Lucarelli: Napoli yesterday signed forward Cristiano Lucarelli on loan from Parma with the opporunity to buy him outright at the end of the season. Former Italy international Lucarelli, 34, has been brought in to replace Argentine German Denis, who recently moved to Udinese.

Boateng: Germany defender Jerome Boateng is out of next month’s opening Euro 2012 qualifiers against Belgium and Azerbaijan with a knee injury – aggravated by a clumsy air stewardess. He injured his knee in Germany’s 2-2 draw against Denmark and then had the injury aggravated when a stewardess ran her drinks trolley into Boateng’s knee by accident on the flight home.

Remy: The transfer of French international striker Loic Remy from Nice to Marseille may be in doubt after a medical on Friday revealed what the club’s doctor called an ‘anomaly’ in the player’s heart. The French champions initially announced that Remy had passed his medical and signed a five-year contract. However, Friday’s unveiling to the press never took place amid the news that an MRI scan had revealed a possible problem with Remy’s heart.

Argentina: Interim Argentina coach Sergio Batista recalled Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso and Andres D’Alessandro to face world champions Spain in a September 7 friendly in Buenos Aires. Inter pair Zanetti and Cambiasso were left out of the World Cup squad by then coach Diego Maradona despite coming off a treble-winning season topped off by a Champions League triumph.

Boenisch: Werder Bremen defender Sebastian Boenisch has agreed to play for the Polish national team. “After long discussions with PZPN officials and national team management the Werder Bremen defender has agreed to join the team,” the PZPN said. Boenisch, 33, was born in Gliwice, southern Poland, but grew up in Germany. He won the European title in 2009 with the German under-21 team.

Pantelic: Olympiakos announced on Friday that Serbian striker Marko Pantelic has joined the club on a two-year contract. No financial details of the deal were revealed by Olympiakos but local press reports said Pantelic would be earning 1.4 million euros a year.

Baseball: Florida Marlins catcher Ronny Paulino has been slapped with a 50-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s drug programme. The Marlins placed Paulino on the restricted list Friday after the announcement was made by the league’s disciplinary officials. The 29-year-old is hitting .259 with four home runs and 37 runs batted in over 91 games this season. In a statement released by the team, the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Paulino said he took a diet pill.

Tennis: Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray were sent crashing out of the Cincinnati Masters, falling to a pair of unseeded players during a bruising day of tennis at the hardcourt tournament on Friday. Unseeded Baghdatis posted the biggest surprise of the day, shocking world number one Nadal 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a quarter-final match that lasted two hours, 32 minutes. Fish did likewise to Scot Murray, winning 6-7 (7/9), 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) in a match that lasted two hours, 56 minutes – the tournament’s longest.

Basketball: NBA payer Delonte West has been handed a 10 game suspension after pleading guilty last month to carrying a cache of weapons as he raced down a freeway on his motorcycle. American law enforcement officials said he was carrying two loaded handguns, a loaded shotgun and an 22 centimetre hunting knife while speeding on a three-wheel motorcycle on a freeway in September. West played for the Cleveland Cavaliers last National Basketball Association season.

Rugby: The boot of Jonny Wilkinson and a try from Kris Chesney gave cash-rich Toulon a belated jump-start to their Top 14 season on Friday as the pair combined to inspire a memorable 13-3 win at Biarritz. Toulon went on the offensive against the European Cup finalists before a 14,000 crowd at the Stade Aguilera and Chesnay scored what proved to be the game’s only try after 26 minutes, which Wilkinson converted. The latter’s boot then inflicted further damage with a penalty on the hour and a drop-goal four minutes later.

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