SPORTS NEWS

Female Tennis Players with Most Weeks at Number One

2012-01-24T20:44:00.000-08:00

Caroline Wozniacki will once again fall short at a Grand Slam. Wozniacki fell to Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open. When the tournament concludes it will end her run as the top ranked women's tennis player. She has spent a total of 66 weeks at number one. That is the highest total for a female tennis player to never win a Grand Slam title. Here is a look at the five women that have spent the most weeks on top of the rankings.

1. Steffi Graf - 377 weeks

Graf holds the record for weeks at number one as well as the record for consecutive weeks on top of the rankings. She once had a stretch of more than three years on top. That is not surprising considering she owns 22 Grand Slam singles titles. She has won every Grand Slam title at least four times and she won all four in the same year in 1988.

2. Martina Navratilova - 332 weeks

Navratilova owns 18 singles titles at Grand Slam events and a ton more in the doubles category. She is easily one of the most dominant figures ever in tennis. Her best tournament was Wimbledon where she won the singles title nine times. She owns the record for most tournament titles as well.

3. Chris Evert - 260 weeks

Evert was the first woman to top the world rankings. She had a great presence in the 1970s and also won 18 Grand Slam titles. Her best tournament was the French Open. She won that title a record seven times. She also holds the record for winning percentage by winning nearly 90 percent of her matches.

4. Martina Hingis - 209 weeks

Hingis rose to the top in the late 1990s and looked like she would be on track to be the next Graf. She won three Grand Slam titles in 1997 and a total of six in her career. However, Hingis ran out of steam by the year 2000 and never won a Grand Slam title after 1999.

5. Monica Seles - 178 weeks

Seles rose to the top in the early 19990s on the strength of a string of Grand Slam titles. However, a stabbing in 1993 took a major toll on her career. She missed two years of the sport but did have a successful comeback, adding to her resume and finishing her career with a total of nine Grand Slam singles titles.

Sharapova, Kvitova set up Aussie Open semifinal

2012-01-24T20:42:00.000-08:00

Former and reigning Wimbledon winners Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova will meet in the Australian Open semifinals after both won in straight sets on Wednesday.

Sharapova won 6-2, 6-3 against fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova, who knocked out five-time champion Serena Williams in the previous round.

Kvitova earlier reached the semifinals at Melbourne Park for the first time with a 6-4, 6-4 win over unseeded Italian Sara Errani.

Kvitova beat Sharapova in last year’s Wimbledon final to claim her first Grand Slam title.

“Obviously it was a tough one at Wimbledon,” Sharapova said. “She’s full of confidence and playing the best tennis right now. I look forward to it.”

Sharapova and Kvitova also kept alive their chances of claiming the top ranking, which Caroline Wozniacki will vacate on Monday after her quarterfinal loss to Kim Clijsters.

The fourth-seeded Sharapova must repeat her 2008 Australian title win. Kvitova only has to match or better the run of Victoria Azarenka, the only other player still in the running this week for the No. 1 spot.

Sharapova has dropped one set and lost 21 games en route to her first Australian Open semifinal since she won the 2008 final—the last of her three major titles.

“It’s been a long road back to this stage,” said Sharapova, who spent 10 months off court with a shoulder injury that required surgery later in 2008.

Kvitova was far from her best against an opponent making her debut in a Grand Slam quarterfinal, and with a 0-24 record against top-10 players. The second-seeded Czech made 44 errors and had to come back from a break down in the second set.

“I was a little nervous because I knew that everybody expect it will be easy match,” Kvitova said. “Probably I had in my head that it’s a good draw.”

The men’s semifinal lineup also will be completed Wednesday.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic is up against fifth-seeded David Ferrer in the first match of the night session. Two-time finalist Andy Murray faces Kei Nishikori of Japan.

Two of the so-called “Big Four,” Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, are already through to a marquee semifinal after winning Wednesday.

Federer beat 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in his 1,000th tour-level match. Nadal rallied for a 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-3 win over Tomas Berdych.

Their match on Thursday will be their 27th in all and 10th at a major, but their first in a Grand Slam semifinal since 2005.

Yelling “Vamos,” disputing line calls, pumping his arms after winning big points and bounding around like a hyperactive kid, Nadal ripped winner after winner against Berdych in a 4-hour, 16-minute display of pure intimidation.

He said he was nervous in the first set—he’d lost in the quarterfinals two straight years—but by the third and fourth sets things had changed.

“The character on court, the way to win the points … the level is very positive, much, much better than the end of the season,” he said. “Semifinals is fantastic result for me.”

Federer finished his match with one of his classic, one-handed backhands against Del Potro, one of only two men who have beaten him in a major final. The other is Nadal, who has done it six times.

That lopsided record aside, there’s a touch of extra tension this time in this usually cordial rivalry. Nadal had told Spanish reporters during a discussion about player discontent that Federer liked to protect his reputation as a gentleman by saying nothing negative in public and letting others “burn.”

Both have since played down the comments. On Tuesday, Federer said it didn’t damage their relationship.

“No. No. Honestly, no,” he said. “It was here for one day and then gone again. I’m happy about that because it didn’t deserve more attention than it did. So for me, it’s another great match with Rafa. … Obviously I’d like to play Rafa because of our great epic match earlier in the finals here a few years ago.”

