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Serena Williams reached her fifth Wimbledon final Thursday with an epic 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 8-6 win over Elena Dementieva where she saved a match point in the longest semi-final in the tournament’s history.
   The American second seed’s 2hr 49min victory went halfway to guaranteeing a fourth title match here against sister Venus and restored some desperately-needed credibility to the women’s game.
   Defending champion Venus, who beat Serena in the 2008 final, was facing world number one and top seed Dinara Safina later where she’ll be bidding to reach an eighth All England Club final.
   ‘It was really tough. Elena has been playing so well,’ said two-time champion Serena who saved match point at 4-5 in the final set.
   ‘At match point I just thought it’s my serve, just stay calm and think positive.’
   Olympic champion Dementieva, who had won three of the pair’s last four meetings, defied predictions of a one-sided encounter by breaking the American in the first game although Williams hit straight back.
   The Russian bravely fought off three break points in the eighth game before going on to dominate the tie-break despite a nervous double fault on the first of three set points.
   Williams, stung by the Russian’s all-out assault, broke straightaway in the second set and was quickly 2-0 ahead. But Dementieva refused to yield and broke back to love in the sixth game for 3-3.
   Williams, bidding to reach a fifth Wimbledon final, fought off two break points in the eighth game, but nipped ahead on a break to 6-5 when the American successfully challenged a ball which had been called good by the linesman.
   Dementieva wasted four break points in the 12th game and was made to pay when Williams sent down a 12th ace to level the contest.
   The Russian blonde broke a weary-looking Williams to lead 3-1 in the decider, but handed the advantage straight back with a tense service game.
   Williams, with the experience of having won 10 Grand Slam titles in her career, saved a match point in the 10th game with a backhand volley.
   The 2002 and 2003 champion capitalised on her escape by breaking to lead 7-6 and took the match when Dementieva pushed a return wide.
   Five-time champion Venus goes into her semi-final having won 32 successive sets at Wimbledon, a run stretching back to the third round in 2007.
   Venus, who has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, is bidding to reach her eighth Wimbledon final.
   Safina, desperate for a maiden Grand Slam title to back-up her world number one status, has reached three finals in majors but has crumbled to defeat in each one.

Mashrafee bin Murtaza will make his debut as Bangladesh captain when he will lead the side against West Indies A team in a three-day match starting from today at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.
   Bangladesh, who will play two Tests and three one-day international matches during their Caribbean tour, reached West Indies on Tuesday and had a vigorous practice session on following day. It was the only information available about the team from the Bangladesh Cricket Board, which has sent the team without a manager for the first time in many years. Manager Shafiqul Haque Heera could not be reached on his cell phone.
   West Indies have named a largely untested 12-man A side to face Bangladesh in the game that included only three players having international experience – captain Sewnarine Chattergoon, Kemar Roach and Lendl Simmons.
   Simmons, the nephew of former West Indian all-rounder and currently Ireland coach Phil Simmons, was not included for the ODIs against India despite a good showing in the ICC World Twenty20.
   Fast bowler Nelon Pascal was with the West Indies squad on the tour to England but only played in warm-up matches. Young Andre Creary of Jamaica has yet to play a first-class match but has found a place in the squad to face Bangladesh.
   The selection of the rest of the squad is down to solid first-class performances this season. Adrian Barath was the fourth highest run-scorer with 845 at 44.47, Combined Campuses & Colleges’ Omar Phillips scored 601 at 33.38 including a double-century and Kieran Powell made 567 at 37.80 for Leeward Islands.
   The CCC off-spinner Ryan Austin topped the wickets tally with 60 at 24.06 and leg-spinner Gavin Wallace had 31 at 16.96 for the winners Jamaica. Devon Thomas, the wicketkeeper, had 30 dismissals to go with his 376 runs.
   Bangladesh: Mashrafee bin Murtaza (captain), Sakib al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Junaed Siddique, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Ashraful, Roqibul Hassan, Mehrab Hossain Jr, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sahgir Hossain, Enamul Haque Jr, Shahadat Hossain, Rubel Hossain and Mahbubul Alam.
   West Indies A: Sewnarine Chattergoon (capt), Ryan Austin, Adrian Barath, Andre Creary, Kevin McClean, Nelon Pascal, Omar Phillips, Kieran Powell, Kemar Roach, Lendl Simmons, Devon Thomas, Gavin Wallace.

The installation of artificial turf in the BFF compound at Motijheel under FIFA Goal Project-2 will be completed in November with the laying process starting from mid-August. Italian firm Limonta will provide Tango turf and Bangkok-based Seara Sports Systems will lay it.
   Davide Bertoli, the export manager of Limonta, Jan van Paridon and Patrick Dean of Seara and the Bangladesh Football Federation officials sat at the BFF House on Thursday to finalise the installation procedures. BFF president Kazi Salahuddin, general secretary Al Misabbir Sadi and Asrfaul Islam, architect of Bashatikalpa, the local agents of Seara SS, were present at the meeting.
   Limonta and Seara have been working as FIFA licensee firms for the last twenty years and have worked jointly in China, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. They are currently working in Nigeria. They are also the official partners of Italian giants AC Milan and have installed the training turfs in the club’s football academy. The joint-venture company has a good experience of working in the Asian conditions.
   ‘Normally it takes nine weeks to complete the installation procedure but the weather has to be warm and dry. In the Asian countries it takes more time because of rain. The turf will provide the national side and the age-level teams continuous training facilities throughout the year,’ said Bertoli.
   The turf will be the latest design of its kind and will be made of 100% polyethylene with a thickness of 60 millimtres. Limonta will provide a warranty of seven years for the turf.
   The cost of the project is $4.84 lakh (Tk 3.35 crore) and FIFA will provide the entire money from its development fund. The artificial pitch will also have floodlights.

Apparently feeling ignored in India’s FTP draft, the Bangladesh Cricket Board has renewed efforts to restore friendly ties with its Pakistan counterpart by proposing to host Younus Khan and Co in October.
   The BCB had postponed their home series against Pakistan in March after the government refused to give security guarantees to the PCB because of a military mutiny in their country.
   But the patch-up work was attempted at the meeting held in London last month to resolve the issue of Pakistan being deprived its share of the 2011 World Cup matches.
   ‘Bangladesh has been snubbed by India in their draft for the new future tours programme which is why they are seeking Pakistan’s support,’ the source said.
   Reliable sources in the PCB said a senior BCB official had spoken to chief operating officer Saleem Altaf about the possibility of Pakistan touring Bangladesh in October.
   ‘The Bangladesh board feels the security situation in their country is now normal and they can host Pakistan for the five one-day matches that were postponed in March,’ one source said.
   ‘The Bangladesh board now believes that conditions in their country are normal and Pakistan should fulfil its commitment,’ the source said.
   The Bangladesh offer comes few days after PCB chairman Ejaz Butt clashed with Mahbub Anam, a senior BCB official, during the World Cup meeting.
   ‘Butt exchanged words with Mahbub when Sri Lanka and Bangladesh representatives supported India’s contention that the security situation in Pakistan was not safe for the World Cup matches.
   ‘Butt had pointed out to Mahbub that the security situation in Bangladesh was also not very good, so how could he raise fingers at Pakistan,’ the source said.
   After the clash, the PCB announced it would not be sending its under-19 team for a scheduled tour to Bangladesh in October because of security concerns.
   A source said Butt had reminded Mahbub that he was disappointed that despite all that Pakistan had done to support Bangladesh cricket and get it Test status they had let down Pakistan in the World Cup issue.

