Suhr improves on her own pole vault record

NEW YORK • Reigning Olympic champion Jenn Suhr of the United States broke her own women's world indoor pole vault record on Saturday by clearing 5.03m at the Golden Eagle Invitational meet.

She set the record at Brockport State in Rochester, breaking the mark of 5.02m she established at the US championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2013.

That effort made her the second woman in the world to crack the 5m mark after Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva.

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Watford sign Suarez from Fiorentina

LONDON • Spanishinternational midfielder Mario Suarez has joined Watford from Italian side Fiorentina on a 41/2-year deal, the English Premier League football club announced on Saturday.

Capped three times by Spain, the 28-year-old former Atletico Madrid player has signed for a fee reported to be around £4 million (S$8.1 million).

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Cycle seized by UCI in engine 'fraud' case

HEUSDEN-ZOLDER (Belgium) • World cycling body UCI confirmed on Saturday it had seized a bicycle amid claims it was powered by a hidden engine at the cyclo-cross world championships.

The bicycle was ridden by Femke van den Driessche, the Belgian cycling federation later confirmed. Among the race favourites, she was forced to withdraw from the women's under-23 race because of a mechanical problem towards the end.

The International Cycling Union said it was examining the bicycle for "technological fraud".

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Former captain Clarke to return to cricket

SYDNEY • Former Australian captain Michael Clarke yesterday said he was returning to cricket six months after he retired, telling Australian media he had "unfinished business" in the shorter form of the game.

The 34-year-old, who bowed out in August after the disastrous Ashes series in England, said his first game would be with his grade club Western Suburbs against Randwick-Petersham in Sydney on Feb 20-21.

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