Indian cricket star Sachin Tendulkar on Wednesday pulled out of the Olympic torch relay to avoid aggravating a groin injury, a source close to him said.
   Tendulkar, 35, was expected to be one of the star runners during the Indian leg of the relay here on Thursday, but opted out on the advice of his doctors.
   ‘Sachin has been advised not to take part in the relay as a precautionary measure,’ the source said. ‘He has not fully recovered from the groin injury.’
   Indian Olympic Association chief Suresh Kalmadi said he was unaware the cricketer had pulled out. ‘I have just heard these reports, I have not received any communication from him,’ said Kalmadi.
   India’s football captain Bhaichung Bhutia had earlier this month withdrawn from the relay in support of Tibetan groups protesting against China’s crackdown on their homeland.
   Tendulkar did not play in the second and third Tests of the recent home series against South Africa due to the same problem, but hoped to be fit for the Indian Premier League starting on Friday.
   Tendulkar needs 172 runs to overtake West Indian Brian Lara as Test cricket’s leading run-scorer, a feat he could achieve on the tour of Sri Lanka in July-August.
   Tendulkar has 11,782 runs from 147 Tests, second behind Lara’s record tally of 11,953 runs.
   The prolific Indian is already the top one-day batsman with 16,361 runs and holds the world record of 39 Test and 42 one-day centuries.

Pakistan’s leg of the Olympic torch relay passed off peacefully behind closed doors and amid heavy security Wednesday, as Australia and India braced for anti-China protests when the flame reaches them.
   Thousands of troops and police guarded the ceremony at a sports stadium in Islamabad after organisers slashed the planned route to ward off pro-Tibet demonstrations and the threat of militant attacks.
   The security on the torch’s first stop in Asia before August’s Beijing Games came as Pakistan tries to protect China, its closest ally, from further embarrassment after protesters disrupted the early legs of the worldwide tour.
   Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani put aside their political differences and grimly held the torch together after it was lit.
   Youngsters waved Pakistani flags and cheered as the flame was brought into the stadium on a traditional horse-driven chariot. The army band played to herald the arrival of the torch.
   ‘It is an honour for us, all Pakistanis, to be an intrinsic part of this tremendous journey and to host the Olympic torch,’ Musharraf said at a ceremony after the end of the relay.
   Former squash star Jahangir Khan completed the relay, which involved around 60 people running laps around the stadium.
   The original plan was to parade the torch along Islamabad’s leafy main boulevard, but the plans were changed at the last minute amid security concerns caused by a wave of suicide bombings in Pakistan.
   Musharraf and Gilani arrived in a fleet of bulletproof Mercedes limousines, flanked by Landcruisers with roof-mounted guns. Armed bodyguards in suits stood alert while army helicopters flew overhead.
   Army contingents, paramilitary troops and elite police commandos guarded the flame as it arrived at Jinnah Stadium.
   Officials said there was no indication of a specific threat but security was tight because of the presence of Muslim separatists from China’s northwestern Xinjiang region in Pakistan’s troubled tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
   Officials said Wednesday that Australian police had been give extra powers to ensure there is no violence when the torch goes there, while the southern Chinese territory of Hong Kong announced it was changing its torch route.
   The torch next moves on to the Indian capital New Delhi for what will be a short, heavily guarded leg.

England captain Michael Vaughan has made it clear he wants star all-rounder Andrew Flintoff back in international cricket as soon as possible, ideally during the upcoming series against New Zealand.
   He also said dropped new-ball duo Stephen Harmison and Matthew Hoggard could force their way back into the Test side while he himself was contemplating a return to number three in the batting order.
   Flintoff, who is due to play for Lancashire in their County Championship opener against Surrey at The Oval on Wednesday, missed England’s pre-Christmas tour of Sri Lanka and their recent campaign in New Zealand as he recovered from a fourth operation on his left ankle.
   Whether Flintoff’s troublesome joint can stand up to the rigours of the 30-year-old’s hard-charging approach to pace bowling remains to be seen.
   Flintoff hasn’t played a Test since captaining England, in Vaughan’s injury-induced absence, in the climax of their 5-0 Ashes series thrashing by Australia in Sydney in January last year while his last one-day international was in September against India.
   His return, and the attempts by Harmison and Hoggard to re-establish themselves at Test level, promise to help sustain interests in the early weeks of a Championship season in danger of being overshadowed completely by events in the inaugural Indian Premier League, which starts on Friday.
   Vaughan will be a keen follower of all-rounder Flintoff’s fortunes, having himself struggled with a potentially career-ending knee injury.
   ‘He has got three or four four-day games for Lancashire, so hopefully he will come through those with overs under his belt, runs by his name and give himself a good chance because we want him back,’ Vaughan said of Flintoff.
   ‘An England side with Freddie in is a better team.’
   ‘He wants to be there,’ added Vaughan. ‘He is the only one who knows what his ankle feels like.
   ‘He hasn’t bowled 18 to 20 overs in a day yet and had to go out and bowl five or six the next day yet, so hopefully he will get through that.
   ‘We just want him right, whether that means he misses the first game, second game and comes back for the third.
   ‘I just want him back fit and ready; whether it’s first or third, that will do me,’ Vaughan added ahead of the first Test against New Zealand, which starts at Lord’s in a month’s time.
   ‘It is so important you listen to your body and know yourself.’
   Turning to Yorkshire team-mate Hoggard, Vaughan said: ‘With him you know he is going to try to take wickets over the next month to make it hard for the selectors.
   ‘Harmy has been given a harder time and I wouldn’t want to be a county batsman over the next month having to face him because I think he has got a bit of a bee in his bonnet and a point to prove.
   ‘That is exactly what I want - I certainly don’t think it is the end of their careers yet.’
   Vaughan had a mediocre tour of New Zealand with the bat, averaging under 21 in the three Tests, although England won the series 2-1.
   But he now expects to swap places with Andrew Strauss, the Middlesex left-hander reverting to the opening berth where he made his name as a Test match batsman.
   ‘I wouldn’t say I would carry on opening for England, no.
   ‘We will have to sit down with Peter Moores and the selectors. Straussy is at three at the minute - he likes opening and I am at two and like batting at three - so maybe that will be a little bit of a change.’

