LONDON: Petr Korda has lost the latest round in his long-running doping case. The Court of Appeal in London ruled on Friday that the International Tennis Federation (ITF) could appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

Korda, the 1998 Australian Open champion, was tested at Wimbledon in July 1998 after a quarter-final defeat and was found to have traces of nandrolone metabolites in his urine.

An ITF Independent Appeals panel ruled in December 1998 that Korda had committed a doping offence and withdrew his Wimbledon prize-money and ranking points. But it later waived the one-year ban.

Hakkinen positive

LONDON: World Formula-One champion Mika Hakkinen predicted his McLaren team will win the 1999 drivers' title well before the last race of the season.Hakkinen's optimism is based on the margin by which he and team mate David Coulthard led the field at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix before being forced to retire. Ferrari's Eddie Irvine had takenthe chequered flag then. ``The car was already perfect in Melbourne before the technical problems arrived. We didn't give anyone else a chance.'' The next race is in Brazil on April 11.

Record cap

PARIS: Didier Deschamps, already France's most successful player, will reach another milestone on Saturday when he becomes its most capped international.Deschamps is set to win his 83rd cap in the Euro 2000 qualifier against Ukraine at Stade de France, overtaking former Marseille defender Manuel Amoros, a member of France's 1984 European championship-winning side.

-- Agencies