Mike Hussey came back to form with his first century in nine months on a day when several Australia top-order batsmen failed in their final warm-up game before the Ashes.
   Hussey made 143 not out on the first day of the four-day tour match with the England Lions, the national ‘A’ side, here at New Road on Wednesday as Australia reached 337 for eight at stumps.
   His century was Hussey’s first in any form of cricket since his 146 against India in a Test match in Bangalore last October.
   ‘It’s been a long time for me to spend so much time at the wicket so it was pretty important at the start of this tour to get my confidence up and spend some good time at the crease,’ said Hussey.
   After a devastating new ball spell by Stephen Harmison, Hussey, approaching his first Ashes series in England at the age of 34, helped rescue Australia with a 141-run stand alongside opener Simon Katich (95).
   ‘It was important to get a partnership going,’ Hussey explained. ‘I thought (Katich) played very well again. He’s been outstanding really.’
   Harmison, bidding to regain his Test place, earlier struck left-hander Phillip Hughes square on the helmet with his first delivery of the day.
   He then accounted for the 20-year-old with another rising delivery, Hughes caught off his bat handle fending to Joe Denly at gully.
   The Durham paceman also struck Ricky Ponting on the shoulder in a fiery opening spell - which signalled his intent to return to the senior side ahead of Sunday’s first Test squad announcement - before Graham Onions, his county colleague, dismissed the Australia captain for a single.
   Harmison famously drew blood from Ponting’s cheek on the first morning of the 2005 Ashes series at Lord’s but was dropped
   during England’s tour of the Caribbean earlier this year after some wayward displays.
   Hussey and Katich steered the tourists away from trouble before the number four, playing up the order above Michael Clarke, shared a crucial seventh-wicket stand with Mitchell Johnson worth 109 in just 29 overs.
   Australia had lost four wickets for 32 runs to be 215 for six at tea after Katich, Clarke (four), Marcus North (one) and Brad Haddin (seven) all succumbed in quick succession.
   Katich struck 15 boundaries in his 95, but gave England’s toiling attack a gift when he failed to capitalise on a wayward leg-side delivery from Harmison and picked out Onions on the fine leg boundary.
   The Durham duo are widely regarded to be competing for the same Test place but Onions said he hoped they could play alongside each other in the Ashes.
   ‘Me and Harmy have formed a pretty formidable bowling attack this season. Harmy with his aggressive way ... and me at the other end trying to pitch it up,’ he explained.
   ‘It’s something I think we definitely can do for England. Whether we’ll get the opportunity I’m not sure.’
   New South Wales opener Katich earlier had an escape on 37 when Onions, at leg slip, missed a sharp catch off Sajid Mahmood.
   Mahmood also dropped Hussey on 75 off his own bowling - a chest-high chance he should have grasped - before Hussey brought up his hundred with a delightful back foot cover drive for four off leg-spinner Adil Rashid.
   Hussey also escaped when Rashid grounded him in the slips on 132, but generally looked unflappable in humid conditions.
   His return to form will delight the touring side following relative failures against South Africa over the past six months.
   Hussey averaged close to three figures for the early part of his belated international career but that dropped to 22 for Australia’s 2-1 series win in South Africa and just 17 in their preceding home series loss to the Proteas.
   The first Ashes Tests starts a week on Wednesday in Cardiff.

Roger Federer will put friendship aside while Andy Murray must turn his back on national hype and growing media hysteria when they aim to set up a dream Wimbledon final today.
   Five-time champion Federer, who is chasing a sixth title to give him a record 15th Grand Slam crown, tackles close friend Tommy Haas who, at 31, is two wins away from becoming the oldest Wimbledon champion for 34 years.
   Murray, bidding to become Britain’s first men’s champion since Fred Perry in 1936, faces two-time runner-up Andy Roddick in his semi-final where he will be riding a wave of emotional support from a desperate nation.
   Federer holds a 9-2 record over Haas but is aware of the danger posed by a man who almost shattered his French Open dream last month when the German won the first two sets of their last 16 tie before the world number two hit back.
   Haas, playing in his first Wimbledon semi-final, put out world number four Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals having had to save two match points in his marathon third round win over Marin Cilic.
   ‘He’s had a rough few years,’ said Federer of a man who was once the world number two before a catalogue of injuries sent his career into a tailspin.
   ‘But it’s so nice to see him back. We’re good friends. I hope we can live up to the expectations and repeat a good match like we had in Paris.’
   Federer reached his 21st consecutive Grand Slam semi-final with a straight sets victory over Ivo Karlovic where he became the first player in the tournament to break the giant Croatian’s serve.
   The Swiss, who went level with Pete Sampras’s record of 14 majors with his breakthrough French Open triumph, believes Haas will be a tough proposition on grass.
   ‘He’s talented. He’s always been one of the best ball strikers in the game. I think he’s really gotten his game together again after some tough injuries,’ said Federer.
   Haas will bring a new challenge into the semi-final having reached this stage by reviving the dying art of serve and volley.
   ‘When you get older you try to get free points as much as you can. It’s been working so far,’ said the German.
   ‘It’s been good when I’m serving well. I feel like at the net I can do some good stuff.
   ‘We had a good battle at the French, but I’m realistic of who my opponent is. So I’ll just out there, compete hard and see what happens.’
   Murray, with the likes of Hollywood superstars Kate Winslet and Ewan McGregor rallying to his cause, insisted he will not get carried away by the hype.
   ‘It doesn’t make any difference the way you perform,’ said Murray, only the third British man to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals in the Open era.
   ‘If you work in the media and spend a lot of time reading the papers, watching everything on the TV, all the things that are getting said on the radio, then you get caught up in it
   ‘If you ignore it you don’t realize it’s happening.’
   The 22-year-old Scotsman believes his game matches up to any man left in the tournament.
   ‘I feel confident because I’ve won a lot of matches on grass. But every day when I get up to play the matches, I know that I’m going to have to perform very well, and that gets the nerves and the adrenaline going.’
   Roddick trails Murray 6-2 in career meetings including a third round, straight sets loss here to the Briton in 2006.
   ‘Andy has been playing great. He has come into his own as a player,’ said Roddick, who hit 43 aces in his five-set quarter-final win over Lleyton Hewitt.
   ‘But with my serve, I can give myself a chance in any match. I’ve been in this situation many times.’

Bangladesh lost both of their FIBA 3 on 3 basketball matches of the Asian Youth Games against the UAE and Thailand on Thursday. They lost to UAE by 33-6 points before being crushed by hosts Thailand by 33-4 points.
   Team leader Khaled Mahmud Akash scored all six points against UAE while Abu Obaida caged three points against Thailand and Akash scored the other point. Apart from the duo, Naimur Rahman and Tapash Kumar also played for Bangladesh in the matches.
   Bangladesh will face Palestine in their last group match today.

GM Ziaur Rahman of Biman took solo lead with maximum four points in the Mercantile Bank 35th National Chess Championship beating FM Taibur Rahman of Destiny on Thursday.
   Mohammad Hasan Emam of Air Destiny is in the second position with 3.5 points while GM Reefat Bin Sattar of Biman, GM Enamul Hossain of Destiny 2000, FM Abu Sufian Shakil of Biman and Golam Mostafa Bhuiyan of Farashganj are sharing the third position with three points each.
   GM Niaz Murshed did not turn up in his match against Mahatbuddin Ahmed.

Pakistani cricket authorities on Thursday fined Mohammad Asif one million rupees (12,500 dollars) over the fast bowler’s 19-day detention at Dubai airport for alleged drug possession.
   Asif, 26, was detained last June on his way back home after playing in the Indian Premier League.
   A three-member Pakistan Cricket Board committee headed by former captain and PCB director Wasim Bari investigated the matter.
   ‘On recommendation of the committee we have fined Asif one million rupees,’ the PCB said in a press release.
   Dubai authorities found opium in Asif’s possession, but a prosecutor determined that the quantity was small and deported the bowler.
   Asif is also banned from playing international cricket until September after testing positive for the banned anabolic steroid Nandrolone last year.
   ‘Asif will be available for selection once he completes the IPL ban,’ said the release.