Coach Mickey Arthur said the future looked rosy for South Africa when the squad returned home on Tuesday following the drawn series in India.
   The visitors lost the third and final Test in Kanpur by eight wickets on Sunday as India hit back to square the series 1-1 but Arthur was full of praise for his men.
   ‘I’m ecstatic about the tour...and ecstatic about this team’s future,’ he told reporters. ‘We’ve been building this team for the last two years.
   ‘We needed an attack that could take 20 wickets and we’ve certainly got that, and I’m very happy with the way the top six batsmen have taken responsibility.
   ‘Some of the younger guys, the guys who had potential question marks against their names, have really outdone expectations. Despite the loss in Kanpur we have won 32 of our last 39 international matches, which is an unbelievable ratio.’
   Captain Graeme Smith echoed Arthur’s views.
   ‘This team has found its feet now and to see their success is hugely rewarding,’ said Smith. ‘When I first became captain I basically inherited a side but now I’ve had the chance to build one.
   ‘It’s a huge positive to captain a side with bowlers like we’ve got but the top six (batsmen) too have been fantastic. They’ve scored 17 centuries in 12 Tests.
   ‘The team is battle hardened now and our stats in all three forms of the game have been incredible. But it’s important they keep challenging themselves,’ added Smith.
   South Africa will now take a break before starting their tour of England in June.
   ‘We’ve planned properly, our ducks are in a row and I’m pretty sure the players will be fresh (for England),’ said Arthur.
   ‘Obviously there is the IPL (Indian Premier League) between now and then but I’m not worried about that. I’m sure the players involved will maintain their fitness and look after themselves.’
   Apart from the players involved in the IPL, batsman Neil McKenzie (Durham) and fast bowlers Morne Morkel (Yorkshire) and Andre Nel (Essex) will be going to England early to play county cricket.

West Indies won the three-match One Day International series with Sri Lanka 2-0 after rain washed out the final match at the Beausejour Stadium here Tuesday. This decider promised much but delivered a no-result when rain forced an abandonment of the third and final ODI under lights.
   In pursuit of a challenging total of 258 for victory in their allocation of 50 overs, West Indies had reached 81 for two from 18.2 overs when the rain swept across the ground.
   Though the ground-staff worked tirelessly to conduct mopping-up operations, too much damage had been done from the persistent showers, and the umpires abandoned any ideas of resuming about an hour before the scheduled close.
   Left-handed opener Sewnarine Chattergoon had given West Indies early hope.
   He scored 46 from 53 balls before he was caught behind in the ninth over, but the match was hanging in the balance, when the rain arrived.
   The outcome left West Indies as victors after they won the opening ODI last Thursday at Queen’s Park Oval by one wicket, and the rain-affected second ODI on Saturday at the same venue by seven wickets under the Duckworth-Lewis Method.
   Earlier, half-centuries from Mahela Udawatte and Tillakeratne Dilshan typified consistent Sri Lanka batting down the order and helped them reach 257 for eight from their allocation of 50 overs.
   Udawatte hit five fours and one six in the top score of 73 from 122 balls, and Dilshan struck three fours and one six in 64 from 54 balls, after Sri Lanka were sent in to bat on a hard, easy-paced Beausejour Stadium pitch.
   The visitors slumped to 44 for three inside the first 15 overs, when Kumar Sangakkara was caught at cover for one off Daren Powell in the second over, Mahela Jayawardene was caught at short fine leg for 17 off Dwayne Bravo in the 11th over, and Chamara Silva was caught behind off Powell for six in the 12th over.
   But Udawatte and Dilshan propped up the Sri Lankans with controlled batting, and formed strategic alliances with Chamara Kapugedera and Kaushalya Weeraratne
   In the middle overs, Udwatte added 84 for the fourth wicket with Kapugedera, who got 40 from 52 balls, and in the closing stages, Dilshan put on 79 for the sixth wicket with Weeraratne, who gathered 41 from 33 balls, before they were two of three wickets that fell for six runs inside the last two overs.
   West Indies captain Chris Gayle finished with the best figures of two wickets for 41 runs from 10 overs, Daren Powell took two for 50 from 10 overs, and Dwayne Bravo snared two for 67 from 10 overs.

Argentine legend Diego Maradona said on Tuesday he wished to stay at Beijing’s Olympic Village with Argentine athletes as he had never participated in Olympic Games.
   The Argentine soccer star, 47, added that he did not participate in the Beijing Olympic Torch relay on Friday in capital Buenos Aires just because the local government officials and the Chinese representatives did not guarantee his presence in the Olympic Village.
   ‘I would have participated in the torch relay if they had promised I could stay at the Olympic Village,’ said Maradona in a report granted to Channel 13 television.
   He said he accepts basketball player Emanuel Ginobili’s informal invitation to stay at the Beijing Olympic Village with his team, saying that ‘it is incredible to be among all the athletes.’
   ‘Ever since I was playing (soccer) in Italy, I said I wanted to go to the Olympic Games, they never called me, they never told me anything, but I did not want to demand nor propose anything because I was not healthy,’ said Maradona.
   ‘Now that I am healthy I want to take up again my old philosophy of life,’ he added.

Cricket’s governing body is investigating the awkward wicket prepared for the final Test between India and South Africa in Kanpur, a top official said on Wednesday.
   India won the match in three days on Sunday to draw the series 1-1 on a dry, dusty pitch at Green Park, described by the South African coach as ‘a poor cricket wicket.’
   Match referee Roshan Mahanama described the wicket as sub-standard in his post-match report, forcing the ICC to demand an explanation from the Indian cricket board.
   ‘I can confirm the Kanpur wicket was reported by the match referee,’ International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed told reporters during a brief visit to Mumbai.
   The ICC could, as a last resort, ban Kanpur as a Test venue if it does not receive a convincing reply from the Indian board.
   ‘There was always something happening on the wicket,’ said South African coach Mickey Arthur after the match. ‘It was behaving like a fifth-day pitch on the second day. It was a poor cricket wicket.’
   India won the match by eight wickets after the tourists were shot out for just 121 in 55.5 overs in their second innings.
   Arthur also slammed the poor cricketing and hotel facilities in Kanpur, but stressed South Africa did not lodge a complaint.
   ‘We are a major cricketing power, so we should get good venues and facilities,’ Arthur said. ‘But Kanpur, to our disappointment, was way below par in everything.

