German's record drug fine : FOOTBALL

FOOTBALL

The Bochum striker Roland Wohlfarth was fined a record DM60,000 (£25,000) by his club yesterday for taking drugs.

Bochum announced their decision as an added punishment to the eight-week suspension imposed by the German football federation at the beginning of February. The fine is the highest by a German club for one of their own players.

The 32-year-old, who signed from St Etienne in France in November, tested positive for norephredine in the eastern German city of Leipzig in January during an indoor event.

Fifa, the sport's world governing body, is to send a special commission to Nigeria to make a final decision on whether or not the west African country will be allowed to hold the World Youth Cup later this year.

Fifa called off the tournament, scheduled for 11-26 March, citing cholera and meningitis outbreaks in Enugu and Kaduna, two of the four host cities.

The decision brought a furious protest from Nigeria and the African Football Confederation president, Issa Hayatou, and a group of Nigerian officials were sent to Zurich to persuade Fifa to overturn their decision. Fifa then suspended their decision to take the tournament away from Nigeria and decided to await the commission's report.

Fifa's general secretary, Sepp Blatter, said the championships would not go ahead on 11 March. Blatter said a medical evaluation committee, including experts from Fifa and the World Health Organisation, would visit Nigeria to assess the risks.

"A report must come to Fifa within the next six weeks so that we will have the full report by the end of March in order to take a full decision on what time in the year the games can be played," Blatter said.