Manchester United hard pressed to get off to a good start

Manchester United had two key players fall out during the World Cup, sold last season’s leading scorer and then watched its only new outfield signing get injured until September.

Manager Alex Ferguson’s wish for a good start to the Premier League season may go unfulfilled.

United opens against Fulham tomorrow seeking victory as a fillip before losing striker Wayne Rooney and midfielder Paul Scholes to suspension for three matches after they were sent off in a pre-season tournament in Holland.

“Losing both Wayne and Paul is a real problem,” United winger Ryan Giggs said. “But we have got a big enough squad to cope and we just have to deal with it.”

Despite Rooney and Scholes being free to play Fulham, the Football Association’s decision to implement the bans has angered United.

“It is a shocking decision, absolutely shocking,” United captain Gary Neville said. “But what do you expect? I certainly didn’t expect anything else. We don’t look after our own in this country.”

After Fulham, the Red Devils play at Charlton on Wednesday and Watford next Saturday. “We start the season with three games in six days and we have to be ready for those matches,” Giggs said. “You need a good base of fitness and match sharpness for those games.”

Michael Phelps and Jessicah Schipper set new world records

American Michael Phelps and Australia's Jessicah Schipper broke the world records in the men's and women's 200 metres butterfly at the Pan Pacific championships in Victoria, Canada, on Thursday.

Schipper, the 100m butterfly world champion, clocked world record splits throughout the race before winning in 2:5.40 seconds.

Her time was 0.21 quicker than the previous record set at last year's world championship final in Montreal by Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak.

Schipper finished second in that race behind the Pole, who controversially kept the title and record despite television footage showing that she touched the wall with just one hand.

“I heard the crowd, and it really helped me. It's just amazing to break the world record, I can't believe it,” Schipper told the swimnews website.

Schipper finished well clear of the field, with Japan's Yuko Nakanishi claiming second in 2:06.52 and teammate Yurie Yano third.

Phelps, 21, broke his own 200m butterfly mark in the next race of the evening, clocking one minute 53.80 seconds to shave off 0.13 seconds from his previous best.

Phelps, who won six gold medals at the Athens Olympics in 2004, was pushed by Japan's Ryuichi Shibata until the final 50 metres before the American surged clear.

“It's a good start to the meet. I've wanted to do a best time in that event for a while now. I saw the other guys do well this morning, so I knew it would be close at the 150.

“But (coach) Bob (Bowman) and I were talking about having a strong kick off the last wall. I did that and was able to build some good momentum.

“When the crowd is cheering like that you always know something good is happening.”

Shibata finished second in 1:55.82. Phelps's previous record was set in Barcelona in 2003. – Reuters

Valentino Rossi sends out warning

American Nicky Hayden and five-times champion Valentino Rossi renewed their battle for MotoGP supremacy in the opening free practice sessions at the Czech Grand Prix yesterday.

Hayden is looking to pad his lead in the overall standings on the 5.4km Masaryk Ring and showed no signs of rust from the three-week break, posting a time of 1:59.387, the fastest in the first practice session.

Rossi, who trails by 51 points with six races to go, was right on his back tyre, however, just 0.047 seconds behind. The Italian followed up with the fastest time in the second practice session at 1:57.871.

“I'm happy because this year has been difficult so far, especially during practice we are struggling and starting races from the third or the fourth row,” he said.

“We have some new settings for the suspension to help the tyres work properly, and I'm happy, because it's already quite good.”

Spain's Dani Pedrosa, second in the standings 34 points behind Hayden, kept the leader in sight with the fifth fastest time in the first session, but lost ground in the afternoon with a time that left him in eighth place.

Rossi won the German GP in mid-July, but failed to finish the next race, the US Grand Prix, which Hayden won. – Reuters

Andy Murray prepares for Andy Roddick clash

A leg-weary Andy Murray will face Andy Roddick in the Cincinnati Masters quarter-finals at 0100 BST on Saturday.

US former world number one Roddick is the ninth seed in Ohio, but has lost twice to the young Scot this season.

The British number one has another weapon in his corner in the guise of Roddick's former coach Brad Gilbert.

Gilbert will have plenty of know-how on his weaknesses and areas for Murray to exploit having coached the American to US Open glory in 2003.

Roddick's form since severing ties with Gilbert has gone off the boil, while Murray's has been continued its upward trend since he linked up with the former mentor of Andre Agassi at the end of last month.

Murray heads into the clash against Roddick in the form of his life having barely had a day away from the courts in the last three weeks.

But after reaching the final of the Washington Masters two weeks ago, and the semis in Toronto last week, a determined Murray has not let fatigue take over.