Thursday’s match will be the first time they have met at Melbourne Park since Nadal won the 2009 title in five seesawing sets. Nadal collected the trophy from the great Rod Laver after consoling Federer as he sobbed in the background.

“We are talking about a player who has won 16 Grand Slams, and I’ve won 10,” Nadal said. “We have played a lot of matches together, many in very important moments for our careers. So the matches against him are always special, even if we are (ranked) 20 against 25.”

The other women’s semifinal will feature defending champion Clijsters against third-seeded Azarenka. Clijsters advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Wozniacki, who remains without a major title. Azarenka rallied for a 6-7 (0), 6-0, 6-2 win over eighth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska.

Nadal beats Berdych, sets up semi against Federer

2012-01-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

Rafael Nadal will meet Roger Federer in the Australian Open semifinals after coming back to beat No. 7 Tomas Berdych 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday night.

No. 2-ranked Nadal and No. 3-ranked Federer are on the same half of the draw at a major for the first time since 2005.

Federer beat U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro earlier in three sets to advance to the Australian Open semis for the ninth consecutive year. He has won four of his 16 Grand Slam titles at Melbourne Park.

Nadal won the Australian title in 2009, but lost in the quarterfinals in 2010 and ’11.

It was Nadal’s 10th consecutive win over Berdych, a sequence including the 2010 Wimbledon final.

Aus T20 team abandons green goes black

2011-10-04T22:56:00.001-07:00

Cricket Australia has unveiled an unconventional black strip as their new Twenty20 uniform.

Skipper Cameron White paraded the outfit on Tuesday complete with a green and gold trim more resembling the Jamaican national colours than the traditional Australian hues, reports the Telegraph.

Cricket Australia says the new colour scheme will resonate better with the younger generation, a demographic cricket desperately needs to win over as participation rates and interest continue to drop.

Australia's new one-day and Test uniforms were also unveiled, although those changes are not nearly as extreme.

The preferred one-day outfit retains the canary yellow, while the alternative strip is green. The only change to the Test uniform is the logo on the sleeve of the new apparel sponsor, Asics.

White, who leads the Twenty20 squad to South Africa on Saturday for two games on October 13 and 16, highlighted the benefit of black being a 'slimming'colour.

Warner blasts NSW into semis

2011-10-04T22:55:00.000-07:00

David Warner blasted an unbeaten 135 runs to set up a 46-run victory for New South Wales (NSW) over the Chennai Super Kings and ensure a place in the semi-finals of the CLT20 in Chennai on Tuesday.

Chasing 202 off 17 overs in order to qualify, Chennai were never in the hunt, as first Stuart Clark and then Steve O'Keefe ripped the heart out of the Super Kings' line-up, leaving them staggering on 111/5 in the 14th over, reports Supersport.

To put the finishing touches on a golden evening, Warner also took two catches and effected a run-out.

O'Keefe bagged three wickets for 28 runs, to top the bowling.

Earlier, having elected to bat first, Warner's blitzkrieg boosted New South Wales's score to 201 for two.

Warner and Shane Watson added 54 runs for the first wicket before the latter tried to sweep Ravichandran Ashwin, but he fetched the ball too far outside off and Mahendra Singh Dhoni completed the catch.

Steve Smith (31) supported Warner well, and the pair put together 101 runs for the second wicket.

Warner was unstoppable, batting both right-and left-handed, connecting with nearly all of his switch-hits.

He faced only 69 deliveries and hit 11 fours and eight maximum, being especially severe on the medium-paced Dwayne Bravo who conceded 24 runs off the penultimate over.

Even Doug Bollinger was not spared, bowling only three overs, but he went for 48 runs.

Chennai have been eliminated from the tournament as the only team to have lost three matches.

Jury sworn in for spot-fixing trial

2011-10-04T22:54:00.001-07:00

A year on from the spot-fixing allegations that rocked the cricket world, Pakistan's Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif appeared in court as the trial into one of the sport's greatest controversies began.

Former opening batsman and ex-Test captain Butt and swing bowler Asif sat in at the start of the case at Southwark Crown Court, reports ESPNcricinfo.

They are yet to speak as two hours of legal arguments ensued and an appropriate jury was sworn in after lunch with a mixture of racial backgrounds and sexes (six men and six women). Both players were asked if they had any objection to the jury formed and they said: 'No objections'.

Just 30 minutes was required after the lunch break to settle on a jury and Justice Cooke informed the court that proceedings would resume at ten the following morning.

Cooke told the jury: "I think you will find this an interesting and unusual case."

He also suggested that some of them would be aware of the case because of its high-profile nature but they were ordered not to research it or to discuss the case outside of the jury room

Butt and Asif, who flew in at the weekend from Lahore, are facing the possibility of a custodial sentence if deemed guilty, though both are pleading not guilty. They are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following the Lord's Test in August last year when they allegedly conspired to bowl pre-determined no-balls.

Both wearing suits, without a tie, they sat in a dock sealed off by a Perspex screen with holes in for hearing purposes. Butt sat alone and listened intently, often leaning forward with a concentrated look on his face. Asif was accompanied by a Punjabi interpreter.

