back to equalize at 3-3 with a hat-trick of their own for Roque Santa Cruz.

Republic of Ireland international Stephen Hunt scored a second half equalizer from the penalty spot as Reading held Birmingham 1-1 at St Andrews in another match between sides who are looking to pull clear of the relegation battle.

Everton’s excellent recent run continued apace as Aiyegbeni Yakubu scored in the 2-0 win at West Ham, who were looking for revenge for a League Cup quarterfinal defeat to the same opponents in midweek. E-mail to a friend

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