Sonali Bank earned a comfortable 7-0 victory over Dhaka Mariner Young’s Club in the lone match of the Brac Bank Club Cup Hockey Tournament at the Maulana Bhasani National Stadium on Wednesday.
   Substitute player Krishna Kumar completed a hat-trick scoring four field goals while Iqbal Nader, Sheikh Mahammad Nannu and Ashraful Islam scored one each for the winners, who dominated the first half 3-0.
   Today’s matches: Ajax SC v Bangladesh SC (2.30pm) and Usha v Wari Club (4:00pm).

Sporting Independent Club, a football club recently formed by the national players, started their journey with a win when they defeated the Cox’s Bazar District Sports Association 1-0 here on Wednesday.
   Milon netted the only goal for the winners in the 48th minute.
   Earlier, Sirajul Mostafa, the principal of Cox’s Bazar Government Women’s College and a former footballer, was introduced to the players. Cox’s Bazar DSA secretary Abdul Khalek and the principal of Eidgah Farid Ahmed College Omar Faruque were present on the occasion.
   The deputy commissioner of Cox’s Bazar, Sazzadul Hassan, distributed prizes among the winners after the game. Around 20,000 spectators watched the match. Sporting Independent Club will play their second match today at Badarkhali of Chakaria upazila.

The ‘rebel’ Twenty20 league bankrolled by the owners of India’s largest listed media firm has sought recognition from the International Cricket Council, the chief executive of the sport’s governing body said on Wednesday.
   The Indian Cricket League was launched last year and has contracted several big names, including Pakistan’s Izamam-ul-Haq and Brian Lara of West Indies, both recently retired, and New Zealand paceman Shane Bond.
   However, the ICL was not recognised by the Indian cricket board, which will launch its own multi-million dollar Twenty20 league later this week.
   ‘Until recently the ICL hadn’t sought recognition from the ICC,’ Malcolm Speed told reporters.
   ‘But 10 days ago lawyers acting on behalf of the ICL contacted us and sought recognition from ICC.
   ‘We are awaiting advice from our lawyers on that issue and I expect within a week or so we will respond to the ICL lawyers.’

The GP-BCB Cricket Academy suffered their first defeat in the Grameenphone Academy Cup triangular series when they lost to Pakistan Academy side by nine wickets at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium on Wednesday.
   Pakistan Cricket Academy, who were playing their first match of the series, rode on two contrasting half-centuries from Khurram Manzoor and Khalid Latif to surpass the hosts’ meagre 177 runs.
   Skipper Latif made 84 from 89 balls while Manzoor put on 64 off 116 balls as the visitors reached 180-1 in 38.4 overs to win the game. The duo, who played a one-day international match each against Zimbabwe in February, shared a 136-run partnership in the second wicket stand.
   Pacer Mahbubul Alam was the only successful GP-BCB bowler having captured the wicket of opener wicket of opener Ahmad Sehzad conceding 35 runs in his five overs.
   Earlier, left-arm pacer Muhammad Amir claimed 4-21 to cause the damage to GP-BCB Academy, who won the toss and opted to bat first. After losing four wickets for only 43 runs Nasir Hossain offered some resistance before another collapse left them reeling at 7-95. The hosts avoided more humiliation only because of three cameos from late-order batsmen Sohrawardi Shuvo (26), Delwar Hossain (26) and Nazmul Hossain (28).

Despite the growing popularity of Twenty20 among fans, Shaun Pollock said he would ‘hate’ to see Test cricket losing out to the shortest form of the game.
   ‘The traditional game of Test cricket and the 50-over game needs to be preserved’, Pollock said while admitting that Twenty20 was bringing more and more spectators to cricket. ‘Twenty20 has caught the imagination of the cricketing world. And with India doing well in the World Cup [the World Twenty20 in South Africa], the country has taken to it.’ Pollock was speaking on the sidelines of the Mumbai Indians’ first practice session.
   As for the IPL, Pollock had no doubt about its impact. ‘It’s going to have a big influence on international cricket’, Pollock said. Pollock believes in the new scenario the administrators would need to ‘to find place for Twenty20 to fit in. I am sure schedules will change to accommodate all forms of the game and everyone can enjoy it.’
   Pollock, who retired from international cricket recently after a 13-year stint for South Africa, felt tournaments like the IPL have come as a boon for the ageing cricketer. ‘It does give another avenue for the older guys who can just get through the shorter version of the game to continue and extend their career.’
   Pollock did not, however, agree with an Australian Cricketers’ Association survey that said 47 percent of the country’s cricketers would opt for premature retirement to play in the Twenty20 leagues in India, whether the IPL or the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League.
   ‘Maybe those are guys looking for an easy way out’, Pollock said about the ACA survey. ‘The game of Test cricket has been around for many, many years. It is a true test of the game with regard to your cricketing skills. I’m not saying it is the most exciting form of cricket and the cricket that the public want to watch but I would hate to see us lose that.’
   Pollock said he understood the fact that in the age of the fast buck and the growing popularity of Twenty20 there would many more hands joining to create versions of the IPL. England and New Zealand have already suggested starting their own Twenty20 leagues.
   ‘There is a demand for international cricketers who play in this form of the game so I can understand there would be negotiations happening,’ Pollock said. ‘But we will have to wait and see for things to get substantial. I can understand people trying to create an opportunity to viewers in their own countries.’
   Pollock feels the bat will dominate in the upcoming tournament. ‘There are going to be some high-scoring games and this format of the game will allow some guys to express their true abilities with the bat so you might see some flamboyant shots.’

With umpiring standards recently coming under the scanner in several countries, the ICC has responded by appointing a new panel to pick and evaluate the international and Elite umpires. Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, said the old procedure, where he and Sunil Gavaskar, ICC’s cricket committee chairman, picked up the umpires, would now be scrapped.
   ‘The pair will now be replaced by a new four-member panel consisting of David Richardson, ICC general manger of cricket, Ranjan Madugalle, chief referee, David Lloyd, former England captain and commentator and S Venkataraghavan, former Indian captain and umpire’, Speed said in Mumbai.
   The ICC will also now be expanding the Elite Panel’s strength by adding two new members to the existing 10.
   The new selection process, Speed said, would give equal opportunities to umpires from various member countries.
   ‘The umpires on the Elite Panel are chosen as the best umpires, with each country nominating two umpires to the international panel and these umpires are chosen to umpire Tests and ODIs. So the two Indian umpires who come on to the international panel they will be considered along with the rest for inclusion in the Elite Panel.’

