Former Australia rugby coach ROBBIE DEANS will take charge of Britain's Barbarians for their two upcoming matches against Ireland and an England XV in May, the club announced on Tuesday. Deans led the Wallabies from '08-13 (REUTERS, 1/28). ... Australian cricketer STEVE SMITH on Tuesday “capped a remarkable season by sweeping the main awards at the annual Allan Border Medal ceremony, including Australian player of the year.” He “was a runaway winner for the Allan Border Medal” by polling 243 votes, ahead of DAVID WARNER (175) and MITCHELL JOHNSON (126). GLENN MAXWELL “was rewarded for his efforts with bat and ball to win Twenty20 player of the year.” The “emotional high-point of the night came” when SEAN ABBOTT was named the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year (AFP, 1/27).
NOTABLE DEATHS: The National Rugby League was “reeling after the tragic death” of emerging players, North Queensland forward REGAN GRIEVE and former Melbourne Storm playmaker HAYDEN BUTLER. Both Grieve and Butler “died suddenly over the Australia Day long weekend” (THE AUSTRALIAN, 1/28). ... Former La Liga side Rayo Vallecano and Nigeria goalkeeper WILFRED AGBONAVBARE died of cancer on Tuesday at the age of 48. Wilfred played at Rayo from '90-96 and was also a member of the Nigeria squad which won the 1994 African Cup of Nations and reached the second round while playing its first World Cup that year in the U.S. (ESPN, 1/27).
F1 FUNDRAISER: Images providing a "glimpse of life in the Formula One circus" have raised more than £20,000 ($30,400) at an auction for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. The third annual Zoom Charity Gala Auction featured F1's drivers, team principals and "well-known faces within the world of motor racing," including LEWIS HAMILTON, JENSON BUTTON and SEBASTIAN VETTEL, as well as F1 CEO BERNIE ECCLESTONE, who each took photographs for the initiative. Some of the biggest sellers from the evening were photographs submitted by Ecclestone (sold for £2,400) ($3,650), former Marussia CEO GRAEME LOWDON (sold for £1,400) ($2,100), double world champion FERNANDO ALONSO (sold for £1,100) ($1,700) and '96 champion DAMON HILL (sold for £900) ($1,370) (London TELEGRAPH, 1/26).
PARK IN DOPING SHOCK: South Korean Olympic swimmer PARK TAE-HWAN "fought to clear his name on Tuesday as he reeled from the shock news that he failed a doping test." The four-time Olympic medallist "blamed an injection given by a hospital for the result." A Yonhap report said that the 25-year-old was injected at a South Korean hospital "while receiving chiropractic treatment before last year's Asiad in Incheon." A Team GMP statement said, "At the time, the hospital offered to give Park an injection and he repeatedly asked if it contained any illegal substances" (SINA, 1/27).