India will be looking to edge closer to a rare One-day International series victory against the West Indies in the Caribbean before embarking on a well-earned break from the game.
   They face West Indies in the last two ODIs of four today and Sunday at the Beausejour Cricket Ground here.
   India and West Indies shared the first two ODIs last Friday and Sunday at Sabina Park in Jamaica.
   The visitors won the opening fixture by 20 runs, and the home team rebounded two days later to secure the second ODI by eight wickets.
   On their five previous trips to the Caribbean in bilateral ODI series, India have only once overcome West Indies, and this was 2-1 in a three-match contest seven years ago.
   But Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side has a couple of other reasons why they will feel the pressure in the next few days.
   Their early exit from the Twenty20 World Cup in England a few weeks ago is still uppermost in their minds, as well as their fans who can be quite demanding, and do not take losing easily.
   Dhoni has also identified banishing the demons of India’s early exit from the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean as another objective that will motivate his side.
   In both matches, India have looked a below-par version of the side that before coming to the Caribbean had lost only three of their previous 18 matches, and had climbed to No.3 in the ODI World rankings.
   They allowed West Indies to get within sight of a challenging victory target of 340 in the first ODI, and then suffered a batting meltdown in the second ODI as their age-old susceptibility to short-pitched and swing bowling were again exposed.
   Yuvraj Singh looks to be the only batsman in touch as was evident from his 131 in the first ODI, and some of the strokes he played in his all-too-brief 35 in the second ODI.
   Dhoni made 95 in the second match, but he too, has not cut the picture of the commanding figure at the crease that he is known to be.
   Questions about fatigue will continue to preoccupy the discussions about India’s performance, but they can silence all of the debate with two commanding victories in the next few days.
   West Indies will look to repeat their show of force from Sunday at Kingston in the last two matches.
   They have named an unchanged squad for the two matches, much to the disappointment of St. Lucians, who were hoping to catch a glimpse of local cricket hero Darren Sammy.
   West Indies have won five of the 10 matches they have contested at the ground, and one has finished in a no-result, but they’ll be hoping to improve this record.
   They would also hope that the Beausejour pitch is not typically easy-paced, so they can again exploit India’s meekness against pace, bounce and movement.

Pakistan start their Test series against Sri Lanka Saturday riding the wave of a feel-good factor after winning the World Twenty20 and giving their country a much-needed respite from bombs and battles.
   When Pakistan won the championship in England last month, the victory renewed the country’s passion for the game, which had plummeted after an attack on the Sri Lankan team in March wiped out hopes of international cricket being played there again.
   Eight Pakistanis were killed and seven Sri Lankan players and their assistant coach wounded in the sophisticated gun and grenade assault in Lahore on the third day of the second Test. The tourists were evacuated immediately.
   There were fears that, with no more international cricket in Pakistan, the sport would die a slow death, but captain Younus Khan hopes the tourists can build on their Twenty20 success when the five-day three-Test series begins.
   ‘I hope this series will be very interesting and we play positive cricket to win it,’ he told AFP from Sri Lanka.
   ‘It is very important that the interest generated by the T20 success back home is maintained during the Test series, which is the real form of the game,’ said Younus.
   From President Asif Ali Zardari to the man in the street, delirium in Pakistan over the Twenty20 win has lifted the gloom of inflation, power cuts and a war that has made two million people homeless since April.
   ‘Interest in cricket was waning after the attacks on the Sri Lankan team,’ said former captain Zaheer Abbas, nicknamed the Asian Bradman during his playing days for his superlative batting.
   ‘The situation was gloomy but the Twenty20 success was the much-needed tonic for the people of Pakistan and they are now keenly waiting for the Test series against Sri Lanka,’ said Abbas.
   Opener Shahzaib Hasan, a member of Pakistan’s Twenty20 team but not selected for the Tests, said that he and the rest of his family will be glued to their television sets.
   ‘I hope I will get a place in the one-day team after the Tests, but I feel part of the team as I will watch Test matches on television and pray for my team,’ said Hasan, whose family has found new entertainment in cricket.
   Even his grandmother Amna Begum will watch action between her prayers.
   ‘I watched Twenty20 matches because of my grandson, but now I will watch Tests and pray for the team as all the players are like my kids,’ she said.
   Tens of thousands, many wearing green shirts of their beloved team, poured into the streets of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, where they danced and sang moments after Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the Twenty20 final at Lord’s.
   Television channels played special songs and discussions on the team’s spectacular win replaces the usual slots for discussing the national budget and the military action against Taliban rebels in the northwest.
   Fans went berserk when the team returned from London, but were deprived of any glimpse of their heroes—who were whisked away from the airport due to security reasons.
   Despite the celebrations, Pakistanis are still nervous about the future of their team, which has been turned into an international outcast because foreign teams refuse to tour the country because of security fears.
   Coach Intikhab Alam said he hoped the Twenty20 win will inject new interest.
   ‘Our next assignment is in Sri Lanka and I hope that the whole nation will root for our success. I am sure Test matches will also be followed with keen interest and that will further lift our cricket,’ Alam said recently.

Retired Test wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist has backed struggling paceman Brett Lee to turn around his woeful record in England in a predicted 2-1 Ashes victory for Australia.
   Lee, 32, making a comeback after ankle surgery, has taken just 29 wickets at an average of 45.44 in 10 Tests in England.
   With fast bowlers Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle considered certain starters for next week’s first Test in Cardiff, commentators believe it’s between Lee and Stuart Clark for the other pace bowling spot.
   Gilchrist said he was unsure which of the two should get the go-ahead, but had no doubt Lee would do the job if selected.
   ‘Brett’s four more years experienced now (from the last Ashes series in England),’ Gilchrist said here on Thursday.
   ‘He’s a 300-Test wicket bowler so that experience has got to count for something.
   ‘If he does get a chance I think you’ll see him draw on those experiences and use them in a positive manner.
   ‘He loves touring England, he understands the history and what it means to be a part of it so I’m sure he’ll be very keen to do well.
   ‘Brett looks fit, he’s looking strong, he’s looking hungry, but so too is Stuart Clark. Both bowlers will do a good job.’
   Gilchrist warned Australia against going into the first Test, starting on July 8, without a specialist spinner.
   Gilchrist said all-rounder Marcus North and spinner Nathan Hauritz both deserved their place in the Test side despite struggling in warm-up matches.
   ‘In my experiences from Test cricket, a team well balanced is one with a full-time spinner in it,’ he said.
   ‘I would like to see them play a genuine spinner. Hopefully, we can see Marcus North come through as well.’
   Gilchrist said the return to form of Michael Hussey, who smashed a century against the England Lions, bodes well for Australia.
   ‘If a player like that is gaining in confidence, others around him will grow in confidence, too,’ he said.
   ‘Although there’s a lot of coverage about the uncertainty in our bowling group, and who’s going to play, I think there’s a good feel in the team.
   ‘They’ve carried a lot of confidence from (their Test series win in) South Africa so with that in mind I think they’ve just got their noses in front.
   ‘It is a bit unpredictable but I’ll go with a 2-1 win to Australia.’
   Gilchrist retired from international cricket in 2008 after 96 Tests and 287 one-dayers but led the Deccan Chargers to victory in this year’s Indian Premier League in South Africa.