Kevin Pietersen is encouraged the England and Wales Cricket Board have met with Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire behind the domestic Stanford Twenty20 competition in the West Indies.
   The ECB are reported to be looking at adding some Stanford-backed Twenty20 matches to the schedule for the tour of the Caribbean next year.
   Those matches could help fill the gap before an English Premier League comes into being.
   England batsman Pietersen, speaking ahead of Hampshire’s County Championship opener at home to title-holders Sussex on Wednesday, said: ‘Twenty20 looks like the way forward.
   ‘It’s a three-hour game with a winner, like football or rugby, and it is what spectators want to see.
   ‘This is the way cricket seems to be going. I want to play more of it and get good at it. It requires different shots and a different way of playing.
   ‘When it started it was all a bit slap-dash but it is turning into a game where it is being taken far more seriously.
   ‘A lot of people have played more Twenty20 than me and it has a worldwide following now.
   ‘Until I hear more about Stanford and his proposals I cannot comment, but it sounds great, very exciting for players and spectators.’
   All these potential changes to the cricket calendar have been sparked by the inaugural Indian Premier League, which starts on Friday.
   Essentially an Indian domestic Twenty20 tournament, the IPL’s newly-created franchises, have lured some of the world’s top cricketers to the sub-continent following a series of auctions for the sport’s leading players.
   However, the IPL clashes with the start of the English cricket season - where Twenty20 was pioneered as a professional game - and is likely to do so again next year.
   Last week Giles Clarke, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, said he couldn’t see how their centrally contracted players would be released for the IPL, which takes place in the run-up to the 2009 Ashes.
   However, having confirmed on Tuesday their talks with Stanford, the ECB said it had ‘never stated that centrally contracted players are banned from IPL’.
   That will come as a relief to Pietersen who said it was ‘ridculous’ of Clarke to suggest England players couldn’t feature in the IPL.

Gary Kirsten, India’s new coach, has expressed satisfaction with the team’s performance after they won the third Test in Kanpur to level the three-Test series 1-1.
   ‘Relief is the most obvious word which springs to mind after my first Test series in charge of Team India,’ Kirsten wrote in his official website. ‘I would have hated to start with a loss and, although a series win would have been preferable, to draw the series after being 1-0 down is satisfying.’
   Kirsten admitted that the team’s preparations for the Ahmedabad Test, where they succumbed to an innings loss, ‘wasn’t ideal’, but spoke about the spirit shown ahead of the final Test. ‘The team showed fantastic discipline and a real sense of purpose before Kanpur. It is so important to be able to recognise and acknowledge mistakes and every player did that.’
   He also praised Anil Kumble’s decision to sit out of the third Test due to a groin injury. ‘He is one of the most dedicated cricketers I have ever met and I doubt I have seen a man more determined to play. But he asked himself the ultimate question: ‘Could I bowl 20 consecutive overs?’ Most people in his situation would have ducked that question, but he didn’t. It was a courageous and wise decision that only he could make. His team-mates will respect him all the more for making it.’

Australian veteran Darren Lehmann will stage a shock comeback in the Indian Premier League after answering a call from former teammate Shane Warne, a report said Wednesday.
   Lehmann, 38, will fill in for South African skipper Graeme Smith in Jaipur-based IPL franchise the Rajastan Royals’ opening matches, the Adelaide Advertiser said on its website.
   The batsman, who retired from first-class cricket last November, said he was surprised to receive a call from Warne asking him play until Smith is available. ‘It’s all happened so quickly,’ he said. ‘They needed someone as cover for Graeme Smith so I didn’t hesitate to put my hand up. It will be good playing in the same side as Warnie.’

The Bangladesh national women handball team will leave for Lucknow on Friday to participate in the Third SAF Women’s Handball Championship that begins on April 23.
   India, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan and Bangladesh will take part in the four-day meet. In the second edition held in 2000 in Dhaka, India emerged champions and Bangladesh finished runners-up in both men’s and women’s groups.

Just imagine, for a moment, you are Avram Grant. It is the morning after the night before. Your team has been booed by its own supporters after an insipid draw against Wigan that has probably cost you the title.
   You open the newspapers and see yourself roundly criticised. Wrong team selection. No fire in the players’ bellies. Could anything compound your misery? How about a reminder from The Special One of just what Chelsea fans are missing ...
   Jose Mourinho emerged from a period of unaccustomed silence to defend his record, in typically understated fashion.
   ‘The English like statistics a lot, especially the number 100,’ said the former Chelsea boss. ‘It’s a fascinating number. For example, games as manager in the Premier League. Do they know that the percentage of wins by Arsene Wenger in the English league is 50 per cent? And that Alex Ferguson, in the same number of games, barely managed to achieve three points in half of them?
   ‘And my Chelsea beat those numbers completely, reaching well over 70 league wins, winning two championships in a row without blinking and leaving the directors of the Premier League on the verge of a nervous breakdown?
   ‘Does that make me a better manager than Wenger or Ferguson? No. But I also don’t think it makes me a worse manager than them.’
   These pearls of wisdom are contained in a new book, Jose Mourinho — Born Winner, published in Portugal. Grant does not even warrant a mention but Mourinho can at least empathise about the idiosyncrasies of managing a club owned by billionaire Roman Abramovich.
   ‘The thing I’ve noticed in England is the difference between the way Chelsea are treated and the discreet way that Wenger and Ferguson have managed to get through all the rainy spells,’ said Mourinho.
   ‘People look at Chelsea as a rich club, thinking the owner’s money can buy this world and another, if need be. Nobody knows the conditions in which we had to build our victories because they happened against all expectations and the wisest commandments in football.’
   No one knew better than Mourinho how to inspire his players by building a siege mentality. It is a skill Grant has yet to master. Lucky to win against Middlesbrough and poor in victory against Fenerbahce, they were shocking in the first half against Wigan. Using Frank Lampard’s last-minute absence as an excuse was pushing things a little far.
   Criticism of Grant’s selection was misplaced — a team including Cech, Terry, Ballack, Essien and Anelka should have been strong enough to overcome Wigan — but watching his reaction to Emile Heskey’s late equaliser made painful viewing. He momentarily turned away before pacing his technical area, gasping for air like a goldfish that had leapt out of its bowl.
   He still has the opportunity to prove everybody wrong if Manchester United somehow conspire to shoot themselves in the foot, or if he can succeed where Mourinho failed and win the Champions League.
   Having recovered remarkably quickly from surgery to his damaged face, keeper Petr Cech was predicting a similarly rapid comeback for his side. ‘We’re not throwing the towel in yet,’ he said.
   But it’s hard to imagine Sir Alex Ferguson, a past master at mind games, losing too much sleep.
   Expect Fergie to have his troops primed and ready for battle for the remaining games, laughing off Mourinho’s jibes at his record.
   And unlike Mourinho, Grant is unlikely to need a book to catalogue his achievements at Chelsea since taking over last September. Barring a miracle, a sheet of A4 will suffice.

