TURIN // Dwain Chambers was yesterday preparing to finally let his spikes do the talking in the European Indoor Championships.
Chambers is hot favourite for the 60m at the Oval Lingotto, but the build up to the event has been overshadowed by the serialisation of his autobiography in a British newspaper earlier in the week.
The disgraced sprinter insists the book was his attempt to achieve "closure" following his return to athletics after serving a two-year ban for testing positive for the steroid Tetrahydrogestrinone or THG - often referred to as 'The Clear' - in 2003.
But the issue is bound to rumble on as long as Chambers, 30, continues competing, and especially if, as expected, he wins gold here today.
He said: "The book was meant to come out beforehand and I thought out of respect for the athletes I would backdate it to after the championships.
"There was no better time to bring it out than after my success in the European Championships, and while the situation is still ripe in terms of the amount of attention it created.
"As far as I'm concerned once this European Indoors is past and the book comes out Monday morning, that's it."
The 60m could provide Britain with at least two of the five or six medals targeted by the UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee - with Chambers, Simeon Williamson and Craig Pickering ranked first, third and fifth in Europe respectively.
Chambers is joint fastest in the world this year with a time of 6.51secs, but Williamson ran 6.53 in Birmingham a fortnight ago and Pickering remains a threat if he can get off to a good start.
In Friday, Andy Turner came agonisingly close to winning Britain's first medal of the championships in the 60m hurdles, finishing fourth for the second championships in succession.
Turner - who admitted he is "running angry" after losing his Lottery funding - was just 0.01secs away from bronze with France's Ladji Doucoure winning ahead of the defending champion Gregory Sedoc of Holland and Petr Svoboda of the Czech Republic.
Turner said: "It's just a horrible place to finish, I can't even describe how I feel right now. I'm gutted.
"I ran poorly in the heat and semi and ran my best race in the final but to be honest that's no consolation because I still finished fourth and I'm still going home empty-handed."
Sarah Claxton had earlier raised hopes of a medal after equalling her own British record in the semi-finals of the 60m hurdles to qualify fastest for the final, only to then trail in dead last.
Claxton, 29, finished well adrift of the winner, Eline Berings, of Belgium, who clocked 7.92secs ahead of Lucie Skrobakova of the Czech Republic with Ireland's Derval O'Rourke claiming bronze.
* PA Sport
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Manchester United 1
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What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
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But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
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Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Abu Dhabi GP weekend schedule
Friday
First practice, 1pm
Second practice, 5pm
Saturday
Final practice, 2pm
Qualifying, 5pm
Sunday
Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (55 laps), 5.10pm
UAE SQUAD
Jemma Eley, Maria Michailidou, Molly Fuller, Chloe Andrews (of Dubai College), Eliza Petricola, Holly Guerin, Yasmin Craig, Caitlin Gowdy (Dubai English Speaking College), Claire Janssen, Cristiana Morall (Jumeirah English Speaking School), Tessa Mies (Jebel Ali School), Mila Morgan (Cranleigh Abu Dhabi).
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
VERSTAPPEN'S FIRSTS
Youngest F1 driver (17 years 3 days Japan 2014)
Youngest driver to start an F1 race (17 years 166 days – Australia 2015)
Youngest F1 driver to score points (17 years 180 days - Malaysia 2015)
Youngest driver to lead an F1 race (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest driver to set an F1 fastest lap (19 years 44 days – Brazil 2016)
Youngest on F1 podium finish (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest F1 winner (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016)
Youngest multiple F1 race winner (Mexico 2017/18)
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Abdul Jabar Qahraman was meeting supporters in his campaign office in the southern Afghan province of Helmand when a bomb hidden under a sofa exploded on Wednesday.
The blast in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed the Afghan election candidate and at least another three people, Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak told reporters. Another three were wounded, while three suspects were detained, he said.
The Taliban – which controls much of Helmand and has vowed to disrupt the October 20 parliamentary elections – claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mr Qahraman was at least the 10th candidate killed so far during the campaign season, and the second from Lashkar Gah this month. Another candidate, Saleh Mohammad Asikzai, was among eight people killed in a suicide attack last week. Most of the slain candidates were murdered in targeted assassinations, including Avtar Singh Khalsa, the first Afghan Sikh to run for the lower house of the parliament.
The same week the Taliban warned candidates to withdraw from the elections. On Wednesday the group issued fresh warnings, calling on educational workers to stop schools from being used as polling centres.