In one month, Real Madrid has shelled out more than 200 million euros for Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Raul Albiol and Karim Benzema—and everything indicates the spending spree is far from over.
   The splurge, amid an economic crisis and general belt-tightening elsewhere, has sparked cynicism at some other top European clubs.
   At Real’s arch-rival Barcelona, president Joan Laporta has denounced the ‘imperialist’ plan of his Madrid counterpart Florentino Perez.
   In England, Italy and Germany, some clubs faced with financial difficulties also take a dim view of ‘chequebook policies’ at Madrid.
   UEFA president Michel Platini said there is ‘something abnormal’ in the massive transfer fees paid out by Real: a world record 93 million euros for Cristiano Ronaldo, 67 million for Kaka, 35 to 41 million for Benzema and 15 million for Raul Albiol.
   ‘These transfers are a serious challenge to the idea of fairplay and the concept of financial balance in our competitions,’ said Platini, who as one of the world’s top players was lured to Juventus of Italy from French side St Etienne back in 1982.
   ‘UEFA is working hard with clubs to set up a new set of rules as soon as is possible to clean up the system and give it a more solid, more transparent base,’ Platini told AFP.
   ‘That is our top priority today.’
   French side Lyon, which agreed to sell Benzema on Wednesday, said Real ‘benefits ... from legislative, but also fiscal and real estate, measures that have no relation to the current situation concerning professional sport in France.’
   Foreign players in Spain pay tax on just 24 percent of their income compared to 43 percent for Spanish players with similar salaries, under the so-called ‘Beckham law’, after English footballing icon David Beckham, who was the first to benefit after his arrival at Real in 2003.
   Florentino Perez, who oversaw the Real ‘Galacticos’ of Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo during his first term at the club in 2000-2006, has done nothing to stem the criticism.
   The construction magnate points instead to the ‘return on investment’ in his world stars through marketing deals, publicity and broadcasting fees.

If Michael Hussey’s Test place was in any lingering doubt, he surely cemented his spot in the Australia side for next week’s Ashes opener by making an unbeaten 143 against the England Lions.
   Wednesday’s hundred was the left-hander’s first in any form of cricket since his 146 against India in a Test at Bangalore in October and Hussey admitted he’d been wondering if he’d ever get to three figures again.
   ‘You get out of the habit of batting for a long time and scoring hundreds. I was starting to get to the stage where I’d almost forgotten how to do it,’ Hussey said.
   ‘So it was nice to spend a long time out there and score a hundred, which takes a lot of effort and application,’ he added of an innings which has so far seen him face 221 balls with 18 boundaries.
   ‘It was a rewarding day because I want to try to get back into that habit of batting for a long period of time.’
   The 34-year-old Western Australian, nicknamed ‘Mr Cricket’ for his devotion to the game, saw his international career hit its first speed bump during this year’s pair of Test series against South Africa where he averaged just over 17 and 22. Hussey came to the middle in the 11th over after the exits of Phillip Hughes and captain Ricky Ponting to the Lions’ new ball duo of Stephen Harmison and Graham Onions.
   And he was still there when the tourists ended the first day of this four-day match on 337 for eight, having twice dug Australia out of trouble in century stands with Simon Katich (95) and Mitchell Johnson (47) worth 141 and 109 respectively.
   That he was allowed two lifelines - he was dropped on 75 and 132 - barely rated a mention, proving Hussey, who enjoyed a stellar start in Test cricket had started to banish the memories of his mid-career slump earlier in the year.
   ‘I obviously had a good start to my international career and you’ve got to expect there’s going to be a period of time when things don’t quite go to plan,’ he explained ahead of the first Test against England in Cardiff.
   ‘But it was important to stick to what I know, and know that if I stick to those things long enough hopefully I’ve still got some good scores in me for Australia,’ Hussey added.
   Marcus North made his third poor score in three warm-up innings to leave some lingering uncertainty over his position at No 6.

Stephen Harmison believes Australia are short on confidence with the first Ashes Test in Cardiff just a week away.
   The 30-year-old fast bowler, bidding to regain his England place, showed signs of his old form in taking three wickets for 67 runs for the England Lions against the tourists at New Road here on Wednesday in their final warm-up match.
   In particular he gave novice Australian opener Phillip Hughes a thorough working over with the short ball before the left-hander fended a rising delivery to Joe Denly in the gully after making just seven.
   Harmison said Australia now without retired stars Matthew Hayden, Justin Lager, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, were missing much of their old swagger on Wednesday.
   ‘This is my fourth time against Australia and the one thing I picked up ... is that they are not as brash and confident as they normally are.
   ‘I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe it is to do with the side gelling together or whether they don’t have the big players of recent years, and the confidence you get from that.
   ‘But they don’t seem to be the confident Australia I’ve known. I think there is only Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee who have played more Ashes tests than myself in the two squads.
   ‘There are things you pick up on like body language. I’ve seen a little chink there. It is understandable because there are not the players in their side from bygone years.
   ‘There is definitely something to work on for England and, if we can bat well, we have half a chance to win the Ashes back.’
   Harmison has experienced both the highs and lows of Ashes cricket: on the first morning of England’s eventual 2-1 triumph in 2005 he set the tone by hitting Ponting on the cheek at Lord’s.
   But in the 2006/07 return series, Harmison’s first ball in Brisbane - which ended up in the hands of Andrew Flintoff at second slip - proved equally indicative of things to come. with Australia romping to a 5-0 whitewash.

Pakistan has complained of being marginalised in the draft of the next six-year international cricket programme, forcing the signing of the schedule to be postponed, an official said Thursday.
   The International Cricket Council last week began chalking out a Future Tours Programme which aims to provide a structured schedule of cricket for the ten member countries from 2012 to 2018.
   Teams have been wary of playing in Pakistan amid a wave of Taliban-linked attacks over two years, and the nation was stripped of its World Cup matches after a deadly attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in March.
   The ICC had hoped to get the programme approved by member countries last week, but Pakistan objected, saying it had not been granted enough matches.
   Pakistan Cricket Board chief operating officer Salim Altaf said the ICC had now assured Pakistan that its interests will be looked after, as the schedule went back to the drawing board.

The Bangladesh Sportswriters Association felicitated two renowned sports writers Dr Nizamuddin Ahmed and Jalal Ahmed Chowdhury on the occasion of the World Sports Journalists Day at the NSC Auditorium on Thursday. The state minister for youth and sports, Ahad Ali Sarker was the chief guest on the occasion. Jalal Ahmed Chowdhury’s daughter received the crest on behalf of her father as he was outside the country.

Lasith Malinga has become the third international player to sign up for Australia’s domestic Twenty20 tournament next season after confirming he will join Tasmania. Malinga follows Chris Gayle, who will appear for Western Australia, and Dwayne Bravo, who is set to play for Victoria, in signing up for the Big Bash.
   His involvement is subject to availability as Sri Lanka are scheduled to take part in a one-day tour of Bangladesh in January, although there are significant doubts that that series will go ahead.

