Sporting briefs

Serie A: The 2011-2012 Serie A season in Italy will begin on Saturday, August 27, league officials announced yesterday. The opening match of the campaign will be played on the Saturday, with the remaining fixtures taking place on Sunday, August 28.

Derby in water: Iker and Iniesta, two octopuses at an aquarium in southern Spain, joined in the Clasico excitement yesterday by predicting the outcome of the Real Madrid-Barcelona match. The heavier of the two, Iker, weighing 16 kilos, predicted a drawn match tonight. Iniesta, just 1.5 kilos, forecast a Real Madrid win.

Barrios: Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund will be without injured Paraguay striker Lucas Barrios for tomorrow’s clash with Freiburg. The 26-year-old Barrios has a hamstring injury and his place will be taken by Poland striker Robert Lewandowski, who will play as the lone striker, at Dortmund’s sold-out stadium which has a capacity of 80,720.

Blades: Sheffield United manager Micky Adams insists he is the right man to lead the club back to the Championship if they are relegated this season. Adams has steered his hometown team to only two wins since being installed as Gary Speed’s successor in December and the Blades are seven points adrift of safety. “If we do go down I want to be the manager that brings us back up,” Adams said.

Burn: Fulham have agreed a deal with Darlington to sign 18-year-old defender Dan Burn. The youngster will move to Craven Cottage this summer after agreeing a three-year-contract with Mark Hughes’s side.

Campbell: Sunderland striker Fraizer Campbell could miss the bulk of next season if he needs a second knee operation. The former Manchester United frontman damaged his cruciate ligament in August last year and was nearing a senior comeback when he twisted his knee in training ahead of the Premier League clash with Man-chester City earlier this month.

Heerkes: Willem II have parted company with coach Gert Heerkes following a dismal Eredivisie campaign. The Enschede club lie at the foot of the table, five points adrift of nearest rivals VVV-Venlo but 20 from safety with four games to play.

In England: Championship – Norwich City vs Nottm Forest 2-1. League Two – Southend vs Bradford 4-0.

Rugby Union: Fiji will send a team to this year’s World Cup even if New Zealand bans players linked to the Pacific nation’s military regime from attending, world rugby supremo Mike Miller said. New Zealand has a policy barring anyone with ties to Suva’s military from entering the country, casting doubt the parti-cipation of several Fijian players.

Baseball: Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum is giving $25,000 to assist the San Francisco fan who suffered a serious head injury when he was attacked outside Dodger Stadium last week. The donation from the two-time National League Cy Young Award winner will go to the Bryan Stow Fund to help with the 42-year-old paramedic’s medical bills and other expenses.

Cycling: Top Australian cyclist Matthew Lloyd was sacked yesterday by his professional team due to his “behaviour”. Omega Pharma Lotto did not go into details beyond ruling out “forbidden products”, only saying on their website that “our team’s image cannot be connected to Matthew’s behaviour any more”. Lloyd, who won a stage of the Giro d’Italia last year, has struggled to find form so far during the current European season.

Cricket: Former Australian national coach John Buchanan was confirmed yesterday as New Zealand’s new director of cricket. His brief is to design the blueprint for a consistent coaching philosophy across the country, implement a talent identification programme and oversee the selection panel. During Buchanan’s eight years at the helm of the Australian side from 1999-2007, they won three World Cup titles.