Sporting briefs

Plasil: Czech midfielder Jaroslav Plasil has signed a four-year deal with French champions Bordeaux. After two years with Osasuna in the Spanish La Liga, the 26-year-old is returning to France where his career started at Monaco in 1999.

Riquelme: Alfio Basile's favourite player Juan Roman Riquelme will miss the start of his new spell as Boca Juniors coach due to a one-match suspension. Basile marks his return to Boca in their opening match of the 2009-10 season's Apertura championship starting in mid-August.

Ronaldo hat-trick: Ronaldo scored a hat-trick as Corinthians beat Fluminense 4-2 on Wednesday, taking his tally to 14 goals in 22 matches since his return to action in March after surgery early last year. "The three are my kids and I don't have a favourite," Ronaldo said of the hat-trick.

Alex Silva: Hamburg defender Alex Silva faces knee surgery and will miss most of next season after being injured in a friendly. The 24-year-old, who joined Hamburg from Brazilian champions Sao Paulo one year ago, suffered the injury early in the second half of a match against Austria's Wacker Innsbruck on Tuesday.

Atletico Madrid: Atletico Madrid have agreed to sign goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo from Real Valladolid on a four-year contract. The Spanish U-21 international was secured for a reported fee of around €5.5 million and the loan of Atletico striker Diego Costa for next season.

Marchionni: Juventus winger Marco Marchionni agreed to join Fiorentina yesterday, opening the way for Arsenal target Felipe Melo to move in the opposite direction. If Melo completes a move to Turin he will join up with compatriot Diego.

Athletics: The "B" sample of reigning men's 1,500m Olympic champion Rashid Ramzi has tested positive for a banned product, the Bahraini Athletics Federation said. In February, Ramzi tested positive for the new form of banned blood booster EPO named MIRCERA. He was one of six athletes to test positive for that drug after samples taken during the Olympics. The Morocco-born Ramzi won the Gulf country's first ever Olympic medal when he stormed to victory in the 1,500m in 3:32.94.

Tennis: Indian police have arrested a man accused of stalking the country's top-ranked woman tennis player, Sania Mirza. The man was arrested near 22-year-old Mirza's residence in Hyderabad on Tuesday night after her father lodged a complaint that she had been receiving obscene mobile text messages. Mirza, currently ranked 86th in the world, became a youth icon in a nation starved of sporting success when she became the first Indian to win a WTA tour title and break into the world's top-50 in 2005.

Basket, NBA: The Toronto Raptors have signed Italian forward-centre Andrea Bargnani to a new 'multi-year contract', the NBA team said. Bargnani became the first European-born player selected with the first overall pick in the NBA Draft when he was taken by the Raptors in June 2006. Bargnani averaged career highs of 15.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.24 blocked shots and 31.4 minutes in 78 games in the 2008-09 season, including 59 starts. The 23-year-old, seven-foot tall Roman, made his name in Italy with Benetton Treviso.

Golf: Former US Masters champion Trevor Immelman will miss next week's British Open at Turnberry because of a persistent injury to his left wrist. "The Open championship has always been one of my two favourite tournaments and it has been a thrill for me to compete in the tournament since my first time there in 2002," the South African said. The 2008 Masters champion has experienced discomfort in his wrist for several months and was unable to play in last month's US Open.