Basketball: Americans go home

GUILDFORD KINGS' owner Barry Dow threw in the towel for the European Clubs Championship yesterday when he sacked their two Americans, Tracy Pearson and Lorenzo Duncan, writes Duncan Hooper.

Because the registration deadline has passed, the Kings, who have lost their first six games in the semi-final pool, will not be allowed to register replacement foreigners for their remaining eight games.

Although Guildford could still register new foreigners for domestic competition it is not clear whether they intend to do so. Dow's comment, that 'you pay Americans to bring success and we've not been successful', must seem an unseasonal joke to the players. Only on Friday was their threat of a boycott lifted when some of the four months' salary owed to them was paid.

Dow, himself an American, said: 'After Christmas we will look at the whole issue - who to bring in, if anyone, and who to keep. We want to win the cup and get to the play-offs, but there is a temptation not to replace the Americans.'