Lyon announced on Wednesday the transfer of Karim Benzema to Real Madrid for 35 million euros in a deal which dashes Manchester United’s attempts to capture the France striker.
   In a statement the French club announced that the fee could rise to as much as 41 million euros depending on various bonuses attached to the deal.
   Lyon, in a statement on their website, said they had accepted Benzema’s decision after he had made it clear he wanted the deal to be ‘concluded quicker than initially envisaged’.
   ‘The club wishes Karim the greatest success with Real Madrid,’ the statement added.
   Real confirmed the transfer. In a brief statement it said Benzema would sign a six-year contract, but did not indicate the fee.
   Lyon coach Claude Puel wished Benzema well and believed that he would rise to the occasion, despite some less than inspiring performances when called upon by the French national side especially at Euro 2008 where he clashed with several of the senior players for showing a lack of respect.
   ‘Playing for Real will open up all sorts of different perspectives and challenges for him and where he will be surrounded by really big stars,’ said Puel, who enjoyed a successful playing career at Monaco.
   ‘That can be a beneficial experience for Karim.
   ‘It is a challenge for him. He has character, though.
   ‘He has everything possible to succeed. I think that he possesses the strengths necessary to respond to this huge challenge.
   ‘It is a great opportunity for Karim. I hope that he will be at his best,’ added the former Monaco and Lille handler.
   The move was sealed after Real agreed to up its original offer from 32 million euros.
   This is the fourth signing by Real under the new presidency of ‘Galacticos’ president Florentino Perez, after Brazilian midfielder Kaka, Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo and Spanish defender Raul Albiol.
   After Kaka was presented to fans at the Bernabeu stadium on Tuesday evening, Perez told Spanish radio that the next signing would be announced ‘today or tomorrow.’
   Real have been keen on Benzema since negotiations broke down with Valencia for Spanish international David Villa.
   The former France and Real star Zinedine Zidane, who is now a senior adviser at the club had recommended Benzema to Perez, Spanish media said.
   Benzema has played at the seven-time French champions since 2004, where he was top scorer in the French league in 2007 and 2008.
   Lyon said last week that they wanted to keep him for another year.
   Real also have their eyes on another France international, Bayern Munich midfielder Franck Ribery.

Roque Santa Cruz has said he would relish the opportunity of battling Samuel Eto’o and Carlos Tevez for a place in the Manchester City side next season.
   Paraguay international striker Santa Cruz is City’s biggest signing of the close season so far having cost 18 million pounds ($30 million) from City’s Premier League rivals Blackburn Rovers.
   But City manager Mark Hughes is hoping to invest a total of 50 million pounds ($83 million) to secure the services of Barcelona’s Eto’o and Argentina’s Tevez, who is available for 25 million pounds after his two-year loan at neighbours Manchester United expired.
   Yet instead of worrying about the possible arrival of Eto’o and Tevez and the extra competition for places that they would bring, Santa Cruz said that he would thrive on the added pressure of securing a place in the side.
   ‘I don’t know who is coming and who is not,’ said Santa Cruz, who has signed a four-year contract with City.
   ‘But whoever can come to join the club and make us stronger, that’s very welcome. When you are at a big club there’s always going to be challenges and competition for places.
   ‘That will only make players stronger. It makes players deliver better performances because they want to show how good they are.’
   Hughes brought the 27-year-old Santa Cruz to England two years ago from Bayern Munich when he was in charge of Blackburn. The player scored 23 goals in 43 games in his debut season at Ewood Park.
   Former Manchester United striker Hughes had failed with several bids to sign Santa Cruz in the past year since he left Blackburn to coach City.
   Santa Cruz is City’s second close season signing after England midfielder Gareth Barry joined from Aston Villa earlier this month.
   City’s wealthy owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, has pledged to spend to turn the Premier League underachievers into a title-winning side.
   Hughes, who is relishing working with Santa Cruz again, said he expected to remain busy in the transfer market right up until the window closes at the end of August.
   ‘If we can get the players that we hope and anticipate, then we’ll have more tools to do the job,’ added Hughes.
   ‘We feel we are getting close to where we need to be able to challenge.
   ‘We might not be able to get all the players that we need in this transfer window,’ the Welshman said.
   ‘But going into the new season I fully expect us to be in better shape and better prepared than we were last season.
   ‘I’m delighted to be working with Roque again.
   ‘There were a number of occasions last season when we needed the qualities that Roque brings to the table.
   ‘I know exactly what I’m getting with him.
   ‘He is a young man with huge ambition and a great mentality to his work on a daily basis.’
   City finished 10th in the 20-team Premier League last season.

Holly-wood queens, beauty queens and Her Majesty the Queen are among the famous faces getting behind Andy Murray in his bid to become the first British man to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936.
   Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet and her Hollywood director husband Sam Mendes were in the royal box on Centre Court as Murray beat Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
   Music mogul Simon Fuller, the inspiration behind the Spice Girls, and lyricist Sir Tim Rice were also in the box as Murray cruised through to the semi-finals in straight sets.
   Adding a touch of more glamour to the proceedings, his old school pal Katharine Brown – Miss Scotland – was also in the crowd roaring him on.
   ‘I went to school with her, my mum used to coach her, my brother was best friends with her brother, which was quite annoying, but obviously she’s a nice girl,’ Murray said. ‘Regardless of whether it’s a Miss Scotland I’m happy that one of my school friends came to watch.’
   Scottish actor Ewan McGregor and British pop legend Sir Cliff Richard were among the fans on Centre Court for Murray’s fourth round match on Monday, the first competitive game to be entirely played under the new Centre Court roof.
   Earlier in the tournament, Murray received a letter from Queen Elizabeth II congratulating him on becoming the first British man to win Queen’s, the pre-Wimbledon grass court warm-up tournament, since Bunny Austin’s triumph in 1938.
   The letter raised hopes that Queen Elizabeth could attend Wimbledon for the first time since her jubilee year in 1977, when Britain’s Virginia Wade won the women’s title.
   Scottish actor Sir Sean Connery has also sent him a good luck message.
   ‘I got a handwritten note from Cliff Richard this morning,’ Murray said.
   Asked about being watched by ‘Titanic’ star Winslet, the 22-year-old said it all added to the glamour of tennis.
   ‘I think it’s good for tennis any time you get big stars or celebrities coming to watch. It makes it cooler for kids which is important in this country.’
   Despite the celebrity backing, the laid-back Murray said he was not letting the Wimbledon hype get to him.
   ‘It doesn’t make any difference to the way you perform,’ he said.
   ‘If you ignore it you don’t realise it’s happening.’

A top official of the Argentine Football Association is warning that the national team may fail to qualify for next year’s World Cup in South Africa, and he’s blaming coach Diego Maradona.
   ‘Nobody seems to realise that we have one foot in the intensive care unit,’ said Enrique Merelas, a member of the AFA’s executive committee and a close friend of AFA president Julio Grondona.
   Merelas has been a consistent critic of Maradona’s coaching and management of the team.
   ‘I can’t put up with the coaching staff any more, and I never agreed with hiring Maradona,’ Merelas said in an interview late Monday with the radio station FM Sensitive.
   Argentina have lost two of their last three World Cup qualifying matches, prompting questions about Maradona’s coaching style and his tactics. The two-time World Cup winners are in fourth place in the qualifying group, the final spot that guarantees a place at next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
   Merelas and Grondona have both urged Maradona to return Juan Roman Riquelme to the team.
   A skilled midfielder and playmaker, Riquelme retired from international football in March saying he and Maradona did not get along. Maradona criticised Riquelme’s play and overlooked him for several friendlies after he was named coach in November. He says Riquelme needs to apologise to get back on the team.
   ‘Why does he have to apologise to return?,’ Merelas asked. ‘Apologise for what?’
   Riquelme is a polemical figure. Some believe his organisation and passing are keys to Argentina’s attacking play. Others say he’s too laid back and doesn’t work hard enough for the team.

