Derby Storm and Thames Valley Tigers hauled themselves into contention for the final spot in the play-off quarter-finals but Chester Jets

Derby Storm and Thames Valley Tigers hauled themselves into contention for the final spot in the play-off quarter-finals, but Chester Jets slipped out of the frame for the Budweiser League title in the wake of a positive drugs test on their playmaker, Russ Saunders. Saunders, the League's leading all-time scorer, was suspended on full pay by the Jets on Friday, who then lost 87-73 at home to the tenth-placed Tigers. At Derby's Moor Lane venue the Storm took control of the second half with a 30-11 surge to overturn Leicester's 52-40 interval lead, and scored their last eight points from the free throw line, holding off the Riders for a 98-88 win to take eighth place from Leicester.At the top Birmingham Bullets won 68-65 at Manchester Giants on Friday to close the gap on Leopards, the leaders, to four points. Sheffield Sharks joined Birmingham in joint second by beating the Bears 94-77 at Worthing on Saturday.. Paula Radcliffe came within two seconds - six tantalising strides - yesterday of adding the world cross-country title to the junior version she won five years ago. The 23-year-old from Bedford ran an exemplary race on the 6,600m course in Turin city centre, covering every move apart from the last one when Derartu Tulu, Ethiopia's 10,000m champion, came past her in the final 100 metres to take the title for the second time in three years. Radcliffe, her head nodding in characteristic fashion as she maintained contact with a succession of leaders, including the two Irish entrants Sonia O'Sullivan and Catherina McKiernan, made her own move with 200 metres remaining as she went to the front past the reigning champion, Gete Wani.For a few moments it seemed as if her judgment had been perfect. But then Wani's compatriot, always a fast finisher, moved smoothly past to win in 20min 53 sec. Radcliffe's time was 20:55."I really thought I was going to win it," Radcliffe said, "although I'm pleased with the silver.

When I went away at the end I really thought I had got the gold, but she just came back to me from nowhere."It was the best performance by a woman representing Britain since Zola Budd won the title in 1985 and 1986 and Liz McColgan took the silver medal in 1987.It was this event which brought Radcliffe to international prominence in 1992 when, on a snowbound course in Boston, she won the junior title ahead of China's future world record breaker, Wang Junxia. Her previous best performance at senior level was fifth place at Durham in 1995. "It feels as though I have made the transition from junior to senior level now," Radcliffe said.Now that she has completed her education at Loughborough University, Radcliffe has been able to dedicate herself more fully to the athlete's life. She missed the British trials earlier this month because she was training at altitude in Albuquerque.

Yesterday her long time coach, Alex Stanton, and both her parents were present to see her reap a fine reward for her efforts.Tulu, who won in Durham two years ago, said her victory made up a little bit for her disappointment of last year, when she dropped to fourth place after having to turn back and retrieve a lost shoe.Fine runs by Lucy Elliott (18th) and Hayley Haining (22nd) earned Britain fourth place in the women's team event, where Ireland, thanks to the seventh and ninth place finishes of McKiernan and O'Sullivan, took the bronze medal.Britain's main hope in the men's race, the European champion Jon Brown, was unable to improve on his 12th place of last year. He finished 14th in a contest that saw Kenya's Paul Tergat earn a hat-trick of titles after a stupendous struggle with Morocco's world 10,000m record holder Salah Hissou."This was the hardest of my three wins," said Tergat, who also beat Hissou into second place last year. "It was probably the hardest race I've ever had."Hissou complained that his progress had been impeded by Kenyan team tactics "I had to fight against a group of them," he said. It is a complaint that has been voiced at nearly every world championship of recent years These Kenyans... they are all too strong.Brown, whose European title was won in cloying mud three months ago, ruled out his medal chances once he saw the speedy course, much of it run on roads which had been turfed over at a reported cost of $1m (pounds 630,000). At least Primo Nebiolo, the IAAF president, got a run for his money in his home city..

Halifax welcomed their new coach, John Pendlebury, with a first win of the season, but they had to sweat for it throughout a sometimes scrappy but always absorbing struggle at Thrum Hall yesterday. John Schuster has won so many games for Halifax with his kicking that it is churlish to say that this was one they won despite him. His miss from an easy position at Wigan denied Halifax a draw last week and he managed only one from six attempts. In the end, those omissions were outweighed by Sheffield's mistakes in the second half, which led their coach, Phil Larder, to describe them as "one of the thickest sets of players I've ever been involved with."Sheffield committed enough blunders to justify both that uncharitable description and the full scale roasting Larder gave them at full time. The one thing he could not fault was their effort.During the first half it seemed their commitment might be enough to swing the game their way, as they led through tries from Keith Senior and John Lawless, a former Halifax player, plus three goals from Mark Aston against Halifax tries from Simon Baldwin and Fereti Tuilagi.But Schuster kicked his only goal early in the second half and Martin Moana then exploited some Sheffield hesitancy to skirt around their defence for a fine individual try.By that time, Aston was in the sin bin following a scuffle with Mike Umaga and he was only just back on the field when Martin Pearson sent in Baldwin for a match-clinching second try.An Aston penalty brought Sheffield within two points, but late attacks from Martin Wood and Whetu Taewa that could have brought a winning try came to nothing.Pendlebury was making no great claims for the assurance of the victory. "But it is was important for confidence that we got the right result today," he said.With that confidence and four more home matches in a row, Halifax can still turn their start to the season into a most encouraging one. As for Sheffield, Larder seemed to feel it will need intensive education or brain transplants.Halifax Blue Sox: Umaga; Tuilagi, Schuster, Amone, Bouveng; Pearson, Parker; Harrison, Rowley, W Jackson, Baldwyn, M Jackson, Moana. Substitutes used: Clarke, Gillespie, Chester, Skerrett.Sheffield Eagles: Stott; Taewa, Pinkney, Senior, Garcia; Doyle, Aston; Broadbent, Lawless, Laughton, Carr, McAllister, Wood.