Sporting briefs

Hanoi's birthday: Vietnam will clash with Japan, South Korea and Italian Serie A giants Milan in a four-team tournament next year to mark Hanoi's 1,000th birthday. The Sports General Department and Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) will stage the Thang Long Football Cup in October, to mark the 1,000th year of the establishment of the city formerly known as Thang Long.

Hickersberger: Former Austria trainer Josef Hickersberger has been named as the new coach of United Arab Emirates League side Al-Wahda. Hickersberger, 60, who has held previous coaching positions in the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and Qatar, told Austria's Kurier newspaper that he had signed a contract until the end of the season with the Abu Dhabi club.

Africa player: The unveiling of the African Footballer of the Year has been postponed until Jan. 23, the Confederation of African Football said without giving any reasons. The contenders are former winner Didier Drogba, of the Ivory Coast, his Chelsea team-mate Michael Essien, Arsenal's Togolese international Emmanuel Adebayor, Egypt striker Amr Zaki and Mohamed Aboutrika, who scored the winning goal for the Pharoahs in February's African Nations Cup final.

Lippi: Italy boss Marcello Lippi hopes Gennaro Gattuso's recovery powers will have the Milan midfielder back from a serious knee injury in time for the Confederations Cup in South Africa in June. "If an ordinary player takes a month to recover from an injury, Gattuso takes two weeks," Lippi told Sky. "In this case he'll take four months not five to recover. He could be ready for the Confederations Cup."

Dinamo Zagreb: UEFA have fined Dinamo Zagreb a total of €200,000 following crowd trouble during two recent UEFA Cup group stage matches.

De la Red: Real Madrid midfielder Ruben de la Red could become the third player from the Spanish champions to be forced to end the season early after his collapse on the pitch in a King's Cup match in October. Club president Ramon Calderon said the Spain international would not play again this season but officials said Real Madrid were still waiting for final test results. Striker Ruud van Nistelrooy and midfielder Mahamadou Diarra are already out with serious knee injuries.

In England: League One - Brighton vs MK Dons 2-4. League Two - Chesterfield vs Macclesfield 2-4; Lincoln vs Accrington Stanley 5-1.

Basket, NBA: New York Knicks guard Cuttino Mobley was forced to retire this week because of a life-threatening heart condition. The Knicks said Mobley, 33, had a heart condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy that had progressed to the point where the 11-year NBA veteran could no longer play. Recruited in the second round of the 1998 NBA draft, Mobley averaged 16.0 points and 3.9 rebounds in 747 career games with Houston, Orlando, Sacramento and the LA Clippers.

Cycling: Britain's medal haul in cycling at this year's world championships and Olympic Games has contributed to an unprecedented growth in the sport at grass roots level, British Cycling said yesterday. Membership has grown to 25,000 members, with 13,000 holding racing licences, the highest since the organisation's formation in 1959.

Athletics: Paula Radcliffe hoped the 2012 Olympic stadium is kept as an athletics venue and not turned into a football arena. "Why do we need another football stadium? We definitely have to keep the Olympic stadium for athletics," world marathon record holder Radcliffe said. "That stadium will hold all the inspiration and memories. The opportunity to go back and compete there again will be a huge boost for the athletes and the chance for any kid to watch the Olympics and then run there will be amazing."

Youth Winter Games: The Austrian city of Innsbruck was yesterday chosen to host the inaugural 2012 Winter Youth Olympics, beating Finland's Kuopio, the only other candidate on the shortlist. IOC president Jacques Rogge, wearing a casual suit and no tie, pulled the name out of an envelope in a brief ceremony. About 1,000 athletes aged 15-18 and some 500 coaches and officials will take part in the Games. The dates have yet to be finalised.

Golf: Holders Europe have added Major winner Paul Lawrie of Scotland and Dane Soren Hansen to their team for next month's Royal Trophy to be staged in Chonburi, Thailand. They join Paul McGinley and Oliver Wilson on Jose Maria Olazabal's team for the matchplay event with four more players to be chosen for the Jan. 9-11 contest, which Europe have won twice. Olazabal was named captain on Monday in place of close friend and compatriot Seve Ballesteros, who is recovering after undergoing brain surgery.

Cricket: Inspired England took control of the opening test against India yesterday after debutant off spinner Graeme Swann grabbed two wickets in his first over in test cricket. The 29-year-old Swann dismissed opener Gautam Gambhir (19) with his third delivery and number three Rahul Dravid (3) with his sixth to help reduce India to 37 for three and leave them in tatters at 155 for six in reply to England's first-innings 316.

Swimming: Amaury Leveaux, of France, smashed the 100m freestyle short-course world record by clocking 45.12 in the semi-finals of the European championships in Rijeka, Croatia. Leveaux, who also set the 50m world record on Thursday, improved on the mark set by compatriot Alain Bernard at the French championships last Sunday by 0.57 seconds. Italian Alessia Filippi also created a world record to win the women's 800 freestyle in 8:04.53.