Sporting briefs

Van Nistelrooy: Hamburg striker Ruud van Nistelrooy will not be allowed to rejoin Real Madrid, the German club’s director of sport, Bastian Reinhardt, said yesterday. With Real’s Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain out for the next four months with a back injury, 34-year-old Dutchman Van Nistelrooy, who is out of contract at the end of the season, has been targeted as a replacement. “We will not let him leave,” said Reinhardt. “He will see out the end of his contract, the decision is final.”

Vermaelen: Arsenal’s Belgian international defender Thomas Vermaelen will undergo surgery on a torn Achilles tendon tomorrow and expects to be out of action for a further six weeks. “I’ll undergo this operation in Sweden,” said Vermaelen, 25, who has not played for the Gunners since August 28 after suffering the injury while on international duty.

Sanchez: Barcelona are mulling a transfer bid for Chilean winger Alexis Sanchez, with one of the club’s head scouts present at Udinese’s Serie A match at Genoa yesterday. Manchester United and Inter have been long-term admirers of the 22-year-old, but speculation has increased over the last 48 hours that Barcelona are closing in on a €25m January deal for Sanchez.

Robben: Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben admitted that Dortmund may be uncatchable at the top of the Bundesliga and virtually conceded the title to the runaway leaders. With half of the German league season already gone, Dortmund have a 12-point lead over Hannover while defending champions Bayern are 16 points off the pace in fifth spot. “You can already congratulate Dortmund on winning the title. There’s no point talking about first place any more, as several of us have already said,” Robben said.

Grava: Serie A high-flyers Napoli have suffered a setback as defender Gianluca Grava is likely to be ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. Grava collapsed in agony during Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Fiorentina. If the tests confirm the diagnosis that Grava has torn knee ligaments, he will be sidelined for around five to six months. Napoli have already been linked with Torino and Italy Under-21 defender Angelo Ogbonna.

Jones: Schalke’s out-of-favour American international midfielder Jermaine Jones has joined English Premier League side Blackburn Rovers on loan until the end of the season, it was confirmed yesterday. The 29-year-old is already in England and the deal is expected to be finalised today.

Snooker: Masters final - Ding bt Fu 10-4.

Basketball, NBA: Derrick Rose scored 34 points and Kyle Korver drained a key three-pointer with 25 seconds remaining to lift Chicago to a 99-96 victory over Miami. Having LeBron James and Chris Bosh both missing with ankle injuries, it was left to Miami’s remaining star, Dwyane Wade, to apply pressure to the Bulls, scoring 12 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter.

Cycling: Australia’s Matthew Goss took advantage of a late crash to claim a surprise victory in the Cancer Council Classic criterium which precedes the Tour Down Under. Goss finished a 30-lap street race ahead of team-mate Mark Renshaw, with Robbie McEwen, of RadioShack, in third.

Cricket: A superb effort by Shane Watson with the bat enabled Australia to beat England in the opening one-day international at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Watson’s unbeaten 161 allowed the home side to chase down England’s total of 294 from 49.4 overs with five balls to spare. The right-hander hit the winning runs, lofting Ajmal Shahzad over long-on for six to take Australia to 297-4.

London Olympics: Tickets for the London 2012 Olympic Games will go on sale on March 15. Sports fans will have six weeks, from March 15 to April 26, to apply for the 6.6 million public tickets.