Sporting briefs

Livingston: Beleaguered Scottish club Livingston suffered another blow yesterday after the Scottish Football League (SFL) relegated them to the Third Division. The decision was made following a meeting of the SFL's management committee at Hampden Park at which the debt-ridden outfit were found to be in breach of the league's insolvency rules.

Bent: Sunderland finally completed their club record £10m swoop for Tottenham striker Darren Bent yesterday. The 25-year-old had become increasingly frustrated after Tottenham's transfer demands forced him to wait for over a week to move to the Stadium of Light. Bent becomes the Black Cats' fourth close-season signing after the arrivals of Fraizer Campbell, Lorik Cana and Paulo Da Silva.

Misimovic: Wolfsburg's Bosnian international Zvjezdan Misimovic has extended his contract with the German champions until 2013. Misimovic, 27, joined Wolfsburg in 2008 from Bayern Munich and his contract had been due to expire in 2012. The midfielder played 33 Bundesliga games and scored seven goals last season.

Keepers swapped: Genoa and Palermo have swapped their goalkeepers with Rubinho heading for Sicily to replace Marco Amelia who will take his place in northern Italy. The 26-year-old Rubinho, who has played in Genoa since 2006, has signed for four years with Palermo. Amelia joins his sixth Serie A side after Roma (1999-2001), Livorno (2001-2003 then 2004-2008), Lecce (2003), Parma (2004) and Palermo (2008-2009).

Argentina: Juan Sebastian Veron and Carlos Tevez will miss Argentina's friendly against Russia in Moscow next Wednesday due to injury. Tevez called Diego Maradona to say he had aggravated a twisted ankle and Veron had not recovered from a muscle injury.

Derby damages: The Strongest have demanded $50,000 in damages from arch-rivals Bolivar, who asked their fans to boycott last weekend's Bolivian Apertura championship derby. Home side The Strongest sold fewer than 14,000 of the 40,000 tickets they put up for sale when Bolivar fans boycotted the match at the Hernando Siles stadium in La Paz after their club were stripped of the Apertura title last week for fielding an ineligible player.

Horse racing: Dubai's ruler was given a six-month ban from long-distance horse racing after his horse tested positive for banned substances, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) said. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum's horse Tahhan ran in two endurance races in January and February and "in both events, the horse was ridden by Sheikh Mohammed who is the person responsible". He was also fined $4,250.

Basket, NBA: NBA fans curious to see how Shaquille O'Neal fares with LeBron James as a team-mate will get an early look when the Cleveland Cavaliers host Boston Celtics to open the league's 2009-10 season on October 27. The Cavaliers acquired the 37-year-old O'Neal during the offseason hoping the 15 times All-Star centre will help capture their first title. LA Lakers start the defence of their title by hosting the LA Clippers.

Golf: The PGA Tour suffered a double blow this week because of the economic downturn with the removal of the Buick Invitational and Buick Open golf tournaments from its 2010 schedule. In a long anticipated move, troubled Detroit automaker Buick announced that it had withdrawn its sponsorship of both events from next season.

Motor racing: Ross Brawn, the head of Formula One's leading team Brawn GP, could be banned from driving after being charged with speeding. Brawn is accused of driving at 100 miles (161 kilometres) per hour on a 70 mph (113 kph) road in Devon, southwest England, on May 30. The 54-year-old did not appear at Plymouth Magistrates' Court earlier this week and the case was adjourned to September 4.

Rugby Union: Winger Timana Tahu was a granted a release from his contract by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU), paving the way for the dual international to return to rugby league. The 28-year-old, who made a highly publicised switch to rugby union from league in 2008, made four appearances for the Wallabies in his first year but was not selected for any of Australia's early tests this season, prompting his request for an early release.