Sporting briefs

Ref dies: Frenchman Maurice Guigue, the referee of the 1958 World Cup final between Brazil and hosts Sweden, has died aged 98. Guigue refereed four matches at the 1958 World Cup, including the final, which saw a Pele-inspired Brazil defeat Sweden 5-2. Guigue, who also refereed the 1955 and 1956 French Cup finals, was the second and – to date – last Frenchman to referee a World Cup final, Georges Capdeville having refereed the 1938 final in France.

Vaz Te: Portuguese forward Ricardo Vaz Te has completed a move to Scottish Premier League side Hibernian until the end of the season. The former Bolton player was a free agent after he was released from his deal with Greek side Panionios and impressed on trial at Easter Road.

Saha: Everton striker Louis Saha escaped unharmed after crashing his Ferrari on a country road. The 32-year-old French player was driving his blue Ferrari 458 in Wilmslow, Cheshire, on Sunday evening when he lost control and collided with a fence. The accident happened near a tunnel where Saha’s former Manchester United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo crashed his Ferrari in January 2009.

Mensing: Hamilton midfielder Simon Mensing has served a four-week ban following an anti-doping rule violation. The 28-year-old tested positive for the stimulant methylhexaneamine last month. Hamilton are bottom of the Premier League with two wins from 26 games.

Gold: West Ham co-owner David Gold is hospital being treated for cholangitis (inflammation of the bile duct), the club have confirmed. Gold, 74, was first taken ill last week and was unable to attend the Hammers’ Premier League game against Liverpool on Sunday.

Debuchy: Lille right-back Mathieu Debuchy has extended his contract with the current league leaders until 2015. Debuchy, 25, joined Lille in 1993 and came through their youth system before making his Ligue 1 debut in January 2004.

In England: Premier League – Stoke 1 (Delap 53) West Brom 1 (Vela 87).

Primera Liga: Malaga vs Almeria 3-1.

MFA Div. Two: Żejtun vs Birżebbuġa 3-1; Żebbuġ vs Żurrieq 1-1.

Cricket: England wicketkeeper Simon Davies publicly announced yesterday that he is gay, becoming the first active professional cricketer to out himself. The Surrey player, 25, told The Daily Telegraph that he wanted it to be more acceptable to come out. Davies, who was part of England’s victorious Ashes squad, said he decided to reveal his sexuality to his team-mates before the tour of Australia and received the full support of his colleagues. Davies was in England’s provisional 30-man World Cup squad but did not make the cut.

Athletics: Britain’s world and European heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis has withdrawn from this week’s European Indoor Championships in Paris due to an ankle injury. Ennis has called time on her indoor season due to an inflammation of the left ankle, which also caused her to pull out of the second day of the trials in Sheffield and the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham.

Basket, NBA: New York Knicks posted their first big win since acquiring Carmelo Anthony in a three-team blockbuster trade, beating Miami Heat 91-86 at the American Airlines Arena. Anthony finished with 29 points and nine rebounds for the Knicks who looked like a play-off team on Sunday after a disappointing loss two nights ago to the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers. New York now have two wins and a loss since the mega-trade with Denver Nuggets that brought Anthony and Billups to New York.

Cricket: Sixteen-year-old schoolboy Nitish Kumar made history yesterday when he became the youngest ever World Cup player. The Ontario-born teenager, aged 16 years and 283 days, was named in the Canada team to face Zimbabwe in the Group A game. Bangladesh’s Talha Jubair, who was 17 years and 70 days old when he featured against the West Indies in the 2007 World Cup, had been the previous youngest player in the tournament.