Sporting briefs

Zhirkov: New signing Yuri Zhirkov smashed a 69th minute winner from 20 metres out to give Chelsea a 2-1 victory over their manager Carlo Ancelotti's former club Milan in a friendly on Friday. Didier Drogba also scored for Chelsea while Clarence Seedorf scored for Milan in the friendly match in front of a sell-out crowd of 71,203 at the home of the NFL's Baltimore Ravens.

Bolton: Bolton Wanderers have completed the signings of defenders Zat Knight and Sam Ricketts. The pair have signed three-year deals for undisclosed fees, with centre-back Knight, 29, joining from Aston Villa and 27-year-old full-back Ricketts moving from Hull City.

Nilmar: Villarreal have agreed to sign Brazilian forward Nilmar from Internacional, the Spanish Primera Liga club said. The 25-year-old Brazil international would sign a five-year deal and arrive in Spain this week for a medical, the club said.

Ibrahimovic: Zlatan Ibrahimovic will have a medical in Barcelona tomorrow as the Inter striker's move to Spain nears completion. Inter have agreed to swap the Swedish international for Samuel Eto'o plus cash and the Spanish club said they had given permission for the Cameroon striker to have a medical in Milan.

De Zeeuw: Ajax Amsterdam have signed Dutch international Demy de Zeeuw on a four-year-contract, the club said. De Zeeuw will join Ajax from champions AZ Alkmaar, where he was still under contract until 2011. Ajax will pay Alkmaar 7.5 million euros for De Zeeuw according to local media reports.

Gerrard: England midfielder Steven Gerrard scored a goal for Liverpool in a friendly on Friday, just hours after being found not guilty of affray. While the first team continued their pre-season tour of Asia, the 29-year-old club captain turned out for the reserves in a 2-2 draw at League One (third division) side Tranmere Rovers who are managed by Anfield great John Barnes.

Sunderland: Sunderland have signed Olympique Marseille captain Lorik Cana for a fee of around five million pounds ($8.27 million). "To captain a side of Marseille's stature says a lot about the player and his character and I'm sure he'll go on to be a fantastic signing for Sunderland," manager Steve Bruce said.The 25-year-old Albania midfielder has signed a four-year contract with Bruce's side after spending almost four seasons with the Ligue 1 team.

Tennis: World number one Roger Federer's daughters are less than 48 hours old but bookmakers on Friday had already posted odds on the twins winning Wimbledon. British bookies Ladbrokes were offering 100-1 for either Charlene Riva or Myla Rose to win the grasscourt title just a day after Federer's wife Mirka, 31, gave birth to the tots. The twins, whose Swiss father has won a record 15 grand slam titles, were also 25-1 to claim one of the four slams with all bets based on either doing so before their 25th birthdays.

Cycling: New Zealand's Sarah Walker won her first BMX world title yesterday, completing a personal haul of all three medals in the past three world championships. The 21-year-old was unbeaten in all three of her qualifying motos and the semi-final before winning the final in Adelaide, Australia. Walker, who finished fourth at the Beijing Olympics, won silver in the 2007 world championships in Canada and bronze in China last year.

Rugby: New Zealand flyhalf Daniel Carter returned to the rugby field yesterday, six months after rupturing his Achilles' tendon while playing in France. Carter played the full 80 minutes for Southbridge in their 34-13 victory over Hornby at Denton Oval in Canterbury club rugby and said he felt ready to turn out for his provincial side this week. The 27-year-old ruptured his Achilles in January while playing for Perpignan in a six-month sabbatical from New Zealand rugby.

Diving: China's Olympic champions Lin Yue and Huo Liang retained their men's synchronised 10-metre platform title yesterday to earn China their seventh diving gold at the world championships. Lin and Huo took command from the start with crisp, elegant dives and won comfortably with 482.58 points. David Boudia and Thomas Finchum of the United States produced an outstanding final dive to snatch the silver medal with a score of 456.84, just 0.24 more than Cuban duo Jose Guerra and Jeinkler Ernesto Aguirre Manso.