Chebet finished with a time of 2:07.37, while Thys was third at 2:07.52.Defending women's champion Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia, gold medallist in the atlight leg. Renata Paradowska of Poland was a distant second at 2:27.17 and Anuta Catuna of Romania finished third at 2:27.34.

Ticket turmoil
BRUSSELS: Thirty European parliament deputies will file a formal complaint against the soccer World Cup organising committee (CFO) at a Paris court later this week over the distribution of tickets for the finals.``An unfairly large number of tickets have been reserved by theorganising committee exclusively for the French public,'' Belgian MEP (Member of the European Parliament) Philippe de Coene said in a statement.

De Coene, who heads the parliament's socialist group with British Liberal Graham Watson, said further details on the legal action would be outlined at a news conference in Brussels tomorrow.

Women's boxing
WASHINGTON: Whether for fitness or to be able to defend themselves in an emergency, more and more American women are taking to boxing in the US, media reports say.

One of the local boxing centres said 45 percent of its students were now women.

Women have been enrolling in karate schools for self-defence since the law and order situation in the US began to deteriorate. Their interest in boxing is a new development, it said.

Bugner burgled
GOLD COAST: Thieves ransacked boxer Joe Bugner's home while he was successfully defending his Australian heavyweight title last night.The veteran boxer's car was stolen but laterrecovered. Jewellery and several thousand dollars worth of cash were also taken, Bugner said today.

He discovered the robbery when he and his wife returned to their surfers paradise home after his split decision victory over Bob Mirovic, which earned the 48-year-old a World Boxing Federation title fight against American James (Bonecrusher) Smith.

Bugner beat Mirovic, 32, in a split decision.