EPL West Brom appointed former La Liga side Real Betis Manager PEPE MEL as its new head coach "on an 18-month deal." The Baggies "have been looking for a new manager" since sacking Steve Clarke on Dec. 14. Mel, 50, "held talks with West Brom in December but was ruled out after it became clear he wanted to bring his own backroom staff." After three years in charge of Betis, Mel was replaced by JUAN CARLOS GARRIDO at the start of December (BBC, 1/9). ... The majority of tests conducted on a supplement suspended Jamaican sprinter SHERONE SIMPSON was taking "revealed a banned substance." Caribbean Toxicology's Professor WAYNE MCLAUGHLIN, a witness for Simpson, told the three-member Jamaica Anti Doping Disciplinary PanelTwo that separate tests on a sealed bottle of "Epiphany D1," a supplement she was taking, "showed the presence of banned drug oxilofrine." McLaughlin noted, however, that the drug was not listed on the label of ingredients of Epiphany D1 (REUTERS, 1/8). ... Ahead of the players' retention deadline for the forthcoming Indian Premier League, Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday announced that VIRAT KOHLI, CHRIS GAYLE and AB DE VILLIEERS "will stay with the franchise," and named New Zealand spinner DANIEL VETTORI their head coach and former South Africa player ALAN DONALD as bowling coach (IANS, 1/9). ... Modern pentathlete SAM WEALE "has announced his retirement from the sport after a career spanning more than a decade that saw him compete at two Olympic Games." Weale took up the sport in '00 and represented Great Britain at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, finishing 10th, the best performance by a GB man since GRAHAM BROOKHOUSE finished eighth in '92 (SPORT FOCUS, 1/8). ... Spanish Olympic cyclist SERGIO MANTECÓN GUTIÉRREZ "has signed with the Trek Factory Racing World Cup cross country racing team for 2014" (CYCLING NEWS, 1/8). ... Former F1 driver EDDIE IRVINE "was sentenced to six months in prison by an Italian court on Thursday in a trial over a brawl in a nightclub." The judge found Irvine and the son of a former Milan mayor, GABRIELE MORATTI, guilty of "mutual injury" during the incident in the VIP section of the Hollywood nightclub in the northern Italian city in '08 (REUTERS, 1/9).