Butt's barrister, Ali Bajwa QC, immediately informed Justice Cooke that his client did not require the services of an interpreter because he had a confident grasp of English.

Behind the players' dock sat interested journalists taking up every seat in the public gallery. They would no doubt have been pleased when Justice Cooke noted early on that they could 'tweet' from the courtroom as long as they did it quietly.

With reporting restrictions in place, the detail of the legal arguments cannot be repeated at this stage.

But Justice Cooke did agree to three clauses that he later read out to potential jurors who were walked into the courtroom. They were told they would need to be available for up to five weeks, and were also informed that they would need to fill out forms asking three questions and if they answered 'yes' to any of them they could not sit in the jury.

The questions were: 1) Have they or any family members ever worked as a professional journalist or currently work in that capacity. 2) Do they or any family members earn their living from professional cricket? 3) Are they or family members working in the gambling industry?

Windies land in Dhaka

2011-10-04T22:53:00.001-07:00

The West Indies cricket team arrived in Bangladesh on Tuesday.

The Emirates flight carrying the 19-member Caribbean cricketers landed at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 7:55pm.

The Windies, who flew from Dubai after defeating ICC Associate side Afghanistan by five wickets on Monday, will play two Tests, three ODIs and a Twenty20 international against the Tigers.

But prior to that, the team will play two practice matches on October 7 and 9 at the Fatullah Stadium.

The only T20 between West Indies and Bangladesh will be played on October 11 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. On October 13 and 15 they will go head-to-head in the first two one-dayers at the same venue. These are to be day-night matches.

The last ODI is to be played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on October 18. The first Test will commence there on October 21.

The second and last Test match will be played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium from October 29.

After the month long tour, the team is scheduled to leave on November 3.

Iniesta declared fit

2011-10-04T22:52:00.001-07:00

Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta has been given the all-clear after three weeks out with a muscle tear, the Spanish and European champions said on Tuesday.

The Spain playmaker, who will miss his national team's Euro 2012 qualifiers against Czech Republic on Friday and Scotland on Tuesday, should be back for Barca's La Liga game at home to Racing Santander a week on Saturday.

Champions Spain have qualified for the Euro 2012 finals in Ukraine and Poland with two matches to spare.

"After pulling a hamstring against AC Milan on September 13, Iniesta is back to full fitness," Barca said in a statement on their website (www.fcbarcelona.cat).

Barca have suffered a string of injuries in recent weeks, with midfielders Cesc Fabregas (hamstring) and Ibrahim Afellay (knee surgery), forward Alexis Sanchez (thigh) and defender Eric Abidal (hamstring) all sidelined.

Abidal was not as badly hurt as feared in Sunday's La Liga game at Sporting Gijon and was able to join up with the France squad, Barca said on Tuesday.

Stosur sent packing

2011-10-04T22:51:00.002-07:00

US Open champion Samantha Stosur lost in the second round of the China Open on Tuesday, beaten for the second time in a week by Russian Maria Kirilenko.

Australian Stosur, the sixth seed and world number seven, was beaten 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 by Kirilenko, who defeated her at the same stage of last week's Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.

"I didn't get off to as good a start as you want going into a third set," said Stosur.

"Three love down and then 5-2 down – that's not a deficit you want to be in when it's the last set of the match.

"I've only played two tournaments since winning the US Open, so I don't think it's the end of the world with the two results that I've had," she added.

Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki reached the Beijing third round with a text-book 6-2, 6-3 win over Australian Jarmila Gajdosova.

The Danish world number one, who had struggled in her first round, was rarely troubled by the big-hitting, 34th-ranked Gajdosova.

She will now meet Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, who beat her in the third round in Tokyo last week.

Men's first seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga smashed his way to the second round, beating Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-6, 7-5.

The 70th-ranked Dimitrov made Frenchmen Tsonga work hard, forcing a tie-break in the first set, but the world number seven broke serve twice from four opportunities and sealed the match with an overhead smash to signal his title intentions.

"Of course I think I have chance, but it's tough for me to say how much," said Tsonga.

Spain's Marcel Granollers beat fifth-seeded Frenchmen Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-1 while Czech Tomas Berdych, seeded third, defeated Austrian Jurgen Melzer 7-5, 7-5.

The showcase WTA women's and ATP men's tournament at the National Tennis Centre in the Chinese capital have suffered a bout of shock exits and injury pull outs.

Home favourite and world number six Li Na exited in the first round while world number two Maria Sharapova pulled out with injury.

Men's world number one and defending champion Novak Djokovic also withdrew with a back complaint.

EU court says fans can watch soccer via foreign boxes

2011-10-04T22:51:00.000-07:00

Europe's highest court has opened the way for British sports fans to watch live matches through cheaper foreign TV services, sparking a showdown with rights holders who will seek to protect their broadcast rights.

The legal case, which will have huge ramifications for the way rights are sold, was sparked by English pub landlady Karen Murphy who was fined for screening live English Premier League matches via a Greek pay-TV decoder.

The court found in Murphy's favour and ruled that the sale of rights on a country-by-country basis breached EU law.

"This will introduce greater competition into the marketplace which has got to be good news for consumers," Murphy's lawyer Paul Dixon told Reuters.

