Basketball: Bears go back to Brighton

MANCHESTER GIANTS and Sheffield Sharks are focusing on their winner- takes-all Budweiser League title decider at the MEN Arena on Friday, but the Worthing Bears have already turned their sights to next season.

The League's bottom team hope to leave their abysmal playing record behind by uprooting from Worthing along the south coast to the 3,600-seat Brighton Centre, with its sprung wooden floor and Olympic-standard basketball rings.

As a National League club, the Bears' history began in Brighton and their director, Romek Kriwald, says the move back there reflects the club's determination to join the League's elite. "The stakes have been raised and the Bears have to rise to the challenge," he said.

The Sharks had only to win at Chester on Sunday to become League champions, but an 84-81 defeat by the Jets has handed Manchester the chance to claim the title in Friday's crucial fixture.