Sporting briefs

Henry injured: Striker Thierry Henry will be unavailable for France when they play the Faroe Islands in a 2010 World Cup qualiier tomorrow because of an Achilles injury, his club Barcelona said. Henry will not travel with France for the game in Torshavn because of pain in both Achilles tendons.

Stoichkov: Former Bulgaria World Cup star Hristo Stoichkov made a winning start as a South African Premiership coach when Mamelodi Sundowns defeated Mpumalanga Black Aces 2-0 last weekend. Stoichkov took over the underachieving Pretoria club during the close season after unsuccessful spells as coach of his country and Celta Vigo.

Real Madrid: Argentina's Gonzalo Higuain scored two goals to power Real Madrid past DC United in a friendly in Washington on Sunday before a crowd of 72,368. Higuain scored in the 57th and 59th minutes and Dutchman Arjen Robben completed the scoring in the 69th minute for the star-studded Spanish side in a 3-0 win.

Kovac: Czech midfielder Radoslav Kovac has joined West Ham from Spartak Moscow on a permanent basis. "Today Kovac joined London club West Ham," Spartak said.

City Blunder: Man. City admitted to failing to notify the Welsh FA of striker Craig Bellamy's absence for the friendly against Montenegro tomorrow. Wales officials were left bemused when Bellamy failed to turn up for national duty after City forgot to tell them he was injured.

Costly gesture: Two Norwich fans received police cautions after making an expensive protest - ripping up their season tickets just 22 minutes into the season and charging on to the pitch to throw them at coach Bryan Gunn. By that time Norwich were already 4-0 down and ended up losing 7-1 to rivals Colchester.

English League Cup: Darlington vs Leeds United 0-1.

Coppa Italia: Grosseto vs Cosenza 3-2.

Friendly: Udinese vs Getafe 1-2.

Rugby Union: Dan Carter has been recalled to the All Blacks squad for the remainder of the Tri-Nations tournament after recovering from Achilles injury. The flyhalf had played two rounds of the provincial Air New Zealand Cup competition, and was ready to return to the top-flight, All Blacks coach Graham Henry said. With injuries affecting the team's preparations in the lead-up to the Tri-Nations, New Zealand slumped to two successive away losses against South Africa in recent weeks after a narrow win at home over Australia. They next face the Wallabies in Sydney on August 22.

Cricket: A Western Australia batsman has been charged with assaulting a police officer while attempting to escape custody after a bizarre hit-and-run saga ended with the man being found hiding in sand dunes by a police dog. Luke Pomersbach was suspended indefinitely by the Western Australia Cricket Association. Police allege Pomersbach had been driving while intoxicated and had crashed into the back of another car in western Perth.

Golf: Title sponsorship of Ohio's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational has been extended for a further four years, keeping the elite World Golf Championships (WGC) event at Firestone Country Club until 2014. The PGA Tour has lost four title sponsors this year due to the global economic downturn. WGC events bring together the world's top 50 golfers and are ranked just one rung down from the four majors. Three of them are held in the United States with a fourth, the HSBC Champions tournament, in China.

Basketball: Aris Salonica have continued to strengthen their roster by adding former Orlando Magic player Jeremy Richardson, the Thessaloniki club said. The 26-year-old American small forward, who has also played for Atlanta Hawks, Miami Heat, Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs, joins another former NBA forward Ira Newble at Aris. The capture of the duo represents a significant coup for the Thessaloniki club, who will play in the Euroleague if they defeat fellow Greek club Maroussi in the qualifying rounds.