Sporting briefs

Ibrahimovic: Milan’s appeal to have Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s three-game suspension reduced was yesterday rejected by the Italian Football Federation’s disciplinary commission. The Swede was handed a three-game ban after he was sent off against Fiorentina for swearing at a linesman.

Bologna: Several Bologna players appeared in court yesterday to answer questions relating to the suspected misuse of a handicap number plate. Club captain Marco Di Vaio and goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano were two of those sum-moned. The players are suspected of using a handicap number plate to gain access to restricted areas of the city.

Friendly: Adelaide will get its first taste of international football in almost seven years with Australia set to meet New Zealand at Adelaide Oval on June 5. The City of Churches has not hosted a Socceroos match since the 2004 OFC Nations Cup.

Ajax: Ajax have signed 16-year-old Danish midfielder Viktor Fischer on a three-year-deal from FC Midtjylland. The teenager will join the Ajax Academy initially before linking up with the U-19 squad in July. The Amsterdam club currently have two highly-rated Danish players, playmaker Christian Erik-sen and Nicolai Boilesen.

Barreto: Bari striker Paulo Barreto is being linked with a move to Fiorentina in summer. The 25-year-old Brazilian is expected to leave the Serie A strugglers at the end of the season with relegation all but certain. Barreto was on the verge of joining Fiorentina in January but the deal fell through at the last minute.

Oenning: Michael Oenning is set to be confirmed as Hamburg’s coach for next season after agreeing in principle to a contract extension with the club’s new director of sport Frank Arnesen. Oenning took over from Armin Veh this year on a contract until the end of the campaign.

Campbell: Sunderland striker Fraizer Campbell had knee surgery yesterday which will rule him out for the bulk of next season. The Black Cats have confirmed that the 23-year-old, who has missed all but four games of the current season with cruciate ligament damage, needs a second operation.

Cricket: India’s World Cup-winning cricket team expected five times more cash than they received as a reward for their efforts from their governing body, a newspaper report said. After the stunning win over Sri Lanka, the Board of Control for Cricket in India awarded each member of the 15-man squad a bonus of $225,300. But according to the Indian Express newspaper some players requested $1,126,600 on the grounds that they deserved more.

Ice Hockey: The National Hockey League announced a new record-setting 10-year US television rights deal to remain with telecasters NBC and Versus, who have owned the package for the past six years. The deal, worth $2 billion, is the richest in league history, coming after a major boost in US TV ratings and drawing the prior high of $120 million a season paid to the NHL by ESPN from 1999 through 2004.

Olympics: London is to get a cable car across the River Thames to link two 2012 Olympic venues. Transport for London (TfL) said it was “striving” to have the project finished in time for the Games. The cable car will link the Greenwich Peninsula, home of the O2 Arena, to the Royal Victoria Dock where the ExCeL centre is. The Arena will host gymnastics and basketball while the ExCeL will host boxing, fencing, judo, table tennis, weightlifting and wrestling.

Basket, NBA: Dirk Nowitzki scored 33 points to power Dallas Mavericks to a 101-89 win over Portland Trail Blazers in game two of their NBA first round play-off series. Nowitzki had the last 11 points for the Mavericks who took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. “We know that they (Portland) are a very good home team so we wanted to hold home court here and go up there with a 2-0 lead,” Nowitzki said.