Sporting briefs

King: Tottenham captain Ledley King could be out for the rest of the season, manager Harry Redknapp revealed yesterday as the club’s injury crisis deepened. Redknapp told Sky Sports News that centre-half King needs a second operation on a groin injury that has seen him sidelined since October, and is now likely to be ruled out of the remainder of Spurs season.

Chiellini: Juventus’s woes deepened yesterday with the news that Giorgio Chiellini will be out for a month with a pulled thigh muscle. The centre-back limped out of Italy’s friendly win in Ukraine on Tuesday after just 17 minutes and will now be out for most of the rest of the season. Juve are also sweating on the fitness of veteran striker Alessandro Del Piero who pulled up in training on Wednesday and is to undergo tests this morning.

Garcia: Rudi Garcia, coach of current Ligue 1 leaders Lille, has extended his contract by two years until 2014. The 47-year-old has been at the Lille helm since 2008 and the northern club said in a statement that his decision to extend his contract “is a new, strong message symbolising LOSC’s ambitions”.

Casanova: Toulouse coach Alain Casanova has extended his contract with the French club by two years. The 50-year-old Casanova, whose contract was to expire in June, signed with Toulouse in 2008 after having spent more than 13 years as an assistant, notably to Erick Mombaerts and Elie Baup.

Bogdan: Bolton reserve goalkeeper Adam Bogdan has signed a new contract which will see him remain at the Reebok Stadium until 2014. The Hungarian 23-year-old, who is being groomed as a successor to Jussi Jaaskelainen, joined Bolton from Vasas SC in August 2007 and has so far made only a handful of first team appearances.

Pizarro: Werder Bremen striker Claudio Pizarro is set to be out for up to ten days after twisting his ankle while playing for Peru in a goalless draw with Ecuador. The 32-year-old ex-Chelsea star picked up the injury on Tuesday night during the friendly between the South American countries which was played in The Hague.

Guedioura: Wolves midfielder Adlene Guedioura has made a successful start to his comeback – six months after breaking his leg. The Algeria international played the full 90 minutes for the reserves against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road late Wednesday and scored one of the goals in a 2-1 win.

Federation Cup: World number 18 Petra Kvitova will lead the Czech women’s tennis team in the Fed Cup semi-final tie against Belgium in Charleroi on April 16-17, team captain Petr Pala said. Pala also named world number 31 Lucie Safarova, Iveta Benesova (46) and Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova (50) in the team to face Belgium, who will most probably be led by world number two Kim Clijsters. The Czechs made it to their third consecutive Fed Cup semi-finals after beating neighbours Slovakia in February.

Basket, NBA: Police have charged a former NBA referee with battery after hall of fame forward Dominique Wilkins was attacked at an Atlanta Hawks game. Wilkins, who is a vice president with the team, was not seriously hurt in the incident with the ex-match official after Atlanta’s 85-82 win over the Orlando Magic at Philips Arena. Atlanta team spokesman Arthur Triche said the man was “promptly arrested and taken into custody by the police department.”

Rugby Sevens: Tokyo is likely to host a new leg of the Rugby Sevens World Series next year, media reports said, despite cancelling its inaugural sevens tournament because of last month’s earthquake. The first Tokyo Sevens, a 16-team tourna-ment, had been due this month as a test before the hosts hold a world series leg, but the Japan Rugby Football Union was forced to abandon the event. The eight legs of the 2011 series are in the UAE, South Africa, New Zealand, the US, Hong Kong, Australia, England and Scotland.

Baseball: South Korea added a new team to its professional baseball league – the first for 20 years – in a bid to strengthen the appeal of the country’s most popular spectator sport. Online game company NCsoft received a letter of approval from the Korea Baseball Organisation (KBO) to launch the country’s ninth professional club and signed an agreement with its home city of Changwon. The KBO has said it wants to add a 10th club so it can run a two-division league.