Sir Alex Ferguson insists Manchester United’s Premier League title defence could yet unravel.
   United occupy a seemingly unassailable position at the summit, with nearest rivals Chelsea trailing by five points with four matches remaining.
   A 1-1 draw with Wigan saw the Blues lose further ground on Monday but Ferguson, speaking at the presentation of a Nationwide Lifetime Achievement Award to Denis Law, remains cautious.
   ‘Wigan holding Chelsea puts us in a good position but in my experience in life you don’t take things for granted,’ he said.
   ‘We’ve got some difficult games ahead – Blackburn, West Ham, Chelsea and Wigan. We have three away games and one at home so we have to do a job.
   ‘Because we have difficult games left, there is still a lot to play for and it could still go down to the wire.
   ‘We could lose to Chelsea and we could lose all our remaining games. It’s a very difficult league these days.’
   United have been ruthless this season, scoring 19 more times than Chelsea for a superior goal difference that is virtually worth a point.
   Winger Cristiano Ronaldo has led the charge with a stunning 38-goal haul and Ferguson claims United’s ambition deserves the return.
   ‘One of the encouraging things is the goal difference is helping us,’ he said.
   ‘That’s deserved because we’ve attacked all season and have put an attacking emphasis on our game.
   ‘Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez have scored over 70 goals between them. That’s a great return from three players.’
   United put one hand on the title with Sunday’s 2-1 victory over Arsenal and Ferguson admitted the competition has been ferocious this season.
   ‘It’s been a really competitive league,’ he said.
   ‘Arsenal and ourselves spent a long time competing for that top spot and Chelsea have crept us behind us.
   ‘It’s very easy to dismiss them now but when we beat
   Arsenal we knew we were right back in the ball park of going for it.’

England coach Fabio Capello gave Michael Owen a vote of confidence on Tuesday, singling out the in-form Newcastle United marksman as a key player in his qualification plans for the 2010 World Cup.
   Speaking to reporters on a trip to Lesotho, a tiny mountain kingdom which is surrounded by the tournament hosts South Africa, Capello said qualifying for the tournament was never out of his thoughts.
   ‘My main priority is to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. I think about it all the time,’ the Italian said, speaking through an interpreter.
   Owen, England’s fourth highest goal-scorer of all-time, has yet to start a match under Capello and was widely quoted as criticising the coach’s tactics after making an appearance from the bench against Italy last month.
   But Capello appeared to hold no grudges against the 28-year-old whose recent return to form after an injury-plagued season has helped ease Newcastle’s one-time relegation worries.
   ‘I have a group of players, Michael Owen included, that will take England forward,’ said Capello.
   The former Juventus, AC Milan and Real Madrid coach also said he had been monitoring David Beckham’s performances for LA Galaxy, with the former England skipper scoring his first goal in the United States last week.
   ‘We have been following Beckham’s progress in America and it is not surprising that he is doing well,’ said Capello, who famously dropped then restored Beckham to the Real Madrid line-up last season.

European soccer’s ruling body UEFA is to bring out a tri-lingual football dictionary with about 2,000 entries.
   It will contain ‘official terms used by UEFA and FIFA, as well as terms used by professionals and ordinary fans in everyday football life,’ UEFA said on Wednesday.
   Subjects covered will include the game itself, stadiums and security, equipment, medical matters, the media, management and administration.
   ‘Football cannot live entirely without its own language,’ UEFA president Michel Platini said in the book’s foreword.
   ‘Players and coaches need to communicate in order to follow training routines and tactical instructions...and the game’s administrators need to be able to converse and exchange opinions and ideas in precise detail.’
   Published in English, German and French, it will help ‘multilingual communication in the football world,’ UEFA said.
   The dictionary will contain some of the sport’s more colourful terms, such as slang for heavy defeats, but is not being marketed at regular football fans.
   ‘It’s primarily to help the sport’s administrators and perhaps coaches such as Ottmar Hitzfeld who will be taking over the Switzerland team later this year with no real knowledge of French,’ UEFA’s head of language services Florian Simmen told Reuters.
   ‘But it is also available in normal bookstores so any women who want to really impress their husbands during Euro 2008 should definitely think about buying it.’
   Produced by German reference book publishers Langenscheidt, it will be presented in Munich on May 7 ahead of Bayern Munich’s league match against Arminia Bielefeld.

Jens Lehmann has insisted he feels no hatred towards Manuel Almunia, his goalkeeping rival at Arsenal, and that he laughed when he read the Spaniard’s criticisms of him in Saturday’s Guardian.
   Almunia told how he had had enough of Lehmann’s surly attitude, how the pair did not speak and that it did not bother him that the German hated him. ‘He is not important to me,’ said Almunia, who added the jibe that the Arsenal back-ups Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone were ‘better goalkeepers than him anyway’.
   Lehmann, who is out of contract in the summer and set to leave the club, was called into the team for Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at Manchester United after Almunia was ruled out with a wrist injury.
   ‘I do not hate anybody in the world,’ said Lehmann. ‘I saw Almunia’s comments and they made me laugh more than anything else. I was just disappointed that I could not have prevented the defeat at Manchester United.’
   Emmanuel Adebayor has said Arsenal owe it to their supporters to finish the season on a high rather than looking back to reflect on what might have been after their last hopes of a trophy disappeared at Old Trafford. ‘You can talk about decisions but it is much better to have a good concentration on what we have to do now, not what referees have done good or wrong,’ the striker said. ‘Those things are gone already so now it is much better to talk about ourselves, how we are going to progress, what we have to do to achieve things. That is the most important now.
   ‘You have to show whether you are a man or not. In the difficult moments, that is when you have to come out and show character, personality and play your football. It is difficult but I know my mum will be somewhere watching the TV, so I have to play for her, all my family and all the people who love Arsenal. We have to win all those games now, to play for our honour and for our fans.’

