Sporting briefs

Grant: West Ham manager Avram Grant has been charged with improper conduct following his criticism of referee Mike Jones in the Hammers’ FA Cup defeat by Stoke last weekend, the FA confirmed yesterday. Grant accused Jones of favouring Stoke after the official failed to spot a handball when Frederic Piquionne equalised for West Ham in the first half.

LA Galaxy: Brazilian Juninho scored in the 58th minute yesterday to lift the Los Angeles Galaxy to a 1-0 victory over Seattle in Major League Soccer’s 2011 season-opener. The Galaxy midfielder beat Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller from 25 yards out, firing inside the near post for the goal that secured the win on a rainy night in Seattle.

Metsu: French coach Bruno Metsu, who coached the Qatari national side until last month, has signed for Al-Gharafa until 2013, the Qatar club confirmed yesterday. “It’s a good challenge. The group is good and interesting and we can achieve something,” said Metsu of the 2005 Qatar champions. Metsu, 57, will team up with former Lyon player Juninho and Amara Diane, who previously played for Paris Saint Germain.

Fulham: Fulham confirmed the club will soon be home to a commemorative statue of late “King of Pop” Michael Jackson following a request by owner Mohamed Al Fayed. Al Fayed, a friend of Jackson’s, commissioned a statue of the iconic singer soon after his death in Los Angeles in 2009. The billionaire had initially planned to erect the statue outside his famous Harrods department store in Knightsbridge but has now decided that the Jackson memorial should be placed at Craven Cottage.

In Scotland: Premier League – Dundee United vs Hearts 2-0. FA Cup quarter-final replay – Aberdeen vs St Mirren 2-1. FA Cup Quarter-final Inverness vs Celtic 1-2. Division One – Queen of the South vs Greenock Morton 2-0.

Golf: The coach of Indian golf star Jeev Milkha Singh blasted Italian airport officials for insisting he remove his turban before boarding a flight, comparing it to being ordered to strip in public. Amritinder Singh was about to fly from Milan to Sicily with the player for this week’s European Tour event when he said he was forced to take off his turban for security reasons. “It is a personal insult as I have travelled all over the world and even though security officials put their detectors around my turban, I have never had to remove it,” said Amritinder.

Basketball, NBA: The Chicago Bulls notched their seventh straight NBA victory to take the outright lead in the Eastern Conference ahead of the Boston Celtics. Derrick Rose scored 23 points for the Bulls, who had 20 points from Luol Deng and 17 from Keith Bogans in a 98-79 victory over the Washington Wizards. All 10 of Bogans’ attempted shots were from three-point range, and he made five of them. With the victory, the Bulls edged one half-game ahead of Boston atop the NBA East.

Cricket: Former England fast bowler Peter Loader died on Tuesday aged 81. Loader was a key member of the Surrey side that won seven consecutive English County Championship titles from 1952-1958 and in a 12-year career took 1,108 first-class wickets at an average of just 19.04. Loader also played in 13 Tests, taking 39 wickets at 22.51 including England’s first hat-trick after the Second World War, against the West Indies at Leeds in 1957.

Tennis: The world’s top three players – Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – will headline the Monte Carlo Masters from April 10-17. Barring injuries and late withdrawals the biggest line-up in recent years is expected in the Principality. Six-time winner Nadal leads the way with the only big-name missing for the moment being Britain’s Andy Murray, even though the Scot can still request a wild card as he did last year. Ten of the top 15 players in the world are set to compete.