However other lawyers and analysts said the ruling would simply spark a scramble by rights holders such as the Premier League to come up with a new system, and one that could even cost sports fans more dearly in the future.

"Football associations, and other rights holders, will have to tear up their strategy of granting access to broadcasts of matches and other content on a country-by-country basis," Ashurst partner Dominic Batchelor said.

"However, broadcast rights are so lucrative that rights holders are bound to seek other ways to maintain their revenues. This decision may even be an own-goal for fans if the cost of watching broadcasts becomes fixed at the highest price attainable in the whole of the EU."

Broadcasters in Britain, such as BSkyB, pay much higher fees for the Premier League rights than broadcasters in other parts of Europe.

One option would be for the Premier League to sell rights on a pan-European basis, which carries the risk of the cost increasing in other European markets.

BSkyB owns nearly all the live rights to broadcast English Premier League soccer and has been keen to clamp down on the numerous pubs around Britain which show matches via foreign services instead.

BSkyB and ESPN paid a combined 1.78 billion pounds for the British broadcast rights for a three-year deal starting in 2010. International rights raised over a billion pounds.

Shares in BSkyB were down 1 percent, slightly outperforming the wider FTSE 100 which was down 2.1 percent.

"The Court of Justice holds that national legislation which prohibits the import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards is contrary to the freedom to provide services and cannot be justified," the court ruling said.

Laurence Cohen, an intellectual property specialist at London-based law firm Latham & Watkins, told Reuters that rights holders could stop selling to certain markets, or impose a time delay.

"I see major sporting events being affected but frankly I don't see it as something having a massive economic impact," he said.

The court ruling came down in part to the ownership of copyright. It said the Premier League did not own the copyright to matches but it did own copyright to the graphics, anthem and video clips that run before games.

A pub could get around this issue by not showing the opening sequence. However Liberum financial analyst Ian Whittaker noted that the Premier League could embed more 'copyrighted' material such as graphics in to matches to cause more of a problem.

Whittaker said the issue would hang over Sky until it was fully resolved, noting that the broadcast of matches in pubs and commercial venues was a high margin business for Sky.

The London High Court will now decide how to apply the ruling in Murphy's case.

Tevez sticks to his version of events

2011-10-04T22:50:00.001-07:00

Carlos Tevez continues to insist that he refused to warm up but didn't refuse to play when ordered to by his manager Roberto Mancini during Manchester City's Champions League match at Bayern Munich.

Tevez has been quizzed by the club over the controversial incident and ESPNsoccernet understands that his distinction regarding his indiscipline might not be enough to save the striker from a charge of gross misconduct by the club.

City's lawyers are studying the terms of Tevez's contract after the 50 million pound striker was interviewed at his Cheshire home on Monday.

A club car carrying a legal representative and a member of City's human resources staff arrived at the player's house in Alderley Edge at about 1600 BST and left 80 minutes later.

City were anxious to hold it away from the Etihad Stadium and the Carrington training complex for fear of a media scrum, and it is possible that he could be interviewed for a second time before a final decision is reached.

Tevez continues to deny Mancini's claim that he refused to come on as a substitute. He claims that he told Mancini that, having already warmed up, there was no need for him to warm up again.

Tevez does not believe he needs to apologise to Mancini as he still insists he has done nothing wrong. But it was pointed out to Tevez and his camp that immediately after the game he gave a televised interview in which he stated he was not in the right mind to play.

That footage forms part of City's internal inquiry, while Mancini has submitted an official complaint to his employers. Members of the coaching and fitness staff who were in the dug-out back up Mancini's version of events.

City have interviewed most of Tevez's team-mates who were on the substitutes' bench but not all of them as yet.

The outcome of the internal enquiry is due by the end of this week, and it doesn't look promising for Tevez.

ESPNsoccernet has learned that the club's owners and hierarchy are backing Mancini's stance that Tevez will not play for City again.

A two-week suspension with full pay is currently in place but if gross misconduct is established, then Tevez will be fined two weeks' wages.

The next step is to take the issue to the Professional Footballers' Association to have a further six-week ban and fine imposed A total of two months' wages will cost the player around 2 million pounds.

With the transfer window opening in January, Tevez will then play reserve team football for a month. If he refuses he will be suspended and fined all over again. That could take the cost of his actions above the 3 million pound mark.

City are concerned that Tevez has hired a PR representative since Munich and there has been, according to club sources, a great deal of mischief making - to the extent of a smear campaign against Mancini.

City have not ordered Tevez to call off a holiday with his family, as he is not in Argentina's squad for their first two World Cup qualifiers, but merely to stay for the interviews, and Tevez will be permitted to leave the country as soon as the hearing is concluded.

Every record can be broken: Ronaldo

2011-10-04T22:49:00.001-07:00

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo sees no reason why he cannot go on to break the goal-scoring record he set last season in the new campaign.

Ronaldo picked up the Pichichi award for scoring the most league goals in the Spanish top flight last term with a record tally of 41.

The Portugal international's haul of 41 goals broke the previously unbeaten mark of 38 goals set by Telmo Zarra and Hugo Sanchez.

"In football nothing is impossible and every record can be broken," Ronaldo told Marca, reports ESPNstar.