England manager Fabio Capello has urged Wayne Rooney to relax his ‘obsession with scoring’ if he is to become a prolific marksman for his country.
   Capello is a huge admirer of the Manchester United star and has tipped him to eventually become England captain.
   But the Italian believes the one area Rooney has to improve is his finishing power and he will attempt to help him to keep cool in front of goal.
   Capello said, ‘I have spoken to Rooney and technically he is very strong and good. What he needs to do is be more relaxed in front of goal.
   ‘He has not got to have this obsession with scoring. It depends how relaxed and confident you are in front of goal.
   ‘You can coach a player to be more relaxed by constant exercise in training until he is confident enough. A lot of training in front of the goal can help.
   ‘He will improve year on year and he will score more goals. He is very young.
   ‘It is true he is not scoring at the moment but he has chances and that is important. When a player has chances, sooner or later he is going to break the duck and start scoring and become a goal-scorer.’
   Capello added, ‘Will Rooney become a great goal-scorer? I have seen a few players who look like they are never going to become goal-scorers and then at the age of 26-27 they started scoring goals.
   ‘You had Paolo Pulici in the 1970s, Christian Vieri and, most latterly, Hernan Crespo. He went to Italy and scored a lot of goals with Parma.’
   Capello, in Lesotho to help promote the Football Association’s development of football in Africa at grassroots level ahead of the 2010 World Cup, has seen enough to suggest Rooney could eventually wear the captain’s armband for his country.
   He said, ‘I am undecided who will be captain for the next game, and Wayne Rooney is very young, but I believe in the future he could be captain of England one day.
   ‘What are his qualities for the role? He is a leader, he is a good example on the pitch. Like I said, he is very young so we need to give him a bit more time to get some more experience and mature a bit.
   ‘He is the most talented young English player and the good thing is he has still got a big margin of improvement ahead of him.’
   Capello also made it clear any player not committed to being part of his squad for the summer friendlies with the United States and Trinidad and Tobago can forget about being part of his future plans.
   He said, ‘If a player doesn’t love to play for England then perhaps he should stay at home. Players must love the England shirt and that is all there is to it.
   ‘If someone doesn’t want to come and play for England, it means they don’t love the England shirt enough. Obviously, they must prefer to go on holiday.’

Cristiano Ronaldo has rubbished rumours he will join Real Madrid in the summer and said, ‘I’m sick of having to tell people I’m happy at United.’
   The brilliant Portuguese star, 23, knows the Spanish champions want to smash the world transfer record by signing him for £90 million – but he is not interested.
   Ronaldo insists his decision to stay loyal to Manchester United and Alex Ferguson is nothing to do with the promise of a new £150,000-a-week salary, as it was revealed in last Saturday.
   He told The Sun on Wednesday, ‘I just don’t care what the whole world seems to want to say about me or speculate about my future.
   ‘I’ve said it a thousand times and, by now, people should realise...I’m totally happy at United.
   ‘I’m in the form of my life and I’m having the season of my career so far. So it makes me mad sometimes to read some of the things which are supposed to be related to my future.
   ‘I get angry but I’m trying to accept it’s a waste of energy to be furious because it is not worth it.
   ‘It’s not by chance I’ve ended up at United. I always showed that I had the basic talent and commitment to become a professional player.
   ‘Then my development here has been aided by the support and the correct environment for my talent to develop. There is an attitude of hard work here that I need and like.
   ‘This season is massively demanding on all fronts, personally, for United and for Portugal.
   ‘So what I’m trying to do is set everything else aside and be ready to give my utmost in every match from now until the end of United’s season and then into the European Championships with Portugal.
   ‘If I’m performing at the best level of my life, then it’s not by fluke. Far from it – I’ve worked damn hard to try and achieve exactly that.
   ‘I’m pushing myself mentally and physically. I’m working constantly to better myself – it’s for those reasons alone, and not by luck, that the results are coming and the goals are flowing.’
   The No 7 feels deep pride at breaking George Best’s historic scoring record of most goals for a United winger with 37 strikes this term.
   But he does not want to be remembered for that alone.
   His playboy image bears no relationship to the reality of the young man who is almost always last off the training pitch at Carrington and who practises and practises to make all his tricks, flicks and free-kicks look so simple.
   But they are not.
   He added, ‘People are talking about the free-kicks that I’ve scored this season but there is absolutely no secret to scoring them.
   ‘It is nothing more than work and repetition over and again.
   ‘I’m scoring them so that gives me more confidence to keep on trying and practising but the only explanation for the fact that they go in is dedication and hard work.
   ‘Of course I’m honoured and proud that I’ve managed to beat George Best’s record this season – something like that is deeply special as a moment in your career.
   ‘But the most important thing that happened that night was that we beat Bolton.
   ‘Only the fans can say what they think about comparisons between me and George Best and whether I’m a good successor to his wonderful legacy.
   ‘In general, I think the fans only want the best for the club and, rather than compare us, the important thing is that my performances are helping United succeed and that makes all of us happy.’
   As the title moves to within touching distance for United, Ronaldo is preparing to stage a grandstand finish to the season with victory in the Champions League and European Championships with Portugal.
   He said, ‘There’s enormous motivation for all of us that the Champions League semi-final first leg is in the Camp Nou against Barcelona – it won’t be easy.
   ‘But we have massive confidence in ourselves to come through it.
   ‘Then I’m sure I’m still going to be in condition to help Portugal this summer.
   ‘My training has always been focused on remaining at my best until the Championships are finished because, in my opinion, we’ve got a Portugal squad which is capable of becoming champions of Europe.’
   Meanwhile, Real Madrid sporting director Predrag Mijatovic has conceded it would be ‘impossible’ to sign Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo this summer.
   Mijatovic was quoted as saying on Tuesday that the Spanish giants were looking at Ronaldo to become the new ‘face’ of the club, in a similar way to former France playmaker Zinedine Zidane during his time at Madrid.
   Mijatovic has made no secret of his admiration for the 23-year-old Portugal international, but admits there is no chance of taking him to the Bernabeu any time soon.
   ‘Right now it is impossible to sign Cristiano Ronaldo. Who would not like to have him in their team? But we need to be realistic because his would be a very difficult signing,’ said Mijatovic, who also denied he had met with United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz.
   ‘There has been talk about lots of things that have nothing to do with reality. They have also said I have been seen with Carlos Queiroz and it is not true,’ the former Madrid striker added in Marca.