Instead, he ended Roger Federer's 55-match winning streak in North America in straight sets earlier this week.

He also came back from a break down in the third set against Robby Ginepri to book his place in the last eight Cincinnati.

Murray, however, may not need a detailed account on how to get the better of Roddick as he holds a 100% record against him with two wins from two.

A straight sets triumph in the third round of Wimbledon, a victory which Murray exclaimed was "the best of his career", came after the Scot had beaten the American on his way to claiming his maiden ATP title in San Jose earlier in the year.

Roddick feels he is the underdog as he gears up to face the teenager again.

He said: "He's been on a bit of a hot streak, so unlike the two times before we've played, people probably might give him the edge right now."

Liverpool complete deal for Kuyt

Liverpool have completed the signing of striker Dirk Kuyt from Feyenoord.

The 26-year-old passed a medical on Thursday before completing a deal which is believed to be worth about £10m.

Reds boss Rafael Benitez told Liverpool's official website he was delighted to sign Kuyt and added: "He will be a good player for us.

"He's a player with good game intelligence. He knows what to do with the ball and without the ball and he's also a very good worker."

Liverpool's capture of Kuyt ends a summer-long chase for the Dutch international, who was also linked with Tottenham.

Feyenoord were desperate to hold on to the striker, who appeared for Holland at the World Cup, but admitted defeat on Thursday.

Benitez added: "His movement is good, his finishing is fantastic and I know he will score a lot of goals for us because we now have more possibilities in the wide areas and also between the lines."

Kuyt previously said Liverpool were the club he had dreamed about joining.

"For me, Liverpool is sure to be the dream club I was looking for," Kuyt told the Reds' website.

"There was more interest from abroad, but for me there was nothing of the calibre of Liverpool, a brilliant club with an enormous reputation."

Kuyt is in contention to play in Liverpool's Premiership opener against Sheffield United on Saturday, although he is more likely to begin on the bench.

Feyenoord chairman Jorien van den Herik said he was disappointed to lose Kuyt.

"We went a long way to doing that and Dirk was open to that, but we knew that the chance was he would leave if his dream club came in. Liverpool is his dream club.

"Many clubs have tried to contact Dirk over the recent period, but he's said no to clubs every time.

"That characterises Dirk's attitude: either Feyenoord or my dream club."

Gallas hopes Blues will grant his birthday wish

Disgruntled Chelsea defender William Gallas said on Wednesday he still wanted to leave the English Premiership champions.

Gallas, who turned 29 on Thursday and celebrated it with a goal in France's 2-1 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday, said he hoped the transfer would be resolved soon.

“I still want to leave. I hope that it will be settled soon, but that doesn't stop me from still playing for them while it is being settled,” said Gallas, whose main reason for wanting to leave is that he is not played in his preferred central defender role.

Gallas, who has been linked with Premiership rivals Arsenal and Italian giants AC Milan, said he was getting tired of the affair which has been mainly because Chelsea are refusing to sell him and he can stay in the reserves for the remaining year of his contract.

Gallas provoked a wider rift earlier this month when he failed to arrive on time for their tour of the US and was told not to bother turning up at all. – AFP

Bayern tell Devils to forget about signing Hargreaves

German champions Bayern Munich said they are not prepared to part with England international Owen Hargreaves after the midfielder revealed on Wednesday that English giants Manchester United had bid for his services.

“Owen Hargreaves is not a subject for discussion,” said Bayern general manager Uli Hoeness. “Owen has a contract until 2010 and he will see it out. That means the issue is now over.”

The 25-year-old Hargreaves, voted England's best player at this summer's World Cup, said Manchester United had made a generous offer and admitted he was very tempted.

“The offer for Manchester United is simply fantastic,” Hargreaves told Sport Bild magazine on Wednesday.

“As an England international it is interesting for me and you never know whether the opportunity will come along again for me.”

Manchester United are reported to have offered 25mil euros (US$32.1mil) for Hargreaves as they search for a defensive midfielder ahead of the new season. – AFP

Serena gets US Open wildcard

Serena Williams, sidelined for six months this season with a chronic knee injury, has been granted a wildcard into the US Open, tournament officials announced on Wednesday.

The seven-times grand slam singles champion was ranked 139th in the world at the entry deadline for the US Open, while the cut-off for automatic main draw entries was 102.

The 24-year-old Williams, now up to 79th, won the tournament in 1999 and 2002.

Joining Williams as wildcard entries into the singles draw are former top 10 players Chanda Rubin and Australian Alicia Molik.

