Bathe whose The Cool Customer is now a 16-year-old was glad to

Bathe, whose The Cool Customer is now a 16-year-old, was glad to learn that age makes no apparent difference to how the horse copes.Leslie Law, fourth and best placed of the British riders at Badminton on New Flavour, and William Fox-Pitt, who was in the victorious European Open team with Cosmopolitan II, will be going to their first Olympics. Both are talented riders, who have proved that they can keep a cool head under pressure.All four members of the dressage team, also announced yesterday, are new to the Olympics. Bridget Parker, the chairman of selectors, regards the team medals as more important – but the British quartet will not be chosen until the horses are into their period of acclimatisation in Atlanta.Barring problems, Mary King and Charlotte Bathe, who both helped to win the world and European Open team titles, are likely to be given a place in the team with their reliable cross-country horses, King William and The Cool Customer.King and Bathe have already been to the Animal Health Trust at Newmarket, where their horses had tests on a treadmill under the simulated conditions of heat and humidity that are anticipated in Atlanta Both came through it well. He will be riding the grey Stanwick Ghost, with whom he led after the cross- country at Badminton before dropping to sixth with two show jumping errors. Stark already has three Olympic silver medals, two of which were awarded in 1988, when the team finished second, and he was the individual runner- up.

He has every intention of going for gold this time.
Karen Dixon, one of Stark’s team-mates in 1988 and 1992, has been chosen with Too Smart. Dixon cracked her shoulder blade in a fall 10 days ago, but is confident that she will be fit to ride when the squad goes to Hartpury for a final run on 21 June.Britain can enter four horses for the team event and another three for the individual, which is being run as a separate competition for the first time. Ian Stark is all set to compete in his fourth consecutive Olympic Games, having been named in the British Olympic squad announced yesterday. At 133 she is 199 places above 18-year-old Miller in the world rankings.Britain’s three other representatives in the main draw – Clare Wood, the British No 1 from Brighton, Sam Smith of Essex and Exeter qualifier Karen Cross – all play their first-round matches today.. Miller, a qualifier who grew up in Florida but holds a British passport through her father John, won 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in a match lasting 102 minutes.
Indian-born Poruri is not well known in Britain but she has beaten Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, the runner-up in the French Open on Saturday, and also reached the quarter-finals of two WTA Tour events last year.

The British teenager Megan Miller scored one of the best wins of her short career when she beat the American Laxmi Poruri in the first round of the DFS Women’s Classic at Edgbaston Priory Club in Birmingham yesterday. “I feel I’m hitting the ball pretty well but it takes two or three matches before you feel comfortable on the grass.”Another veteran taking his bow at Queen’s, Jeremy Bates, the long-time British No 1, disappointingly lost 6-1, 6-2 to Jared Palmer of the United States in just 52 minutes.Bates, who won the Wirral event on Sunday, managed only 40 minutes practice before the match and was disappointed not to have been scheduled for today “I just blinked and I’m out,” he said.. There’s two of us out there, there’s a lot more for the public to watch.”There certainly is. Another Briton had more to celebrate yesterday despite losing. Martin Lee might have been ushered out in the first round by the Australian Scott Draper 6-4, 6-1, but the 18-year-old from Worthing yesterday officially took over as the world’s No 1 ranked junior.Stefan Edberg, for so long No 1 in the grown-up world, and playing for the last time at Queen’s, quelled a spirited challenge from another Briton, Danny Sapsford, winning 6-4 6-3.”I always enjoy playing on grass,” said the London-based Swede, who reached the quarter finals of the French Open last week.

It was a bit nerve-racking at first because I’d never won at Queen’s, but once I’d got the break in the second set I relaxed much more.”Rusedski might even be able to stay relaxed as he works towards Wimbledon – a year on from the “a star is born” story which was ended in the fourth round by Pete Sampras.”There’s less expectation this year,” Rusedski said “Because there’s myself and Tim. A spectator even fainted during it but presumably not through the tension of the moment.To be fair to the players, it is not easy to switch straight from the slow clay courts of Paris to fast London grass and once Rusedski had broken in the second set his victory was a formality.”I’m pleased to come out with a win,” Rusedski said afterwards “As I didn’t play particularly sharp. Rallies are short, occasionally sweet and it is perhaps no coincidence that the Lawn Tennis Association, whose offices overlook the centre court here, are about to change the title of their monthly publication from Serve and Volley (a three-shot rally) to Ace.In a game of few deuces, fewer rallies and little excitement, Rusedski fired down 13 of his trademark one-shot wonders. His first serve of the match was a 119mph fault, his second an ace, his final shot a 122mph ace.In between he sprinkled errors on both wings as he struggled to impose himself on his Belgian-born Italian opponent, ranked 154 in the world and making his first appearance in a Tour event this season.Indeed, the first set went to a tie-break.