Petr Cech has warned Manchester United to forget about starting an early title party after insisting Chelsea are still in the race to win the Premier League.
   Reigning champions United can clinch the title when they face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on April 26 after seeing Avram Grant’s men drop two points in a shock 1-1 draw at home to Wigan on Monday.
   Having fallen five-points behind fellow Champions League semi-finalists United, second-placed Chelsea must beat Everton at Goodison Park here today to retain any realistic ambitions of claiming a third Premier League crown in four seasons.
   But Czech Republic goalkeeper Cech, who played against Wigan despite having had over 50 stitches inserted in a facial wound just eight days earlier, claims Chelsea can still snatch the title from United’s grasp.
   ‘We need to concentrate on ourselves and win every game because our destiny is not in our hands and we need to wait to see if someone can beat Manchester United,’ said Cech.
   ‘United were lucky against Arsenal on Sunday, so they can be unlucky against Blackburn on Saturday.
   ‘The best thing about the Premier League is that all the teams have quality and there is always pressure because games aren’t easy to win, so as long as we keep fighting, we’ll have a chance.
   ‘We have a difficult game at Everton, but if we beat them we cut the gap to two points. We’re not throwing in the towel yet.
   ‘United have four games to play and they have to come to Stamford Bridge, so it is a must win game for us, but every game is a must win game and we just need to make sure we keep winning.
   ‘The title is closer to them (United) but it is not over yet and the message from our dressing room is that it is not over and we still have games to go.’
   Cech, rated by many as the world’s number one goalkeeper, admitted he gambled on his fitness by returning against relegation-battlers Wigan.
   ‘When I got the protection for my face I decided to ask the club doctor if they would let me play,’ he explained. ‘He wasn’t completely happy about it but he respected my decision and it was good to be back on the pitch.
   ‘I wanted to play, I wasn’t forced to play and I had no fear before the game because I knew the wound was protected.’
   Everton, desperate for points today in order to reduce the five-point gap between themselves and fourth-placed Liverpool, who presently occupy the last spot on offer to English clubs for next season’s Champions League, could receive a boost before they kick off against Chelsea.
   Toffees chiefs hope that by then South Africa midfielder Steven Pienaar will have made permanent his loan move from German club Borussia Dortmund in a £2.2 million ($4.4m) move.
   Meanwhile, American goalkeeper Tim Howard can equal Neville Southall’s Everton record of 15 clean sheets in a league season if he denies Chelsea.
   And defender Leighton Baines has backed the former Manchester United man to achieve the milestone.
   ‘Tim has been amazing for us and if anyone deserves a record, he does because he’s been so consistent,’ Baines said.
   ‘Some keepers are just good shot-stoppers, but with Tim, you get the full package. He has a great spring when he comes for crosses and commands his area as well.
   ‘As a defender, it makes you feel so much better to have a keeper like him behind you. We pride ourselves in being hard to break down, but if anyone gets past, you can rely on Tim to stop them.’

Fabio Capello made it clear Wednesday that England players would be putting their international careers in jeopardy unless they showed total commitment to their country.
   The Italian’s warning was issued ahead of England’s friendly double header against the United States at Wembley on May 28 and the visit to Trinidad and Tobago four days later.
   His message was plain – he expects players to answer any call up they receive for these two games after a lengthy domestic season other than for a genuine reason.
   Capello said, ‘By the time of the two games, some of the players will have been on holiday for a week already. Do I want to see commitment to England? If a player doesn’t love to play for England, then perhaps he should stay at home.
   ‘Players must love the England shirt and wearing the England shirt. That is all there is to it.
   ‘If someone doesn’t want to come and play for England, it means they don’t love the England shirt enough. Obviously they must prefer to go on holiday.’
   The new England manager will continue his policy of rotating his captains in the two friendly internationals before making a final decision on who will lead the side by the time England face the Czech Republic at Wembley in August.
   That means John Terry, skipper under former boss Steve McClaren, is by no means certain to retain the captaincy with Steven Gerrard wearing the armband when he was absent through injury against Switzerland and then Rio Ferdinand against France last month.
   Capello said, ‘Has Terry been treated fair by myself passing the captaincy around? I have choices to make. I am running my own tests and I will make my choice based on my ideas.
   ‘The important thing is that everyone plays for England at the top of their game and are as relaxed as they play for their own clubs.
   ‘Will Terry get a chance in the rotation policy? We will see. There are two more games. We will decide every game. But I will have decided my captain by the time of the friendly with the Czech Republic in the new season.’
   Capello is happy that England are making steady progress in the right direction despite losing to France in the Stade De France.
   ‘After the Switzerland game, I said it was a promising start. After the France game, I said there had been a huge step forward even though a few people were surprised I said that.
   ‘I expect another big step forward from the next two games.’
   England, who have failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 championships in Switzerland and Austria, have been drawn against Croatia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra in their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.