David Beckham has come under attack from LA Galaxy team-mate Landon Donovan just as he prepares to return for action with the MLS team.
   In a new book due out later this month, Donovan claims Beckham has demonstrated little commitment to the Galaxy cause and has been a negative influence on the team since the ousting of former coach Ruud Gullit.
   ‘All that we care about at a minimum is that he committed himself to us,’ Donovan says in ‘The Beckham Experiment’, authored by Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl.
   ‘As time has gone on, that has not proven to be the case in many ways – on the field, off the field.
   ‘Does the fact that he earns that much more money come into it? Yeah. If someone’s paying you more than anybody in the league, more than double anybody in the league, the least we expect is that you show up to every game, whether you are suspended or not. Show up and train hard, show up and play hard.’
   Donovan, who is the United States captain and wears the Galaxy armband in Beckham’s absence, also questioned the former England skipper’s leadership abilities, claiming he is too often silent in team meetings.
   ‘Maybe he’s not a leader, maybe he’s not a captain,’ he said. ‘Fair enough. But at a minimum, you should bust your ass every day. That hasn’t happened. And I don’t think that’s too much for us to expect. Especially when he’s brought all this on us.’
   Beckham’s first season in MLS was a largely miserable experience. He struggled with injury as an unbalanced Galaxy team struggled all year and missed out on the play-offs, with Gullit quitting before the end of the campaign.
   Gullit’s departure, which came a little over a month after Beckham’s Galaxy debut, is the moment Donovan believes the light went out for the club’s marquee player.
   ‘When David first came, I believed he was committed to what he was doing,’ Donovan said. ‘He cared. He wanted to do well. He wanted the team and the league to do well.
   ‘Somewhere along the way – and in my mind it coincides with Ruud being let go – he just flipped a switch and said, “Uh-huh, I’m not doing it anymore”.’
   Donovan even claimed Beckham is a bad team-mate, because of his lack of commitment.
   ‘He’s not shown (he’s a good team-mate),’ he said. ‘I can’t think of another guy where I’d say he wasn’t a good team-mate, he
   didn’t give everything through all this, he didn’t still care. But with (Beckham), I’d say no, he wasn’t committed.’
   Beckham pushed for a loan move to AC Milan in January, and then extended it to the point that he missed half of the 2009 MLS season. That served as evidence that he does not care for the league, according to Donovan, who gave up his chance to play in Europe early in his career in order to stay at home.
   ‘My sense is that David’s clearly frustrated, that he’s unhappy and, honestly, that he thinks it’s a joke,’ he said. ‘I also kind of
   feel (he has taken the team) for granted. I don’t see dedication or commitment to this team, and that’s troubling.’
   Beckham is due to make his return for the Galaxy against the New York Red Bulls on July 16, two days after Wahl’s book is due to be published.
   He will line up alongside Donovan in that game, but the striker does not want that to be the case for much longer.
   ‘Let’s say he does stay here for three more years,’ Donovan said. ‘I’m not going to spend the next three years of my life
   doing it this way. This is f****** miserable. I don’t want to have soccer be this way.’

Lyon want to sign Real Madrid’s Dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy to replace Karim Benzema who has agreed to join the Spanish giants, sports daily Marca reported Thursday.
   Lyon was initially interested in another Dutch striker, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who has sparked interest from AC Milan, but he refused to join the French side, the newspaper reported.
   Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas, then asked his Real counterpart Florentino Perez to try to convince Van Nistelrooy, out injured for most of last season, to join the club, it added.
   The 33-year-old, who moved to Real in the summer of 2006, has said he would like to stay on at Real.
   But he has fallen down the pecking order at the Bernabeu following the Spanish side’s signings of Brazil’s Kaka and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo in recent weeks.
   Van Nistelrooy underwent an operation in November 2008 on his right knee which the club said at the time would sideline him from six to nine months.
   The Dutchman has scored 45 league goals for Real, four of them last season before being injured.
   He was the top scorer in the league for 2006-07 with 25 goals in 37 matches.
   The Spanish press said Perez hopes to sell most of the club’s Dutch players, Aside from Van Nistelrooy and Huntelaar, these are Rafael van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder and Royston Drenthe.

Valencia striker David Villa, one of the stars of Spain’s victorious Euro 2008 squad, has been in touch with Barcelona about a move to the European champions, Spanish media said Thursday.
   ‘I only want to go to Barca,’ Villa told Barcelona’s technical director Txiki Begiristain at a secret meeting, the Catalan sports paper Mundo Deportivo said.
   He said ‘that there are only two alternatives: to agree on his transfer to Barca or he is ready to see out his contract with Valencia,’ the daily Sport reported.
   It said the 27-year-old has rejected interest from Chelsea and from Barca’s arch-rivals Real Madrid.
   Barcelona, which won a unique treble of league, Spanish cup and European Champions League trophies last season, is ready to offer Villa contract of four or five years, said Mundo Deportivo.

Franck Ribery has confirmed he wants to leave Bayern Munich and join Real Madrid and become the latest of the new galacticos. The France playmaker, another supposed Manchester United target who looks set to look to the Spanish capital, and his future have been under the spotlight since the end of the Bundesliga season although Ribery himself has remained silent.
   But the 26-year-old has now admitted he would jump at the chance of joining up with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema at the Bernabeu. Benzema, believed to be a higher priority on the United wish-list, confirmed he would be joining from Lyon on Wednesday, taking Madrid’s spending to near quarter of a billion euros.
   Ribery told L’Equipe: ‘I have decided that I want to leave. It will be Real Madrid or nothing.
   ‘I will wait to see how things pan out but I would like to hold talks with the Bayern management soon.’
   Madrid have met with stiff resistance from Bayern, who are adamant their star turn will not be leaving for Spain. And Bayern general manager Uli Hoeness does not believe Ribery’s desire to leave alters their position.
   ‘Does Franck want to go to Real?,’ he asked. ‘For us, that changes absolutely anything. Life is not always a fairytale. Real have not made us a specific proposal and we do not need their money.’
   Madrid’s fee for France international Benzema could rise to 41 million euros (£34.8m) dependent on performance clauses. Ribery would cost considerably more than that should Bayern agree to sell.

World Cup winning centre-back Marco Materazzi on Wednesday signed a new deal with Inter Milan that will keep him at the Italian champions for another three years, the club announced on their website.
   Materazzi, who was a bit-part player for Jose Mourinho last season, will be almost 39 by the time his deal runs out.
   ‘Now I can write it because it’s written on a contract, I’ll be nerazzurro for life,’ added Materazzi on his blog.
   ‘And that’s not just a figure of speech. I couldn’t be going away on holiday more satisfied.’
   The 35-year-old has already been at the club for eight years, playing 245 matches and scoring 20 goals.
   He has won four scudetto crowns and two Italian Cups since joining from Perugia in 2001.

Inter Milan will begin the defence of their Serie A title on Sunday August 23 after the Lega Pro announced the 2009/10 season calendar on Wednesday.
   The season will finish on May 9, much earlier than usual due to the World Cup kicking-off in South Africa a month later.
   The Serie A season will close down for two Sundays over the Christmas period with no matches being played on December 27 or January 3.

Roger Federer celebrated reaching his 21st consecutive Grand Slam semi-final by admitting there are few players who can match his deep reserves of grasscourt secrets.
   The five-time Wimbledon champion is just two wins away from capturing a record 15th Grand Slam title and having become the first man at the 2009 championship to break the serve of Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic, he left his remaining rivals in no doubt as who is the grasscourt king.
   ‘Maybe I like to play short points. I don’t mind playing one-, two-shot rallies. I also don’t mind longer rallies. I think especially on grass, all my strength becomes even better. I become so much more dangerous,’ said Federer.
   ‘Maybe I move better than many players on grass as well. I have a lot of experience. I think grass is a surface you maybe can’t learn to play on so much and you don’t get an opportunity that often, and that’s why I think it’s one of the reasons why it’s so hard to beat me.’
   Federer tackles old friend Tommy Haas in the semi-finals today where victory would put him into a seventh successive Wimbledon final and where either Andy Murray or Andy Roddick will be waiting.
   The Swiss star admits that his record of making 21 Grand Slam semi-finals in a row is ‘amazing’.
   His last defeat before a semi-final in a major was against Gustavo Kuerten in the French Open third round in 2004.
   ‘It means a lot to me. Just being so consistent for so long and reaching it again, it’s amazing,’ he said.
   ‘It’s hard to believe I achieved it because it’s not just I’m looking back on a few weeks or a month or a year it’s really way back now.
   ‘And even before that, I was in finals, I won a major before that as well. I just had it interrupted by Guga. But it’s been quite a streak I’m on, and I’m happy it’s still alive.’
   When Federer broke down in tears after his defeat to Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final this year, many thought the former world number one was in a slump from which he would not emerge.
   But Nadal’s shock early exit at the French Open paved the way for Federer to complete a career Grand Slam by winning a first Roland Garros.
   Then the world number one’s injury-enforced absence from Wimbledon made Federer the favourite to regain the crown he lost to the Spaniard here last year.
   ‘It’s fun playing the biggest matches. I like playing best-of-five-set matches. And maybe this is where I’m best because everything comes out,’ said the second seed.
   ‘Not only your mental strengths, but physical, tactical skills.’

