Sporting briefs

Lennon: Celtic manager Neil Lennon was given a six-match touchline ban by the Scottish FA yesterday. Lennon had hoped to win his appeal against an automatic two-match ban and a charge of excessive misconduct after being sent to the stand during a game against Hearts on November 10. But his appeal backfired as the SFA's disciplinary committee opted to treble his original punishment.

Onyewu: Milan have loaned out American central defender Oguchi Onyewu to Dutch top flight side FC Twente until the end of the season. The 28-year-old has passed a medical as he tries to rediscover his fitness and form after an injury-plagued 18 months in Milan.

Behrami: Fiorentina have not given up hope of signing Valon Behrami from West Ham. Reports in England claimed West Ham recently turned down a bid from Fiorentina for the Swiss midfielder after their asking price was not met. Behrami is keen to return to Italy and has also been linked with Serie A side Roma in the winter transfer market.

Neville: Everton manager David Moyes has moved to end talk of captain Phil Neville joining Tottenham. Reports yesterday linked Neville with a move to north London, with Spurs manager Harry Redknapp later acknowledging his admiration of the player but admitting any switch would be “difficult”. Neville joined Everton from Manchester United in August 2005 and has made 224 appearances for them since.

Genoa: Argentine attacking midfielder Mauro Formica has agreed a four-million-euro transfer to Italian Serie A club Genoa, his club president at Newell’s Old Boys Guillermo Lorente confirmed last night. Formica, 22, had also been targetted by Turkish giants Galatasaray but opted to play in Italy joining compatriots Rodrigo Palacio and Franco Zuculini in Genoa who are currently 13th in the Serie A.

Cerci: Fiorentina will be without Alessio Cerci for up to two weeks after he picked up an injury during Sunday’s 3-2 victory over Brescia. The striker will miss next weekend’s game at Napoli, but could return for the home match against Lecce.

Peterborough: Peterborough boss Gary Johnson became the latest manager to lose his job late Monday after disagreements with chairman Darragh MacAnthony. Johnson left Posh by mutual consent, making him the 11th league manager to perish since Christmas.

Marathon: Dathan Ritzenhein, a three-time US cross-country champion, has been added to the list of runners at this year’s London Marathon. Ritzenhein will be up against Ethiopia’s defending champion Tsegaye Kebede and the Kenyan duo of Olympic champion Sammy Wanjiru and world champion Abel Kirui in a strong field for the men’s race on April 17.

Snooker: Ronnie O’Sullivan suffered a first-round exit at the Masters as Mark Allen battled to a 6-4 win at Wembley Arena. Allen led 3-1 at the interval but O’Sullivan fought his way back to 4-4. The Northern Ireland potter recovered his poise, though, and came through to set up a clash with either Stephen Hendry or Neil Robertson.

Athletics: Reigning IAAF World Athlete of the Year David Rudisha will compete in two Australian events in March. Rudisha, 22, is looking to start his competitive season in Australia in a move he hopes will take him all the way to world championships glory at Daegu, South Korea, in August. He will make appearances at the Sydney and Melbourne Track Classics.

Rugby Union: England’s Maggie Alphonsi became the first woman in the 50-year history of Britain’s Rugby Union Writers club to win the Pat Marshall Memorial Award as personality of the year for 2010. Alphonsi starred for England at last year’s Women’s World Cup where the hosts lost to New Zealand 13-10 in the final.

Cycling: The Swiss supreme court said that it had thrown out Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde’s final attempt to overturn a worldwide anti-doping ban that was based on evidence from Operation Puerto. The judges rejected Valverde appeal against a CAS decision enforcing the two-year global suspension as “unfounded” in a ruling handed down on Jan. 3.

Rallying: Carlos Sainz, of Volkswagen, won the ninth stage of the the Dakar Rally yesterday, a 235km special around Copiapo in Chile, the Spaniard closing in on overall leader Nasser Al-Attiyah. Sainz trimmed 1:56 off Al-Attiyah’s lead to close the gap to 3:18. In motorcycling, Cyril Despres closed the gap on leader Marc Coma by a minute, as he reduced his lead to over eight minutes.