"I hope to surpass the previous record, but I want to thank my team-mates for making it possible for me to win the trophy.

"We will see what happens in the future, you never know what may happen, but I could beat the record."

Ronaldo already has seven league goals to his name this season - including two hat-tricks - and scored a wonder goal against Ajax in the Uefa Champions League. However, he did not score in Madrid's 4-0 win over Espanyol on Sunday, but maintains he was delighted to lay on two goals for his team-mates.

"I like helping my team-mates score, it is also part of my job," he said.

"They pass to me and I pass to them. I always do my best for the team so we can win."

There is some debate as to whether Ronaldo's 41 goal record set last season is the accurate number. Spain's Professional Football League (LFP) gave a deflected free-kick goal from last September against Real Sociedad to team-mate Pepe while Marca chose to credit the Portuguese with the goal instead.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo's arch-nemesis Lionel Messi continues to create his own legacy at Barcelona. He recently reached 194 goals for the Catalans to equal Ladislao Kubala in the club's goal-scoring charts.

Australian Open 2012 to be richest Grand Slam

2011-10-04T22:48:00.002-07:00

Next year's Australian Open will be the richest Grand Slam tournament in history with the men's and women's champions each taking home A$2.3 million ($2.18 million), organisers of the Melbourne event said on Tuesday.

The total prize purse for the January 16-29 tournament has also been hiked to A$26 million, the organisers said in a statement on their website (www.australianopen.com).

They also announced a new women's legends event, which is set to feature three-time Australian Open champion Martina Hingis, and the extension of the use of hawk-eye technology to the Margaret Court Arena.

"The Australian Open inspires players at an elite and grassroots level, particularly after the success of local hero Sam Stosur, who was so impressive winning the 2011 US Open singles title last month," Victoria premier Ted Baillieu was quoted as saying in the statement.

Messi eyes end to Argentina misery

2011-10-04T22:48:00.000-07:00

Forward Lionel Messi showed his concern over the 'several failures' that Argentina's national football team has been 'gathering' for the last years.

"We haven't reached good results with the national team, we keep on collecting failures. I wish that we can begin with a victory against Chile," Barcelona's player said during an interview with Buenos Aires Herald.

Referring to the classification matches for the 2014 World Cup, he assured that "these matches are getting more difficult, because all the teams have the same level and complicate the situation by having a lot of players in the midfield."

The captain of the national team will arrive in the country on Tuesday to get prepared for the matches against Chile and Venezuela for the first two qualifying rounds for Brazil 2014.

Argentina will receive Chile at River Plate's Monumental stadium of Friday and will face Venezuela on Tuesday 11 in Puerto La Cruz.

Referring to the team coached by Claudio Borghi, he said that "it's a team that works a lot and likes to put pressure on their opponents."

He also stated that he is not in conditions to win a match by himself and that results depend on all of his teammates "like it happens in Barcelona," which he referred as "the best team in the world."

The player born in Rosario city ratified that 'it's not good' to compare his performance in the national team with the one he has in his club because sometimes he plays in different positions.

"I just want to have a good performance in the national team. I feel the people's love in the streets and I feel happy when I meet an Argentine and he tells me positive things," he concluded.

Iniesta to return to action soon

2011-10-04T00:57:00.001-07:00

Barcelona finally had some positive news on the injury front on Monday when medical staff said midfielder Andres Iniesta was about to be declared fit after three weeks out with a muscle tear.

The Spain playmaker's return would be a welcome development for coach Pep Guardiola, who has lost midfielders Cesc Fabregas (hamstring) and Ibrahim Afellay (knee surgery), forward Alexis Sanchez (thigh) and defender Eric Abidal (hamstring) to injury in recent weeks.

Iniesta was "already on the verge of receiving the all-clear," club doctor Ricard Pruna said at a news conference following Afellay's knee operation on Monday.

Arsenal and Spurs unite following ugly chants

2011-10-04T00:56:00.001-07:00

Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur put their intense on-field rivalry to one side on Monday by taking the unusual step of issuing a joint statement condemning the chants of some of their supporters at Sunday's north London derby at White Hart Lane.

Arsenal fans were offensive towards their former striker Emmanuel Adebayor who now plays for Spurs, mocking the gun attack on his Togo team bus during last year's African Nations Cup tournament in Angola which left three members of the Togo party dead.

The Arsenal fans chanted: "It should have been you, it should have been you, killed in Angola, it should have been you."

Spurs fans targeted Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger with their own offensive insult as they have done for much of the last decade.

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp was scathing of the Arsenal fans afterwards, describing the chants at Adebayor as 'disgusting' and Spurs confirmed on Monday that several fans from the home and away sections of the crowd were ejected during the game.

"How do you chant something like that. You can't be right mentally. There were kids up there," Redknapp said.

Wenger said he had heard the chants and added: "We respect everybody and want to be respected too."

The statement, issued on their websites read: "Both clubs were extremely disappointed to hear the chants from supporters at yesterday's game.

"Neither club tolerates foul language, racist chanting, homophobic chanting or any anti-social behaviour from its supporters.

"We shall be working closely with each other to identify the individuals involved."

A Tottenham spokesman said Spurs, in line with club policy, would ban for life any fan found guilty of offensive chanting during the match which they won 2-1.