It’s time for change in the Italian Serie A, where an army of young and promising footballers who could be the sons of the older ones has made convincing debuts in the current season. The last to impress his already numerous fans was Mario Balotelli, who at the weekend topped off a counter-attack in classy fashion to secure Inter Milan’s 2-0 win over Fiorentina.
   It was his second goal in the six Serie A games played with the first team since December, to be added to two braces notched in the Italian Cup – not a bad tally for a 17-year-old.
   Balotelli was born in Italy to Ghanaian parents, but grew up in an Italian family who adopted him when he was 3. He has decided to become an Italian citizen when he turns 18 in August, so to be eligible to play with Italy’s national team.
   ‘I was hoping that in these two game he created good chances for his comrades,’ said his coach Roberto Mancini. ‘He did more, scoring two goals. And he is only at his 50 per cent.’
   Balotelli dedicated his latest goal to Alberto Paloschi, a close friend playing with city rivals AC Milan, who scored two goals in as many Italian Cup games this winter.
   Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti labelled Paloschi ‘a predestined’ in February when the 18-year-old sealed the Devils’ 1-0 against Siena 18 seconds after coming on for his first Serie A game.
   Milan in December won the Club World Cup with a high concentration of over-30s led by captain Paolo Maldini, who turns 40 in June, but are set on opening their doors to young talents.
   One of them is Alexandre Pato, 18, a Brazilian who specializes in scoring goals on his debut games. He did it with Internacional, with Milan in January and, in March, with the Brazilian Selecao.
   He joined Milan from Internacional last summer for a transfer fee of 22 million euros (34.7 million dollars) – a well spent sum considering his goal tally of seven goals from 16 games.
   Another 18-year-old with bright future before him is Argentina-born striker Fernando Forestieri, currently at Siena, but jointly owned by Genoa, who bought him from Boca Juniors in 2006.
   He was on target on first game with Genoa, then in the Serie B, and he boasts seven goals from 14 games with Italy’s youth team, where Paloschi scored four.
   ‘My dream is to play a World Cup and become champion with Italy, like (Mauro) Camoranesi,’ Forestieri said. Juventus star winger Camoranesi, 31, was also born in Argentina, but in 2003
   chose to play with the Azzurri and lifted the World Cup in 2006.
   A recent debutant is Chilean Mauricio Isla, a midfielder with three games played for Udinese, but also Juventus, Genoa, Cagliari and Palermo also have used teenagers in the current season.

A cash-rich Japanese football club is interested in acquiring Brazilian superstar Ronaldo on loan as the AC Milan striker recovers from a ruptured tendon, a report said Wednesday.
   The unidentified J-League club, rumoured to be in or around the greater Tokyo area, has one billion yen (10 million dollars) a year to spend on new players, the daily tabloid Nikkan Gendai reported.
   The 31-year-old Ronaldo has ruled out retirement after undergoing surgery in February for a ruptured tendon in his left knee. He is expected to be sidelined for at least nine months.
   ‘He is expected to become able to run in May and train with the ball before the summer. That is enough to attract attention because he is Ronaldo,’ the daily quoted an unnamed Japanese broadcaster as saying.
   ‘Depending on progress in his recovery, he may be asked to extend his loan period and play in the J-League in the 2009 season’ which starts next March, the person said.
   ‘The J-League and corporate sponsors are likely to join hands in backing the plan because it could serve as a catalyst in reinvigorating the league’s popularity,’ he added.
   There are nine J-League clubs in the Kanto region, which includes Tokyo. Among them are league champions Kashima Antlers and Asian club champions Urawa Red Diamonds.
   Ronaldo said last week he had the idea of playing for Brazil’s Flamengo, as part of his rehabilitation, before returning to Milan.
   ‘I have an excellent relationship with my team. But I have to be up to the task.
   ‘The idea is to go for a few months to Brazil – why not Flamengo,’ the three-time FIFA world player of the year told the Italian daily Gazzetta dello Sport.
   ‘And if all goes well I’ll be a Rossonero (AC Milan player) once again.’

A kidnap attempt in which a rifle was held to the head of Johan Cruyff played a part in the Dutchman’s decision to skip the 1978 World Cup.
   Cruyff said the incident occurred the previous year when he was nearing the end of a five-year spell with FC Barcelona.
   ‘To play a World Cup you have to be 200 per cent,’ Cruyff told Catalunya Radio on Tuesday. ‘I had a rifle at my head, I was tied up, my wife tied up, the children were in the apartment in Barcelona. There are moments when there are other values in life.’
   Cruyff, who didn’t say how the kidnap attempt failed, said police then guarded his house for four months and escorted his children to school.
   The decision by the former Netherlands international to pull out of the tournament in Argentina has been widely attributed to his dislike of that country’s military dictatorship. He was also at odds with the Dutch soccer federation at the time.
   Netherlands reached the final, losing to the hosts 3-1.
   Four years earlier, Cruyff had led his country to its first World Cup final, when it lost to hosts West Germany 2-1.
   Cruyff, who played for Netherlands 48 times and scored 33 goals, was named European Player of the Year three times in the early 1970s. After he retired from playing in 1984, Cruyff became coach of Ajax and later Barcelona.

Chelsea defender Tal Ben Haim has insisted he would never have signed for the club had he known Jose Mourinho was about to be replaced as manager by Avram Grant.
    Ben Haim, a longstanding target for Mourinho, eventually joined Chelsea last June. But only months later Mourinho had left Stamford Bridge to be replaced by Ben Haim’s fellow Israeli Avram Grant. Ben Haim has played just six matches since the turn of the year – just two of those in the league.
    ‘Jose Mourinho is the reason I came to Chelsea and if I knew Avram Grant was going to be the coach then I would have signed for another club,’ former Bolton favourite Ben Haim told Wednesday’s edition of the Sun tabloid. ‘It was Jose who brought me here and no one except he and I know the conversation we had when he tried to sign me the first time a year ago last January,’ he added.
    ‘The fact is while Jose was the coach I played most of the games and people who know me know that I would not have come here to be a reserve. I knew that nothing good would come with Grant as Chelsea coach.’

David Villa is ready to snub Chelsea and move to Arsenal. The £20-million-rated Valencia striker, 26, shot to the top of Avram Grant’s summer hit-list after netting 63 goals over the last three seasons. Chelsea chief Grant is thought to have made contact over a move. But Villa insists he would rather be a Gunner. Villa told The Sun, ‘I watch the Premier League a lot and the team I’m most attracted to is definitely Arsenal.
   Their brilliant one and two-touch football and the whole style of rapid counter-attack which dominates the top level of the Premier League now is the one which suits my game best of all.
   ‘I think I’m made to succeed in England but of course it’s one thing saying it and quite another getting there and then doing it.
   The Valencia president always told me he wouldn’t sell me until summer 2008.
   If an offer comes in I’m hungry to test myself in England.’ If Villa cannot agree a deal with Arsenal, his next option would be to join fellow Spain international Fernando Torres at Liverpool.
   He added, ‘It’s great playing alongside Fernando. We understand each other totally and we get on brilliantly off the park.’