Sporting briefs

Mutu: Romania forward Adrian Mutu will miss the 2010 World Cup qualifiers against France and Austria after sustaining a thigh injury. The FRF said Fiorentina's Mutu had sustained a minor injury to his right thigh and have called up FC Timisoara forward Gheorghe Bucur to the squad.

Papa Waigo: Senegal international striker Papa Waigo has joined Southampton on loan from Fiorentina. The 25-year-old has been a bit-part player since joining Fiorentina in January 2008 and spent the second half of last season on loan at Lecce.

Karagounis: Giorgos Karagounis is set to end his playing career at Panathinaikos after signing a new contract until 2012. The 32-year-old Greece midfielder has spent most of his career at the Athens club, apart from 2003 to 2007 when he enjoyed stints with Inter and Benfica.

Cahill: England coach Fabio Capello has added uncapped Bolton Wanderers defender Gary Cahill to his squad after captain John Terry and Wes Brown missed training yesterday with minor injuries. It is a second squad appearance for Cahill, 23, following his call-up in June when England beat Kazakhstan and Andorra in World Cup qualifiers.

Maxwell: Barcelona left-back Maxwell has shaken off the leg injury he sustained in Monday's La Liga match against Sporting Gijon and trained yesterday. The Brazilian defender, who joined from Inter in July, strained his left thigh in the 3-0 win at the Nou Camp and was replaced by Eric Abidal in the 57th minute.

Gignac: Andre-Pierre Gignac should get the nod ahead of Karim Benzema or Thierry Henry to play in attack for France, according to a poll released yesterday. French sports daily L'Equipe asked 25 retired players which centre forward coach Raymond Domenech should pick for a World Cup qualifier against Romania on Saturday. Gignac was the clear winner with 13 votes, followed by Benzema with eight and Nicolas Anelka with two. There were no votes for Thierry Henry.

Luyindula: France international striker Peguy Luyindula extended his contract with Paris St Germain by two years through to June 2012. The 30-year-old, who has been with PSG since 2007, has scored two goals in four matches in the French first division this season.

Division II/III KO: Pembroke vs Senglea 0-1; Xgħajra vs Mellieħa 0-4.

Cycling: Levi Leipheimer inked a two-year deal with Lance Armstrong's new RadioShack team. "There were other possibilities, but I've signed with the best team in the world, an American team that's going to sign more American riders," Leipheimer said. Leipheimer, one of Armstrong's Astana team-mates, broke his right wrist in stage 12 of the Tour de France and was forced to withdraw. Leipheimer said he plans to race the Tour of California, the Dauphine Libere and the Tour de France in 2010.

Golf: Annika Sorenstam, widely regarded as the best female golfer of all time, celebrated the birth of her first child on Tuesday. The 38-year-old Swede and her husband Mike McGee, son of former PGA Tour player Jerry McGee, announced that Ava Madelyn McGee was born in the early hours of the morning. Sorenstam, a 10-times major champion who won 90 titles worldwide, married McGee in January this year. She ended her playing career at the Dubai Ladies Masters in December after dominating women's golf for the past decade.

Hockey: England booked a place in the 12-team men's World Cup in India next year as the new European champions. England pulled off an upset 5-3 victory over Olympic and world champions Germany in the final on Sunday to emerge as strong contenders for the New Delhi event from Feb. 28 to March 13. Germany, Netherlands and Spain also qualified from Europe and join Pan American champions Canada, African champions South Africa, Oceania Cup champions Australia and Asia Cup champions South Korea at the event.

Athletics: China's highest profile athlete Liu Xiang could still make his return to competition at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in his home city later this month, organisers said. The 26-year-old former 110 metres hurdles world and Olympic champion has not raced since hobbling out of his first heat at the Beijing Olympics last August but returned to training in spikes in July. Xu Lin, of Waggener Edstrom public relations, said: "Even if he cannot run he will attend other promotional events and watch the competition."