Despite Monday's united front, it was not all harmonious between the clubs immediately after Spurs' victory.

Tottenham's assistant coach Clive Allen described Wenger as 'two-bob' - a derogatory put down - for refusing to shake his hand after the final whistle.

Wenger replied: "Nothing happened. I shook hands with Harry and (assistant) Kevin Bond. How many hands do I have to shake?"

SL minister to probe medical unit

2011-10-04T00:55:00.003-07:00

The sports minister in Sri Lanka has said he will launch an investigation into allegations that the ministry's own medical unit provided banned substances to some of the country's sports personnel.

Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage told the BBC Sinhala Service that he was sacking the head of the unit, Dr Geethanjana Mendis, and replacing the whole team with sports medical experts, reports BBC Sport.

"We have received numerous serious complaints from sports personnel and sports associations that individuals at the unit provided banned substances," said Aluthgamage.

"The unit also does not have any sports medical specialist. Under these circumstances, mainly due to the recent doping incidents, we need to strengthen the unit to conduct a wider anti-doping programme island-wide."

Cricketer Upul Tharanga was banned for three months by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after he was found guilty of taking a banned drug during the 2011 World Cup.

Two Commonwealth Games medallist, boxer Manju Wanniarachchi and weightlifter Chintana Vidanage, were among the other national sportsmen to be banned from the international game, together with a group of rugby players.

Aluthgamage said there was an urgent need to strengthen the sports medical unit with a "good administrator" and specialists in order to initiate a wider anti-doping programme.

Dr Geethanjana Mendis refused to comment when contacted by the BBC.

IAAF assured London stadium will retain track

2011-10-04T00:55:00.001-07:00

London 2012 organisers showed off their newly laid Olympic track on Monday and assured visiting officials assessing a bid for the 2017 World Athletics Championships that it would be there for keeps.

"The athletics track is a non-negotiable part of the legacy of this stadium," Sports and Olympics minister Hugh Robertson told Reuters on the track after meeting an International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) inspection commission delegation.

"Once we had spoken to them, there were no questions afterwards," he added.

"We have now a letter of guarantee from the treasury solicitor that says the track will remain in the stadium in legacy mode and all the indications are that that has now put that argument to bed."

Premier League soccer club Tottenham Hotspur are fighting a legal battle over the future of the Olympic Stadium in east London.

A court hearing into the awarding of preferred bidder status to take over the Stadium after the Games to West Ham United is scheduled for October 18.

Tottenham, who would have removed the running track after the Games had they won the bid, argue that a 40 million pound ($62 million) loan from Newham council gave West Ham an unfair economic advantage.

The uncertainty had threatened the bid for the 2017 championships with the IAAF making clear that London had no chance without the Olympic Stadium being available.

NON-NEGOTIABLE

Robertson said even if Tottenham won their hearing, it would be a hollow victory.

"The judicial review is about the process by which the decision was reached, not the substance of the decision itself," he said.

"So therefore if the litigants were to win in the high court, and I don't think they will, we would simply start the process again and make the athletics track a non-negotiable part of the solution."

London 2012 organising committee chairman Sebastian Coe, a twice 1,500 metres Olympic gold medallist, turned out in his running kit to give the track a test along with British athletes hoping to be in the medals next year.

They were joined on the track by children from a local primary school before reporters were also allowed to try out the springy, 13.5mm deep surface for themselves.

"It's a lovely surface, it's a really good surface," Coe declared of the red Mondo surface which was laid in August with a training circuit nearing completion outside the main stadium.

"Instinctively, it felt a bit like Zurich," added the 54-year-old. "Which was good for me."

"It's an intimate stadium...and of course as we pointed out to the IAAF this morning, there will be some reconfiguration if we get 2017."

Coe said he had organised a private meeting with IAAF officials and tackled the main issues head on.

"They went away with the guarantees they needed," he said.

"We didn't leave them in any doubt at all about the commitment to the stadium.

"We made a very strong case this morning and we will continue to make that case, and it's a compelling case."

London is bidding against Qatar's Doha for the championships, with a decision due to be taken by the IAAF in Monaco in November.

Mohsin Khan named interim Pakistan coach

2011-10-04T00:54:00.001-07:00

Pakistan chief selector Mohsin Khan will serve as the team's interim coach for the series against Sri Lanka beginning later this month.

Mohsin steps in to fill the vacancy created by Waqar Younis' departure after the tour of Zimbabwe as the PCB is in the process of appointing a full-time coach. Ijaz Ahmed will be the team's assistant coach, reports ESPNcricinfo.

The PCB committee tasked with finding the new head coach had shortlisted five names for the position out of a list of thirty-seven applicants.

Twelve foreign and 25 local coaches had applied for the job. Those in contention for the top job reportedly include Dean Jones, Dermot Reeve and Aaqib Javed.

The committee hadn't finalised on a candidate, though, in time to take over before the Test, ODI and Twenty20 matches against Sri Lanka in the UAE.

Mohsin was appointed chief selector in March 2010 and was also involved in the PCB's fast-track coaching programme at National Cricket Academy, where he coached batsmen.

Colonel Naushad Ali will take charge as associate manager for the Sri Lanka series and the tour of Bangladesh.

