Sporting briefs

Valencia: Valencia have reached an agreement on outstanding debt with the construction group building their new stadium so that work can be restarted. UTE, a building group made up of firms FCC and Bertolin, will begin work again on the new arena, which was halted early last year, as soon as administrative details and financing are arranged, Valencia said.

Motherwell: Scottish Premier League club Motherwell parted company with manager Jim Gannon yesterday. Motherwell are sixth in the table after suffering their fourth successive loss, 3-1 to St Johnstone, on Saturday, but the Fir Park club's board said the decision was not related in "any way whatsoever" to recent results.

Toni: Roma are close to signing out-of-favour Bayern Munich forward Luca Toni, the Serie A club's sporting human resources manager Gianpaolo Montali has said. "We are down to the details," Montali was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport. "Naturally, until you have the signature, there are no certainties in business, but with Toni we are practically there."

Young out: Aston Villa will be without suspended winger Ashley Young for today's visit of Liverpool. Young has started all 19 of Villa's league games to date this season but will have to serve a one-game ban after collecting his fifth yellow card of the campaign against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

Ivory coast: Ivory Coast will play two friendlies against Tanzania ahead of next month's African Cup of Nations finals. The two matches will be played on January 3 and 6 in Dar es Salaam, where the Elephants will hold their final training preparations for the January 10-29 championships in Angola.

Petrescu: Former Unirea Urziceni boss Dan Petrescu will be appointed the new coach of Russian second division side Kuban Krasnodar. Former Chelsea defender Petrescu surprisingly departed Unirea by mutual consent on Saturday after transforming the team from rural Romania into domestic champions. Romanian sports website Sport.ro said the Russian club had offered Petrescu a five-year contract and a salary of €1.5 million.

Bodybuilding: Hong Kong's anti-corruption body charged a gold-medal winning bodybuilder at the 2006 Doha Asian Games of bribing his way into the event after he was suspended from competition for failing a drugs test. Chan Yun-to, 43, is accused of conspiring to offer $10,000 in bribes to the secretary-general of the Asian Bodybuilding Federation, a statement said.

Alpine skiing: Alpine skiing World Cup leader Lindsey Vonn crashed in the first leg of a giant slalom in Lienz yesterday and was forced out with a suspected shoulder injury. The American, winner of the overall World Cup for the past two seasons and favourite in the speed events for February's Winter Olympics in Vancouver, lost her balance and fell on her back halfway through the morning run.

Ice hockey: Peter Forsberg, the 36-year-old centre who has twice helped Sweden capture Olympic gold, was named to the 23-man provisional roster for Sweden's reigning Winter Olympic ice hockey champions. Forsberg, whose 12 NHL seasons included two Stanley Cup titles with the Colorado Avalanche, has struggled with ankle and foot injuries in recent years. He now plays for Modo in his homeland's elite league.

Basket, NBA: LeBron James sparked a game-deciding third quarter run as the Cleveland Cavaliers crushed the Houston Rockets 108-83 for their fourth consecutive win on Sunday. James had eight of his 29 points in the first four minutes of the third and the Cavaliers outscored the Rockets 32-15 in the quarter to break open a close game.