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BOXING: COPENHAGEN, Denmark: Johnny Bredahl of Denmark on Friday knocked out defending titlist Eidy Moya of Venezuela in the ninth round to become WBA bantamweight world champion. Bredahl, who also is IBC bantamweight world and WBA European champion, started cautiously in the first rounds by avoiding the energetic 27-year-old Venezuelan, who kept coming at the Dane. In the sixth round, Bredahl, 33, became more active, and toward the end of the three minutes, he landed a jab on Moya. In the following round, Moya, who failed to hit Bredahl properly, started waving his arms to tease the Dane as Bredahl danced around him. Carried by a partisan crowd, Bredahl floored Moya with a left-right combination in the ninth round. The Dane now has a 52-2-0 record, while Moya is 15-2-0. ``I promised my son Kristoffer I would become world champion tonight,'' Bredahl told the crowd. ``I've kept my promise.'' In another 12-round bout at Copenhagen's Hotel Falkoner, Denmark's Steffen Noerskov grabbed the WBA Europe Championship flyweight belt after outpointing Franck Gorjux of France 3-0 (120-108, 119-109, 119-109). The 25-year-old Dane now has a 15-0 record while Frenchman, 26, is 9-4.

ATHLETICS: CAPE TOWN, South Africa: Tim Montgomery of the United States won the 100-meter dash Friday in the final of the Engen Summer Series, then said he was out to grab the world record and beat the world record holder Maurice Greene this year. Montgomery, who clocked a slow 10.03 after his 9.94 a week ago at altitude, said he wanted to break Greene's world record of 9.79 and outrace his archrival. ``He doesn't know I'm coming, so don't tell him,'' he told the crowd as he set the scene for their clash in Britain on June 30. Montgomery had a poor start but finished with his trademark surge over the final 40 yards to run down South Africa's 60-metre star, Morne Nagel. Nagel finished a well-beaten second in 10.24. The performance of the meet, however, came from South African discus thrower Frantz Kruger, who set a world's best for the year so far of 68.24 meters. In the process, he defeated Olympic champion Lars Riedel of Germany and Lithuania's Virgilius Alekna. The three big men, ranked the best in the world by the IAAF, have frequently clashed in South Africa and always lift their game for those meets. Riedel was second with 65.80, and Alexander Tammert of Slovenia third with 64.35. Alekna was fourth with 63.88. The shock of the meet came in the men's 200-meter dash when last week's 19.85-second hero, Shawn Crawford of the United States, was run down by South Africa's Sherwin Vries in 20.50 seconds. With all the athletes complaining of the hard surface of the Green Point Stadium, the performances were not as good as could have been expected with such perfect weather conditions. The surface took its toll in the women's high jump, with world champion Hestrie Cloete of South Africa slipping continually on takeoff and clearing 1.80 meters for a lowly third place.

GOLF: HILTON HEAD ISLAND, USA: Phil Mickelson shot a seven-under-par 64 on Friday to equal the tournament 36-hole scoring record with a 13-under-par total of 129 to lead the WorldCom Classic after two rounds. Entering the weekend, Mickelson holds a two-shot lead over 1997 British Open winner Justin Leonard and Davis Love III, a four-time winner of the event played on the par-71 Harbour Town Golf Links. Alone in fourth place at 10-under-par is two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen. Cameron Beckman, who shot a nine-under 63, Billy Mayfair and Argentina's Angel Cabrera are all at nine-under 133. The 31-year-old Mickelson from Scottsdale, Arizona, is seeking to end a string of near misses. He has finished third in three of his last four starts, including at last week's Masters. ``I found that last week's event can energise your game, because you get this great sense of the sport's history,'' Mickelson said yesterday. ``To play the final nine holes of the Masters on Sunday is a fun opportunity as well as being both mentally and physically draining. But it also gives you energy and excitement to play, so my level of motivation is very high right now,'' he said.

MARATHON: LONDON: A man in an old-fashioned deep-sea diving suit became the slowest person to finish the London marathon on Friday. Charity campaigner Lloyd Scott (in picture) clanked across the finish line wearing lead-soled boots, a metal helmet and collar weighing 120 lbs (54 kg) five days after Khalid Khannouchi, a Moroccan-born American, made his a world record win of just over two hours on Sunday. ``I know it's just too surreal for words,'' a smiling Scott told Reuters as he hobbled past a group of gaping tourists. The 40-year-old fireman, who is raising money for Britain's Cancer and Leukaemia in Childhood charity, clocked in as the 32,875th and last person to finish the gruelling 42.195 km (26.2 miles) race this year. ``My feet are numb, my back and shoulders ache but I only got one blister and we hopefully raised about £100,000 ($145,000),'' Scott said. Scott was even pipped at the post by one of the race's oldest participants. Ninety-year-old Jenny Wood Allen blazed across the finish line by comparison in less than 12 hours. The marathon is the latest of several endurance events Scott has taken part in to raise money, including treks to the north and south poles and Mount Everest. He began raising money after he was diagnosed with leukaemia during treatment for an injury he received while rescuing two children from a burning house. He has been in remission for several years.

MOTOR RACING: Cologne (Germany): Michael Schumacher has been offered a ``contract for life'' with Ferrari, the four-time world Formula 1 champion said in an interview to be released here on Saturday. ``I recently spoke to the president of Ferrari, Luca Di Montezomolo, who more or less offered me a contract for life,'' Schumacher said in an interview with Saturday's edition of Koelner Statdt-Anzeiger newspaper. ``He (Di Montezomolo) told me, `if you want to drive until you are 100 years old, then drive till you're 100 years old','' added the 33-year-old German. Although that scenario looks unlikely, Schumacher said he would not be leaving the successful Italian team even after his retirement from racing. ``After I finish my driving career I will continue to work for Ferrari,'' Schumacher affirmed before saying he had no ambitions to be the team manager. ``But everything's working to perfection at the moment that I have very little effort to make so I think I'll be able to stay focused on my job a while yet. On an eventual move into team management, Schumacher was less motivated. ``That job just isn't for me. I don't think I would like it at all.'' Schumacher is currently well on course for a fifth overall world title, which would put him level with current record holder, Argentina's Manuel Fangio. Schumacher has 34 points in the drivers' championship, 14 more than Williams-driving younger brother Ralf, with Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya on 17.

GENERAL: LONDON: British Prime Minister Tony Blair's right-hand man Alastair Campbell was quoted by newspapers here on Saturday as saying he had introduced Sven Goran Eriksson to fellow Swede and TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson, allegedly involved in a secret affair with the England football coach. ``I was in a group of people including Ulrika Jonsson (at a London party in December) when Sven Goran Eriksson walked by,'' Campbell, the government's director of communications and strategy, was quoted by The Times. ``I said to her, `here's another Swede for you to talk to'.'' Quoted by the Daily Mirror, Campbell said: ``I thought as they were both Swedish and living in the UK they might have something in common. I was only being polite.'' The tabloid Mirror on Friday broke the story that Erikson, preparing to lead England in June's World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea, was dating Jonsson, who is already settled in Britain. Jonsson's agent refused to comment and the Football Association said it was a ``private matter.'' Eriksson, 53, has been with 37-year-old Italian lawyer Nancy Dell'Olio for three years. She was in the crowd to see England thrash Paraguay 4-0 in a friendly international on Wednesday - the last match for Eriksson's team before heading to the finals. Jonsson, 34, has long been a favourite of the tabloids, which have followed her career and turbulent private life with unfailing enthusiasm. A previous lover was former England striker Stan Collymore and the pair had a high-profile bust-up in a bar in Paris during the last World Cup finals in 1998.

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