He will function as manager for the Tests against Sri Lanka, though, in the absence of Naveed Akram Cheema, who will take over as manager for the limited-overs leg.

Cheema, a PCB governing board member and also the managing director of WAPDA, was appointed manger for the Zimbabwe series, replacing Intikhab Alam.

The Pakistan squad will assemble in Lahore for a pre-series camp between November 10 and 13.

Ancelotti keen on English return with Spurs

2011-10-04T00:53:00.003-07:00

Former Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti wants to manage again in England and has hinted he would be interested in the Tottenham Hotspur job if Harry Redknapp takes over England when Fabio Cepello retires after Euro 2012.

Ancelotti, who won the 2003 and 2007 European Cups with AC Milan, was sacked by Chelsea at the end of last term after going trophyless only a year after winning a Premier League and FA Cup double in his debut season.

"In a few months Capello's job will go to an Englishman that will free up a spot at a club. Only big jobs interest me like Liverpool and Tottenham. But I'm not in a rush," the Italian told La Repubblica newspaper on Monday.

"I still have a very strong desire to stay in England. For a coach, it is the ideal country. In Italy it is difficult to get full intensity during a training week, in England it is the opposite. It is difficult to reduce it."

Tottenham's Redknapp is the bookmakers' favourite to replace Capello.

Ancelotti also said Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger's job could be in jeopardy given their poor start to the season while he reiterated long held wishes to one day manage Italy, favourite former club AS Roma and Ivory Coast.

In a long interview which included references to Italian cheese rivalries, wine and his calmness when confronted by a bear on holiday in Canada, Ancelotti also said his time in England made him warm to Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson.

"He is a great person, he is humble, he is part of the history of football but he doesn't show it," he said.

Amla to skipper in ODIs and T20

2011-10-04T00:53:00.001-07:00

Hashim Amla will make his international captaincy debut for South Africa in their upcoming T20 and ODI series against Australia.

He replaces the injured AB de Villiers, who was named captain in both limited-overs formats in June. The series were due to be de Villiers' first as skipper but he was ruled out for between four and six weeks after breaking a finger while practicing with the Royal Challengers Bangalore during the Champions League, reports ESPNcricinfo.

Amla was chosen as de Villiers' vice-captain but there was speculation that he would not captain the side straight away, having never done the job before, and described himself as 'more of a backroom guy'.

But the selectors have shown faith in their decisions and handed Amla the leadership role in both formats. Amla has only played three T20s for South Africa, but has plenty of experience in ODIs, having played 49 matches and is currently ranked the top batsman in the 50-over format.

AB de Villiers' absence also meant that South Africa had to search for a new wicketkeeper and have turned to an old favourite. Mark Boucher has been recalled to the ODI side having last played an ODI on South Africa's tour of West Indies in May last year.

He was left out of the squad that took part in the World Cup earlier and had made public his desire to return to the limited-overs format of the game, insisting he has plenty of offer in that department.

Heino Kuhn has been named wicketkeeper for the T20s while Morne van Wyk, who took part in the World Cup and can bat in the top five, has been excluded from both squads.

Andrew Hudson, the convenor of selectors, doesn't believe the one-day squad needs to be tampered with much, despite the disappointing World Cup campaign where South Africa crashed out in the quarter-finals. Boucher's inclusion will beef up the middle order along with David Miller, who replaces Colin Ingram.

There are plenty of options in the bowling department, with all three spinners who did duty in the World Cup being retained, but no space for Albie Morkel who is only in the T20 squad.

"We will probably go in with seven batsmen, including Boucher at No 7, and we have kept all our bowling options that worked well at the World Cup," Hudson said.

"We will be able to go in with four specialist bowlers plus the back-up of Kallis, JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis."

The only new cap is in the T20 squad which includes Cobras opening batsman Richard Levi. He has had an impressive run of form domestically and scored 43 off 27 balls in the team's Champions League opener against New South Wales. With the mix of youth and experience in the T20 squad Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn are being rested.

Both are taking part in the ongoing Champions League, and have enjoyed five months away from cricket since the end of the IPL, but Hudson said leaving them out was part of CSA's rotation policy.

Imran Tahir, who burst onto the international scene at the World Cup, and took 17 wickets in 16 matches at an average of 16.88 for Hampshire in the English Friends Life t20 domestic tournament, has not been included in the T20 squad.

"With the ICC World Twenty20 less than a year away we need to keep a solid core of experience around the side," Hudson said.

"At the same time we want to give younger players a run as well and this certainly applies in the case of Richard Levi and David Miller. We don't have a lot of T20 International matches before the ICC event so it is important that we give the likes of Levi, Miller and Colin Ingram an extended run."

Graeme Smith, who stepped down as T20 captain in August last year and ODI captain after the World Cup, and batted for the first time in a competitive match after having knee surgery for the first time on Saturday, has been named in both squads.

South Africa's series against Australia starts with a T20 on October 13 in Cape Town and that will be followed by another T20 in Johannesburg then three ODIs. The two-Test series starts on November 7 and the Test squad will be announced after three more rounds of SuperSport Series matches.

