Welch will fight the European Union champion Zeljko Mavrovic, an English-trained Croatian who is based in Germany, in Newcastle on 8 June PJ Gallagher will make the first defence of his British super-featherweight championship against Charles Shepherd. Britain will play the hosts, Ma- laysia, tomorrow for the bronze medal, writes Bill Colwill. The British coach, David Whitaker, said: "We battled our way htm to a well- deserved victory in a competitive match."Again, it was a British goalkeeper, this time Simon Mason, who kept his side in the game during the htm early Dutch assault before Britain took the lead two minutes from the interval with their fourth penalty corner.The Dutch started the second half with another onslaught, and British fortunes were not looking good, with their acting captain, Rob Thompson, having to leave the pitch with an injury and the full-back Jon Wyatt suspended for a bad tackle.As the game became ill-tempered, it was with relief that McGuire shot home his second goal to secure the play-off place.. Hockey Phil McGuire staked petition his claim for Olympic selection with htm two penalty corner goals in Ipoh yesterday as Britain restored some faith in themselves with a 2-0 win against a young Dutch side. You've got to go flat out on the good bits, but when it's wet, you've got petition to slow right down."Makinen had been living dangerously, spinning twice and putting a dent in one side of the car when he hit a bridge Makinen has won the first two rounds of the Championship.. Five points later it was all over."It was a great chance for me to beat her because she hasn't been playing that many tournaments lately," said Hingis, ''but I haven't won anything, I've just reached the semi-finals."n Pete Sampras, the world No 1, has withdrawn from next week's Italian Open following the death of his coach and close friend Tim Gullikson Michael Chang has also pulled out because of an injury.. Rallying Britain's world champion, Colin McRae, made full use of his skill and survival instincts after a treacherous opening day of the Indonesia Rally, Asia's first round of the htm World Championship. McRae drove cautiously on htm roads often made slippery by heavy rain to take the petition lead in his Subaru Impreza, though he finished just five seconds ahead of his petition Finnish title rival, Tommi Makinen, in a petition Mitsubishi.McRae, the winner of this event last year when it was not part of the World Championship, summed up the day: "The conditions on the stages are comparable to trying to stand on a wet and slippery bar of soap. Refusing to be overawed by an opponent 11 years her senior and due to set a record of 332 total weeks as world No 1 next week, Hingis broke serve in the fourth game of the final set to take a 3-1 lead.Graf broke back, but the crisis was not over as the German's erratic groundstrokes gave Hingis three break-points in the eighth game.Two were saved but on the third the German served a double fault to go 5-3 down.

Three of the first four games went to deuce but, at 2-2, the German turned on the power, breaking serve twice to take the next four games and the set.At the start of the second set, however, Hingis started showing the talent which made her the youngest-ever quarter-finalist at the Australian Open in January.Mixing her game by coming up to the net and surprising her opponent with neat drop shots, Hingis broke Graf's service three times to level at one set each. A flow of unforced forehand errors was largely to blame for her defeat by Hingis."I've got to get physically in shape for Paris," Graf said, adding that she would not be ask for a wild-card entry for next week's Berlin Open. "I'll take some days off, try to relax a bit," she said.In the first set Graf appeared to have ironed out the problems she had shown in earlier rounds. "It feels great."For Graf, unbeaten in tournaments this year and winner of three of last year's four grand slams, it was the first defeat on clay since she lost to Mary Pierce in the French Open semi-finals two years ago.The 26-year-old German, playing her first tournament of the season on clay, has struggled all week to adapt her game to the slow Foro Italico surface. Stevenage have issued writs against the Football League and the Third Division's bottom club, Torquay, in an attempt to win promotion - despite failing to meet stadium criteria by the 31 December deadline.. Tennis Martina Hingis gave the world No 1, Steffi Graf, her first defeat on clay in almost two years yesterday when she beat the German in the quarter- finals of the Italian Open in Rome. The 15-year-old Swiss sixth seed demonstrated why she is tipped as a future champion, recovering from the loss of the first set to win 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 for the best victory of her short career."I've just beaten the world No 1," an ecstatic Hingis, ranked 20 in the world, said. "I offered to sign a fresh contract, which had been put to me some time ago, but was told the board had now decided to look elsewhere," Ward added.Graham Rix has been drafted in to coach the England Under-21 squad for the Toulon tournament from 24 May to 3 June.

He is joined on the board by Alan Hedges, who is appointed managing director.The future of the GM Vauxhall Conference champions, Stevenage Borough, will be clearer on Thursday when the Conference and the Football League have management committee meetings. Dave Sexton, the Under- 21 manager, chose the Chelsea coach because Ray Wilkins, the Queen's Park Rangers player-manager, is unavailable.Clive Berlin has taken over as chairman at relegated QPR following Paul Thompson's decision to put the club up for sale. Berlin, the club's football administration manager, is in his second spell at the club after previously being general manager. Birmingham fit the bill perfectly." Sullivan indicated that Francis would be given at least pounds 2m to spend on new players.Bristol Rovers are not renewing the contract of their manager, John Ward. "I was sacked at a six-minute meeting with the vice-chairman, Geoff Dunford," said Ward, whose contract was due to run out at the end of next month. It was a unanimous decision by the board of directors to appoint him and I hope he brings back the fans who watched him 20 years ago." Francis, who started his career at St Andrew's, said: "I always felt I'd like to be a boss again, as long as it was with an ambitious club, who matched my desire to achieve things. He played for West Bromwich Albion in the 1967 and 1970 League Cup finals and, in between in 1968, became the first man to be substituted in an FA Cup final.A tough defender who also played at Wembley for the Football League representative side, Kaye's first club was Scunthorpe United, where one of his colleagues was Ralph Clayton, Brigg's manager.Apart from a five-year break, Clayton has been with Brigg since the 1960s, and he brought Kaye with him when he returned to the club six years ago.