Sporting briefs

Rosicky: Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky, who had just returned from an 18-month injury lay-off, could be sidelined for six weeks with a hamstring problem. The Czech Republic international, who played in three pre-season friendlies in recent weeks after recovering from a hamstring tendon injury, will miss the start of the season.

Macheda: Pierluigi Casiraghi has nine debutants, including striker Federico Maceda, in his new U-21 squad who start with a friendly against Russia in St Petersburg on Wednesday. Macheda has been a sensation at Manchester United since his move from Lazio.

Antlic: Serbia coach Radomir Antic has dropped several regulars for their friendly against South Africa in Pretoria on Wednesday. Having described the match as a perfect test for Serbia ahead of their World Cup qualifier with France next month, Antic left out wingers Bosko Jankovic and Miralem Suljemani, captain Dejan Stankovic and Nenad Milijas. He included uncapped goalkeeper Zeljko Brkic for the match.

Niemi: Former Finland goalkeeper Antti Niemi has come out of retirement to join Portsmouth on a one-year contract. The 37-year-old, who retired from football last year, joins Portsmouth on a free transfer. Niemi won 67 caps for his country.

Beye: Aston Villa have signed Newcastle defender Habib Beye, 31. The Senegal international, who can play at right-back and centre-back, has signed a three-year deal with Villa and moves for an undisclosed fee.

Friendlies: Stoke vs Valladolid 2-2; Juventus vs Villarreal 1-4; Everton vs Malaga 2-1. The championship: M'Boro vs Sheffield Utd 0-0.

Swimming: American Jessica Hardy set a world record of 29.95 seconds in the 50-metre breaststroke on Thursday at the US Open Championship, setting the mark as a split time in the 100 breaststroke. Hardy broke the prior mark of 30.09 set by Russia's Yuliya Efimova last Sunday at the World Championships in Rome. Canada's Amanda Reason had just in July trimmed the world mark of 30.31 by Australian Jade Edmistone from 2006. Hardy withdrew from the 2008 US Olympic swimming trials after a positive drug test and was banned from competing for one year by a US arbitration panel.

Badminton: Olympic champions Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan will not be defending their men's doubles title at the badminton world championships in Hyderabad next week due to injury. The top-ranked pair from Indonesia were forced to withdraw due to an injury to Kido, a Badminton World Federation spokesman said. Kido and Setiawan were favourites to defend their crown after winning the Olympic doubles title in Beijing last year.

Tennis: Three times champion Andy Roddick won the 500th match of his professional career with a 7-6 6-4 third round victory over fellow American Sam Querrey at the Washington Classic on Thursday. Roddick is the 36th player overall and fourth active to achieve the milestone, along with Roger Federer (657), Carlos Moya (573) and Lleyton Hewitt (511), with the win putting him in the quarter-finals of an event he last won in 2007. "It's a pretty small number of players who have got there, an elite group," Roddick said.

Basket, NBA: Orlando Magic's Rashard Lewis has been suspended without pay for 10 games after testing positive for an elevated testosterone level. The NBA said in a statement that Lewis's level of testosterone violated the terms of the Anti-Drug Programme, jointly agreed by the NBA and the NBA Players Association. Lewis's suspension will begin with the first game of the 2009-10 NBA regular season on October 28. Orlando were Eastern Conference champions last season before losing to the LA Lakers in the NBA final.