ODI SQUAD:
Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Jacques Kallis, David Miller, Morne Morkel , Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe

T20 SQUAD:
Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, JP Duminy, Colin Ingram, Heino Kuhn, Richard Levi, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell , Robin Peterson, Graeme Smith, Rusty Theron, Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Italy not scared of Serbia trip: Prandelli

2011-10-04T00:52:00.002-07:00

Italy are not scared of the feverish atmosphere they could encounter in Friday's Euro 2012 qualifier against Serbia in Belgrade, coach Cesare Prandelli said on Monday.

Italy's home qualifier between the sides a year ago was abandoned early on after Serbian fans threw flares on to the Genoa pitch, leading Uefa to hand the Azzurri a 3-0 walkover win.

"We don't have any fears over the game in Belgrade. There will be no sort of problem with their fans," Prandelli told a news conference.

"Serbia need a win and we have already qualified. Let's not speculate on the result, but I expect a good performance."

Serbia are second in Group C and need a win from their penultimate qualifier to fend off the threat of Estonia for a play-off berth for June's finals in Ukraine and Poland.

Despite his side having already topped the group, Prandelli has picked a strong squad and hopes Manchester City's temperamental forward Mario Balotelli is finally showing signs of maturing.

"I have found him to be a bit calmer. I hope he gives me a selection dilemma. This is an important moment for him," Prandelli said.

He added that AS Roma's Pablo Osvaldo, Juventus's Simone Pepe, Fiorentina's Alessio Cerci and Atalanta's Ezequiel Schelotto were pushing to make future squads if Balotelli flopped.

Cook rubbishes ball-tampering talk

2011-10-04T00:52:00.000-07:00

Alastair Cook has vehemently denied Umar Gul's accusation that England bowlers Stuart Broad and James Anderson have engaged in ball-tampering.

Gul was quoted by the PakPassion website claiming Anderson tampered with the ball during Pakistan's controversial 2010 tour of England and that Broad did the same in the most recent Ashes series in Australia, reports ESPNstar.

The Pakistan right-armer has since clarified his comments in a statement to the same website, claiming he intended them to mean that any bowler could be accused of ball-tampering.

But England one-day skipper Cook hit back at the 27-year-old's claims, saying:
"We certainly haven't tampered with the ball and if he did have any complaints he should have gone to the ICC over that.

"I think he has almost said himself that it has been a bit of a mountain out of a molehill."

Gul came out with accusation that Broad and Anderson illegally tampered with the ball after reading retired Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar's autobiography, which contains a confession that he took part in ball tampering during his career.

Cook was speaking at London Heathrow airport ahead of his team's departure to India, where they will play five 50-over games and one Twenty20 over the next four weeks.

Cook led the ODI team to a 3-0 win over the Indians in England this summer after Andrew Strauss had skippered the team to a 5-0 Test whitewash.

Cook admits playing the 50-over world champions on their own soil will be a much harder task, but has still backed his men to win.

"I certainly think we can beat India," Cook said.

"It will be incredibly tough. We need everyone to be playing very well.

"We all know what the one-day crowds are like over there. They love their cricket.

"Delivering our skills when 50,000 or 60,000 people are screaming and when balls are flying all over the place will also be a key factor, but certainly with this squad I think we can do something really special."

Gayle(46-ball 86 runs) blast sets up RCB win

2011-10-04T00:51:00.001-07:00

Chris Gayle blasted a 46-ball 86 to set up the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for a massive 51-run win over Somerset in their Champions League T20 match in Bangalore on Monday.

Chasing a daunting 207 to win, Somerset made a brisk start with Peter Trego making 58 off only 38 deliveries, reports supersport.

However, Daniel Vettori and Dirk Nannes kept pegging away at the wickets at the other end, and by the time Trego succumbed to Raju Bhatkal, caught in the deep by Vettori, the writing was on the wall for the English team.

Vettori finshed with 2/25 and Sreenath Aravind was even more miserly, conceding only 23 runs for his two wickets.

Earlier, Gayle's onslaught propelled Bangalore to 206 for six, having been asked to bat first.

Tillakaratne Dilshan took the initial responsibility on what started off as a slow and damp wicket and, riding his luck, scored a quick 23 runs off 16 balls before being bowled around his legs.

Virat Kohli joined Gayle and, with the track flattening out, the pair scored with greater ease and brought up the 100 in the 11th over.

Steve Kirby stuck to his guns to first remove Kohli, bowling him with a yorker, and he followed up that success by having Saurabh Tiwary caught at deep mid-wicket.

Though wickets were falling around him, Gayle kept his concentration and continued to attack the bowlers, hitting four boundaries and eight sixes, before Alfonso Thomas had him caught in the deep.

Kirby finished with 2/23, commendable figures in an innings where the run rate exceeded 10.

Benzema ruled out of France qualifiers

2011-10-04T00:50:00.002-07:00

France striker Karim Benzema has been ruled out of Friday's Euro 2012 qualifier at home to Albania and next Tuesday's game with Bosnia because of an abductor muscle problem.

"The nature of the injury means we couldn't have him for the two matches. He must return to Real Madrid tonight," France coach Laurent Blanc told reporters on Monday but said he did not know if he would call up a replacement.

France lead Group D by a point from Bosnia with just the two home qualifiers left.