From correspondents in New South Wales, Australia, 04:01 PM IST

Thierry Henry's self-confessed handball to secure France a win over Ireland and a place in next year's World Cup has shot him to the top of the sport's rogue's gallery, Australia's Daily Telegraph said Saturday.

It claimed Henry had 'outplayed some of the greatest scammers, hoaxers, match-fixers, ball-tamperers and blatant rule-benders to earn a place in infamy as one of the biggest cheats in world sport'.

The newspaper said Henry's hand-job installed him atop its list of the 10 Biggest Cheats in Sport, with Argentina's Diego Maradona runner-up for his Hand of God goal against England in the 1986 World Cup. The third place goes to Spain's non-disabled 2000 Paralympic basketball team.

Boris Onischenko, the Russian fencer who at the 1976 Olympics rigged his sword, also features in the Hall of Shame, as does Fred Lorz, the US marathon runner who snuck a lift in a car at the 1904 Olympics.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)