Maurice Greene from the United States set a new world record on the 100 meter sprint Wednesday. During a track event in Athens, Greece Greene ran on 9.79 seconds and beat Canadian Donovan Bailey’s old record that was 9.84. The record is the same as was set by Ben Johnson during the Seoul Olympics in 1988. This record was cancelled after Johnson tested positive for drugs.

In England, the cricket World Cup is drawing to its conclusion this weekend with the final played on Saturday. On Wednesday, Pakistan secured a place in the final by beating New Zealand by nine wickets. The other semifinal is played Thursday between Australia and South Africa. Zimbabwe and India finished last in the Super Six and did not qualify for further play.

Also in England, the Wimbledon tennis tournament was drawn on Tuesday. Defending champion Pete Sampras, back on top of the world rankings, meets Scott Draper of Australia in the first round. Draper has never advanced beyond the second round at the tournament. German crowd favorite Boris Becker, is back for his last Wimbledon. He will meet Miles Maclagan from Britain in the first round.

In the women’s tournament, No. 1 ranked Martina Hingis from Switzerland meets a player that has to go through pre-tournament qualifying. French Open champion Steffi Graf from Germany meets Ludmila Cervanova from Slovakia. Graf is seeded second in the tournament that starts Monday and concludes July 4.

Also in tennis news, 1998 Australian Open champion Czech Petr Korda announced his retirement after failing to qualify for the Wimbledon tournament. Korda tested positive on the illegal drug nandrolene in 1998 but has claimed to be innocent. He has dropped from No. 2 to 116th place on the world ranking since his victory in Australia.

After the recent drug scandals involving professional cyclists, the organizers of the Tour de France are trying to get to grips with the problem by excluding several riders and teams. French rider Richard Virenque will not be allowed to compete this year, and the same goes for his fellow countrymen Laurent Roux and Philippe Gaumont. In addition to this, the manager for the ONCE team, Manolo Saiz, is also excluded. One entire team, Dutch TVM is not allowed to compete either. This comes as a result of French police finding illegal drugs in the rider’s hotel rooms last year. The race starts July 3 and ends three weeks later.

In Egypt, the world handball championship concluded Tuesday with Sweden beating Russia in the final. The final result was 25-24. Yugoslavia won the bronze medal after beating Spain 27-24.

In Formula One racing, Finish driver Mika Hakkinen won the Canadian Grand Prix last weekend, and is also leading the overall championship in front of Michael Schumacher from Germany.

The winner of the Formula One championship in 1996, Damon Hill from Britain, announced his retirement Wednesday. Hill was not offered a new contract with the Williams team after winning the world championship, apparently because of his “lack of charisma.” Since then he has driven for the Arrows and Jordan teams.

The women’s world cup soccer starts this Saturday with the U. S. meeting Denmark in New Jersey. The Americans are favorites to win the tournament, although the reigning champion Norway has a strong team that mixes youth with experience. China, which has defeated Team USA twice in three meetings this year is also expected to reach the final stages. However, the U. S. team can only meet one of these as they are both on the opposite side of the draw.

Finally, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will decide where the 2006 Winter Games will be held. Swiss Sion and Italian Turin are the favorites, followed closely by a joint bid from Helsinki in Finland and Norway’s Lillehammer. Zakopane in Poland, Poprac in Slovakiaand Austria’s Klagenfurt complete the list.