Mark Philippoussis also received a wildcard entry to Flushing Meadow. – Agencies

Four to compete in World Games

Four Malaysian riders will showcase their horse riding skills and endurance level at the Federation Equestrian International (FEI) World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany, from Aug 20-Sept 3.

The team of three men and a woman are all from Terengganu. They are Zulkefli Saari, Mohd Izry Razali, Shamsuddin Abdul Roni and Norlaily Buniyamin, who is a member of the team for the Doha Asian Games in December.

Coached by Paul James Brown, the Malaysian riders are down to compete in the 160km endurance competition that runs across three countries (Germany, Belgium and Holland).

Team manager Dr Balakrishna Polanaidoo said the route identified for this edition of the Games, held every four years, was rated by the FEI as the most difficult one.

“There are many small hills along the route and the current wet season and prevailing chilly weather conditions (12°C) there will make it all the more difficult,” said Dr Balakrishna after receiving helmets for the team, sponsored by Italian company Las Helmet here yesterday.

“However, our riders have been training very hard for the competition and have pledged to give their best.”

Malaysia are competing in the Games for the second time after the 2002 edition in Jerez, Spain.

The Games also have competitions in showjumping, dressage, eventing, vaulting, four-in-hand driving and reining. – Bernama

F1 Sepang International Circuit confident of good crowd

Next year is marked as Visit Malaysia Year 2007 and race promoters Sepang International Circuit (SIC) believe that the country’s aggressive campaign to promote tourism will boost attendance to motor-racing events, especially for the Petronas Malaysian F1 Grand Prix.

The SIC chairman, Datuk Mokhzani Tun Dr Mahathir, said that the international events promoted and organised in Sepang would be a key to the success of the Visit Malaysia Year programme.

“With the government’s new emphasis on sports tourism, the Malaysian GP and other international events in Sepang are expected to be the country’s strongest tools to woo foreign tourists,” he said at the prize giving ceremony for the recent Japan GT Championship contest.

The grand prize of a Limited Edition Sentra 1.8XGL worth RM102,000 was won by Malaysia Airlines aircraft engineer Tun Mafizal Tun Majid, who along with five others made the correct prediction of the top three winners at the Super GT race in Sepang.

The race was won by Ralph Firman and Daisuke Ito of Honda Racing ahead of Richard Lyons-Michael Krumm (Nismo Racing) and Benoit Treluyer-Kazuki Hoshino (Impul).

The Malaysian GP next year will be the second round of the F1 world championships and will be held from April 6-8.

“With the opening round in Melbourne scheduled for March 15-18, we will actually have a grace period of three weeks to make our final push for ticket sales in the local and regional markets,” said Mokhzani.

The Japan GT race, Mokhzani said, had always been a key event for the SIC in their efforts to make Sepang the hub of motorsports in the region and to promote Malaysia as an international tourist destination.

“The Japan GT Championship Malaysia will continue to be staged in the third week of June. Hopefully, without the distraction of the FIFA World Cup as we experienced this year, we hope to finally break that 50,000-spectator mark,” he said.

The other major international events in Sepang this year are the Merdeka Millennium Endurance race at the end of the month; the Marlboro Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix (October); and the Malaysian A1 Grand Prix of Nations (November).

Next year’s schedule begins with the inaugural K4 24-Hour Endurance Grand Prix on Feb 10 and 11.

Two more coaches bite the dust in Brazil

Brazil’s coaching merry-go-round claimed two more victims on Monday when Cruzeiro fired Paulo Cesar Gusmao and Antonio Lopes resigned at Goias.

The duo followed Geninho, who at the weekend became the third coach this year to leave champions Corinthians.

There have been 29 coaching changes in the First Division since the season began in January.

Gusmao had been at Cruzeiro for more than a year, an eternity in the volatile world of Brazilian coaching. He was dismissed after going five matches without a win.

The final straw was Sunday’s 3-2 home defeat by Fluminense, who sacked coach Oswaldo Oliveira a week ago.

“There’s an old saying in football which always prevails, the coach lives by results,” Cruzeiro president Alvimar de Oliveira Costa told the club’s official website.

“PC’s done a great job, showing confidence in our young players.”

Goias told their website that former police detective Lopes handed in his resignation after Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at Sao Paulo.

Sao Paulo fielded a reserve team as they rested players ahead of today’s Libertadores Cup final second leg at Internacional.

It was Goias’ seventh game without a win.

“The group is good, the directors are correct, but the atmosphere’s not right after such a poor campaign,” said Lopes, who took over in May when Geninho left for Corinthians.

Lopes began the year at Corinthians before resigning in March. – Reuters