Louis van Gaal began work at Bayern Munich on Wednesday saying he wanted to ‘make history’ at the club. Around 2,000 people turned up to see the 57-year-old Dutchman at the helm as Bayern began training ahead of a season in which they will trying to wrest back the Bundesliga title from VfL Wolfsburg.
   ‘Our aim is to fight hard for titles, in the league and also the cup,’ van Gaal said.
   In Europe, van Gaal said his target was at least the quarter- finals of the Champions League, a competition Bayern last won in 2001.
   He added that ‘maybe, maybe we will win the Champions League by the end of the van Gaal period.’
   Bayern turned to the experienced van Gaal after their attempt to launch a new era last season under former Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann failed.
   Klinsmann was dismissed shortly before the end of the season, with Jupp Heynckes taking over for the remainder of the term. Bayern finished behind Wolfsburg but at least qualified directly for the Champions League.
   Van Gaal, who led Alkmaar to the Dutch title last season, named European champions Barcelona, a club he twice managed, as his role model.
   The first training session featured six newcomers - Mario Gomez, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Ivica Olic, Danijel Pranjic, Edson Braafheid and Alexander Baumjohann - as well as Andreas Goerlitz, who returns from a loan spell at Karlsruhe.
   France midfielder Franck Ribery, who has been the subject of transfer speculation linking him with Real Madrid, was also present.
   However, Brazilian defender Lucio and Italy striker Luca Toni were absent, with both players granted leave following the Confederations Cup tournament in South Africa.
   Lucio’s future at the club has been the subject of speculation amid reports van Gaal is not planning with him. Lucio told Munich’s tz daily he had been saddened by the reports and the fact that there had been no denial from the club.
   ‘That’s why a change makes sense if there is a good offer,’ he was quoted as saying.
   The 31-year-old defender, who has another year on his contract, left it open whether he would be returning for training on July 16.
   Asked about Lucio, Bayern general manager Uli Hoeness said: ‘We have seen no reason to comment on the rumours. If Lucio thinks he has a problem he can gladly come to us. His adviser as well.’

Juventus president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli on Wednesday denied rumours his club are interested in signing Liverpool’s Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso.
   The 27-year-old is a reported target for Real Madrid and is rumoured to be unsettled at the Merseysiders following their long pursuit of Gareth Barry last summer as a potential replacement for the Spaniard.
   But Cobolli told reporters outside a hospital in Turin that contrary to press reports, Alonso was not on his radar.
   ‘We’re looking at several names in central midfield but Xabi Alonso is not one of those,’ he said.
   ‘I found out about our interest in the Spaniard from the press. He’s a great player but given that I read about his name in the papers should tell you everything.’
   Cobolli also dismissed speculation linking the Italian giants to Napoli’s Slovak midfielder Marek Hamsik but admitted he is interested in Udinese’s Gaetano D’Agostino.
   ‘The deal has cooled off. Udinese are a serious club with capable managers who are able negotiators,’ he added.
   ‘It’s about trying to find a solution between our valuation of the player and theirs.’
   However, the Juve chief also admitted that his club would have to sell to finance their purchases this close season.
   ‘We’re not being blocked by players who don’t want to leave but we do have to sell before we can buy,’ he added.
   ‘(Denmark international Christian) Poulsen is one player we’ve put up for sale and theoretically so too is (Frenchman David) Trezeguet but the probability of finding a suitable club for him and getting a price that fits his standing is much smaller.’
   Cobolli said he hoped former player Pavel Nedved, who retired at the end of last season, would join the club’s backroom staff.
   Meanwhile, Juve said on their website that young Italian forward Sebastian Giovinco had Wednesday morning successfully undergone an operation on his nose aimed at improving his breathing.

Veteran Japanese midfielder Junichi Inamoto is hoping that his move to French First Division side Rennes will boost his chances of playing in a third World Cup finals next year.
   The 29-year-old - capped 71 times and scorer of four goals - was an iconic presence, aided by his dyed blond hair, when Japan co-hosted the 2002 World Cup finals with South Korea which saw the Japanese go out in the second round.
   However, since then Inamoto - part of the Japanese squad that won the 2000 Asian Cup in Lebanon - has, like many of his compatriots who have tried to make a career in European club football, earned the moniker of ‘much travelled’ with Rennes being his seventh club since he signed for Arsenal in 2001.
   However, Inamoto is insistent that being reunited with one of his former bosses, the fiery Frederic Antonetti, who coached him at J-League club Gamba Osaka, will get him to settle at last.
   ‘Up till now I have not stayed longer than two years at any one club in Europe,’ said Inamoto, who scored two of his four international goals in the 2002 World Cup.
   ‘But that is not very important for me, nor that I am the Japanese player to have played abroad the longest.
   ‘What is important, is that I have been able to acquire an enormous amount of experience and if that can be put to good use at Rennes, that would be ideal.
   ‘If I can contribute in steering them into the European Cup that would be my first target this season.
   ‘Of course I have a burning ambition to play in the World Cup and in that sense playing in a top championship will make it easier for me to be selected.
   ‘And if that is the case then I want to play well in the World Cup.’
   Inamoto, who just appeared in the League Cup for Arsenal before moving on to Fulham and has also seen service with Turkish giants Galatasaray, West Brom, Cardiff and German team Eintracht Frankfurt, said that Antonetti being coach of Rennes had helped him make his mind up.
   ‘I was delighted the club were interested in me and came in for me when my contract with Eintracht was finished,’ said Inamoto, who has not scored in 26 games for the national side since a 2003 friendly with Uruguay.
   ‘And then I know the coach with whom I worked with 10 years ago.
   ‘When he got angry he would always express himself in French, but it is 10 years since I have not heard his voice and it gives me great pleasure to hear it once more.
   ‘Rennes is a good club, with a nice atmosphere, so all that motivated me to come here.’
   Inamoto conceded that he had a habit of playing under French coaches having been with Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and Philippe ‘the white witch doctor’ Troussier for the national side in the 2000 Asian Cup and the 2002 World Cup.
   ‘It is true that there have been a lot of French coaches who have appreciated my style of play,’ said Inamoto.
   ‘Now I must show in France that these coaches were right and I am really happy to be able to play there.
   ‘When I came to Arsenal, everyone said that I was going to help sell a lot of shirts. But in reality there were no sales in Japan, therefore I don’t think that my presence here is going to help increase sales of Rennes shirts,’ he added laughing.

