Sporting briefs

Cigarini: Sevilla midfielder Luca Cigarini will not join Brescia in the January transfer window. Brescia, struggling at the foot of the Serie A table, were looking to bolster their side and Cigarini was one of their options. But the player denied the rumours. “I haven’t had any contact with Brescia. I just want to do well for Sevilla until June,” he said.

Saturn quit: Saturn Ramenskoye announced yesterday their decision to withdraw from playing in the Russian Premier League next season because of cash shortages. Ramenskoye will be replaced in the Premiership by one of the Russian league’s lower division sides. Last year another Premiership side FC Moscow was also disbanded after their owners decided to cut the club’s financing.

Motherwell: Stuart McCall has begun the search for his number two after being named as Motherwell manager. The former Rangers midfielder, 46, was unveiled by the Fir Park club on Thursday after agreeing a two-and-a-half-year deal. Reports suggest Tommy Craig is set to be installed as assistant manager. “I would like it preferably to be someone who is already in Scotland,” said McCall.

Carroll: Newcastle striker Andy Carroll is a major doubt for tomorrow’s Premier League trip to Wigan Athletic. The 21-year-old is battling a thigh injury as the Magpies attempt to bounce back from successive defeats by Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur.

Athletics: Kenya’s marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru was arraigned in court on charges of attempting to kill his wife and his watchman, police said. The 24-year-old Kenyan and two-time Chicago marathon winner denied the charges of attempting to murder his wife Terezah Njeri Muturi when he appeared before the magistrate in Nyahururu town, in central Kenya, on Thursday. Police prosecutor John Rutto told the court that Wanjiru went to his home while he was drunk and had a row with his wife.

Cricket: The first three days of next week’s final Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground have been sold out. Officials said that just over 4,000 tickets were left for day four in the 46,000-capacity SCG. “To see the way the public has responded to the Sydney Test is excellent news for the game,” Cricket New South Wales Chief Executive David Gilbert said.

Basketball: The University of Connecticut’s women’s team had its American collegiate record 90-game win streak snapped yesterday with a 71-59 loss at Stanford. The Huskies broke one of the most storied milestones in American sport on December 21 by beating Florida State University 93-62 for their 89th win in a row. That victory topped the 88-game win streak by the University of California at Los Angeles men’s team from 1971-74. Connecticut’s women had not lost since April 6, 2008, also to Stanford.

Snooker: Ladbrokes will sponsor the Masters event at Wembley Arena this month. Snooker’s longest running and most prestigious invitational event will now be known as the Ladbrokes Mobile Masters and will receive six-figure backing from the bookmaker. The event, which runs from January 9-16, features the top 16 players, competing for a £500,000 prize fund.