Pro-Khan
Olympic boxing star, Amir Khan, will definitely end his amateur career on April 16, when he will make his last unpaid appearance against Mamo Kindelan in Liverpool with a Four Nations contest. The Cuban beat Khan last August in Athens to take the gold medal. Khan, now a light-welterweight, will fight out of the Frank Warren stable and hopes to hone his skills by sparring with world title contender, Ricky Hatton.
Estoril Open
Portugal’s only AIP/WJA tour event, to be played next month just outside Lisbon, has failed to attract tennis’s top draw stars. The men’s entry is headed by Carlos Moya and Gaston Gaudio, ranked 7th and 8th in the world, followed by Joachim Johansson and Nicolas Masso, both in the top 20. Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero, whose ranking has slipped to 93, has received a wild card.
The situation in the women’s draw is more desperate. Unknown Flavia Pennetta will be seeded one due to her world ranking of 29. More recognisable are the names of Dinara Safina, Lisa Raymond and Marlene Weingartner, but it is indicative of the tournament’s poor standing that not one of the legions of Russian teenagers has bothered to enter.
