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BOXING: WAILEA: Mike Tyson sure looks fit. Sitting on a couch a few metres from the ocean he bites on a towel and flexes his well-defined biceps for a few visitors. His fight with Lennox Lewis is still more than five weeks away, but Tyson is already around 230 pounds (103.5 kilograms), just a kilogram (pound) or so from what he wants to weigh when he gets into the ring. For the past months he's run 8-to-10 kilometres (5-to-6 miles) each morning along the ocean, drawing curious stares from the few tourists out early enough to see. Later he goes to a golf resort for serious work in a makeshift ring that occupies most of a conference room. His handlers say he likes to preen in front of a mirror, flexing and looking at a sculpted body that doesn't appear to have aged much in his 35th year. ``I've just got to get in proper preparation psychologically,'' Tyson said. ``Be hungry and determined.'' If Tyson can't be hungry and determined for this fight, it's time to get out of the game that has consumed him since the age of 13. He'll not only make untold millions to fight Lewis, but can re-establish himself as one of the great heavyweights of his time if he wins on June 8. He knows that. He also knows that many think he's a wild man in and out of the ring and that Lewis will have the psychological edge when they do meet.

CRICKET: AUCKLAND: New Zealand allrounder Dion Nash announced on Thursday his retirement from international cricket and said he was undecided on whether he will continue playing domestically. The 30-year-old Aucklander, plagued by a hip injury suffered last year, played 32 Tests since making his debut against Zimbabwe in Harare in 1992. He took 93 wickets at an average of 28.48 and scored 729 runs at 23.51. He also played 81 one-day internationals, taking 64 wickets and scoring 624 runs. His most memorable performance was taking 11 wickets for 169 in the drawn second Test against England at Lords in 1994. However, it was the winning tour of England five years later, which he described as a career highlight.``Specifically the (victorious) Oval Test. There was a long build-up and a lot involved. The team grew so much over that time so to come through and win that series was one of the most special times I can remember.'' Considered one of the New Zealand's most committed and intense competitors during the past decade, Nash was also one of the unluckiest in terms of injury, and missed more Test matches — 45 — than the 32 he played. He said that a scan on his hip had revealed stress-related problems with the bone and helped persuade him that the time was right to start moving in a different direction. ``It's not just that this is one injury too many,'' he said . ``It's also the stage I'm at in my life. My motivation, self-discipline and dedication to fight back from injury have been waning, and I think it's time to direct my energies elsewhere.''

AUCKLAND: Record-breaking New Zealand batsman Nathan Astle is in doubt for the tour of the West Indies in June because of a knee injury, a cricket board spokesman said. Astle, the scorer of the fastest double century in Test cricket in 153 balls against England in the first Test in Christchurch in March, sustained the injury on tour in Pakistan. A scan this week will reveal the extent of damage to his knee, which would mean surgery or lengthy recuperation and make his prospects of touring the Caribbean look bleak. Astle has a patella tendon tear — the same injury from which New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns is suffering. Cairns is to have surgery soon.

FOOTBALL: LONDON: Watch out, Bayer Leverkusen.The last time Real Madrid went to Glasgow for a Champions Cup final, it crushed another German team 7-3. In one of the greatest soccer games of all time, Ferenc Puskas scored four and Alfredo di Stefano three before 135,000 fans in the 1960 final against Eintracht Frankfurt as Madrid won the title for the fifth year in a row. This time Madrid fans are dreaming of Raul Gonzalez scoring four and Zinedine Zidane three. With stars such as Luis Figo, Roberto Carlos, Fernando Hierro and Fernando Morientes also on the team, Madrid has the players to almost match that stellar lineup of the late 1950s and early 60s.Chasing its ninth title in European soccer's most prestigious competition, it will want to celebrate its centenary year with a special performance to impress even the likes of Puskas and Di Stefano. Madrid made it to its 12th final by ousting Spanish league rival FC Barcelona on Wednesday. A 2-0 winner from the first leg in Barcelona, Madrid gained a 1-1 tie at the Bernabeu stadium. A stunning goal by Raul increased the overall lead to 3-0 but an own-goal by Ivan Helguera, who deflected in a leftwing cross, levelled the score on the night.

BANGKOK: Fearing an escalation of illegal gambling on the soccer World Cup, authorities in Asia are cracking down on bookmakers and bettors involved in the billion-dollar industry. With South Korea and Japan co-hosting the World Cup, the first time soccer's quadrennial showpiece has been staged in Asia; police are expecting massive plunges both on the outcome of individual matches and of the tournament. Illegal gambling — much of it on high-profile games in Europe — isn't restricted to back alleys or networks of bookmakers, runners, collectors and enforcers with cash exchanged in paper bags. Cell phones and laptop computers have made bookies harder to detect. But police in East and Southeast Asia are determined to curb the illicit gambling.

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