German World Cup finalist Dietmar Hamann and former England internationals Darius Vassell and Danny Mills were among four players released by bigspending Manchester City on Wednesday.
   The trio were joined by former Rangers and Everton defender Michael Ball as club manager Mark Hughes reduced his squad ahead of potentially more big name signings to join those of Roque Santa Cruz and Gareth Barry.
   Hamann, who was a member of the German side that lost to Brazil in the 2002 World Cup final and the Liverpool side that won the epic 2005 Champions League against AC Milan, failed to play in the last months of the season because of a toe injury.
   Both Vassell and Mills also played in the 2002 World Cup finals, with the former going on to win 22 caps, scoring six goals, but the 29-year-old striker has struggled for his place and has been strongly linked with a move to Turkey with Ankaragucu his favoured destination.
   Mills, 32 and capped 19 times, was another of the players to leave cash-strapped Leeds United with City being his destination in 2004 - however he rarely made a first team place his own and found himself loaned out to Hull City, Charlton and Derby.
   It was at Derby - during their disastrous one season stay in the Premier League - where he picked up a serious knee injury in January 2008 and he has not played since.
   Ball, who began his career with Everton before moving on to Rangers and then to PSV Eindhoven where he won the Dutch title under Guus Hiddink, has been capped once by England but struggled to make an impression once Stuart Pearce was replaced by Hughes’ predecessor Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Raul Albiol has passed his medical with Real Madrid and will be presented as the Spanish giants’ latest addition at the Bernabeu on Thursday evening.
   The Spain international centre-back successfully completed a two-hour examination at the Hospital Sanitas La Moraleja as the finishing touches are put on his move from Valencia.
   The 23-year-old, who was recently on Confederations Cup duty with Spain in South Africa, is reportedly set to cost Madrid in the region of £13m and will be presented at 2100 local time.
   Carlos Diez, Real Madrid’s medical chief, said after the tests: ‘He is in phenomenal shape. All the medical tests have given us a satisfactory result. He is in perfect condition and can start pre-season with normality.
   ‘He is really eager. He wants to rest after the Confederations Cup, but he is really eager to start.’
   Diez also spoke about the serious car accident that Albiol was involved in whilst travelling to Madrid to sign on loan for Getafe in 2004, an incident that saw the player undergo two operations and lose his spleen.
   When asked if that accident could affect Albiol’s playing ability, Diez said: ‘Not at all. We do not suspect that he could have any problems from a sporting point of view.’
   Albiol, who has agreed a five-year deal, will be the second new arrival presented by Madrid this week following Tuesday’s unveiling of Kaka.

Barcelona is readying an offer of 20 million euros for Liverpool’s Argentine midfielder Javier Mascherano, a Spanish newspaper said Thursday.
   Barca’s technical director, Txiki Begiristain, has received permission from Liverpool’s Spanish manager Rafael Benitez to make an offer for the 25-year-old Argentine captain, the Catalan daily Mundo Deportivo said.
   However, this ‘does not mean that the “Reds’ are ready to accept” it, the paper said.
   Benitez also told Begiristain that he is ‘not thinking of releasing the player,’ the newspaper said.

Brazil have returned to the top of FIFA’s world rankings after an absence of almost two years on the strength of their Confederations Cup win in Sunday’s final against the United States.
   Dunga’s side replace Spain after the Euro 2008 champions were beaten in the Confed Cup semi-finals to eventually finish third.
   The Netherlands slip a place into third with Italy remaining fourth despite failing to make it past the first round of last month’s World Cup warm-up in South Africa.
   1 Brazil 1672 pts (+4 places), 2 Spain 1590 (-1), 3 The Netherlands 1379 (-1), 4 Italy 1229 (0), 5 Germany 1207 (-2), 6 Russia 1161 (+3), 7 England 1135 (-1), 8 Argentina 1091 (-1), 9 France 1082 (+1), 10 Croatia 1031 (-2).

Prosecutors in Rome opened a trial against Serie A giants AS Roma on Wednesday to investigate allegations of manipulating and rigging their market valuation.
   Club owners the Sensi family have been looking to sell their holding in the club but have gone on trial due to repeated fluctuations in Roma’s market value on the stock exchange amid interest from FIFA agent Vinicio Fioranelli.

Cristiano Ronaldo kicked a paparazzo’s car in Lisbon last weekend following a car chase after acting to defend his mother, the Real Madrid winger was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
   ‘He (the photographer) chased me by car from the Ritz Hotel with my mother in the car with me, and they filmed all our actions. The chase so perturbed my mother that I had to stop and convince them to leave us,’ Ronaldo said on the website of Gestifute, the agency that represents the Portugal player.
   Gestifute said Ronaldo lashed out because the paparazzo refused to leave him alone.
   Media reports said Ronaldo’s kick broke the car window, which caused minor injuries to a 17-year-old woman who has filed a complaint with the police.
   A spokesperson for Lisbon police declined to comment.
   Ronaldo completed his 80 million pounds ($130 million) world record transfer to Real from Manchester United last week.

David Silva is the next target for profligate Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, according to sports papers Marca and AS on Thursday. Marca claims that Perez is prepared to spend up to 25 million euros (35.21 million dollars) on the Valencia forward, who hardly played for Spain in the Confederations Cup because of muscle problems.
   Perez has taken world football by storm since returning as president of Real on June 1, splashing out around 210 million euros on Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Raul Albiol and Karim Benzema.
   AS suggests that Perez is prepared to spend up to 300 million euros - far and way a world record for am club in one summer - building a team capable of challenging European champions Barcelona.

Former Italy international Vincenzo Montella has decided to retire despite a year remaining on his AS Roma contract, according to Italian agency ANSA.
   The 35-year-old striker decided not to join up with his team-mates for the start of pre-season training on Thursday and will instead be put in charge of one of the club’s youth teams.
   The diminutive former Fulham forward, who was nicknamed the little aeroplane, played 20 times for his country, scoring three goals.
   He was part of the Roma team that won the Serie A title in 2001 under now England coach Fabio Capello but with his retirement only Francesco Totti still remains from that title-winning squad.
   After beginning his career in Serie C with Empoli and moving up a division to join Genoa, Montella made his name during three seasons at Sampdoria in Serie A, earning himself a 25 million euro move to Roma in 1999.
   However, his spell at the club was beset by struggles to hold down a regular first team place, initially becase of the presence of Totti and Gabriel Batistuta and then in later years because coach Luciano Spalletti preferred Totti in a lone striking role.
   He became a bit-part player in recent years and went out on loan to both Fulham and Sampdoria but remained a fan favourite due to his habit of scoring against bitter local rivals Lazio.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has admitted that he feels ‘saddened’ by the ongoing saga over future of striker Samuel Eto’o.
   Manchester City are waiting on a response to their £25m offer for the Cameroon international and the situation became further confused this week when Barcelona came out to insist they wanted him to stay at the Nou Camp, but that his wage demands were astronomical.
   However, the player’s agent called a press conference to state such claims were ‘absolutely false’ and that representatives of the Catalan club had twice told him that Eto’o was surplus to requirements.
   Laporta has now criticised agent Josep Maria Mesalles for going public over the issue, and admits it is all getting very ugly.
   ‘His representative and Samuel have said that he wants to continue and the club have offered him a contract renewal with the same conditions that he had, which we believe are very good,’ Laporta said on Cadena Cope.
   ‘I think that what his representative is doing is not helping Samuel. It’s a mistake to take the debate in the media. It’s not doing the player any favours.
   ‘Personally this matter has left me a little disappointed, it saddens me because I hold Eto’o in high esteem.
   ‘I would like, in the same way as I’ve said how up until now he has given a lot to Barca, that he (Eto’o) reflects on what Barca have given him.
   ‘I will do everything possible to find the best solution for the club and for Eto’o. It would be best for both parties.’
   Laporta has also insisted Barca would not be held to ransom by Valencia over a possible move for David Villa.
   ‘Regarding Villa, it would not be prudent for me to reveal how the negotiations are going,’ Laporta said. ‘We would be delighted that he came, but it will depend on negotiations and the price. We cannot do things that will break the model that the club has.’