Sporting briefs

Dortmund: Borussia Dortmund have raided the lower leagues again to strengthen their squad for next season by signing left-back Chris Loewe from fourth division Chemnitzer FC. The 22-year-old left-footed prospect has signed a four-year deal. The Bundesliga champions have already signed 18-year-old mid-fielder Moritz Leitner from Munich 1860 and U-21 talent Ilkay Guendogan from Nuremberg.

Boro: Middlesbrough chief executive Keith Lamb is standing down from his position after almost 25 years with immediate effect. Lamb worked alongside chairman Steve Gibson as the Teessiders fought back from the brink of financial disaster to enjoy the most successful spell in the club’s history, during which they won the League Cup in 2004 and reached the UEFA Cup final two seasons later.

Lahm warning: Germany captain and Bayern Munich defender Philipp Lahm has advised gay professional foot-ballers in his country against outing themselves, in an interview with German magazine Bunte. “For someone who does, it would be very difficult,” the 27-year-old said. “An openly gay footballer would be exposed to abusive comments.”

Leicester: The Thai-based consortium in control of Championship side Leicester City has taken sole ownership of the club. Asia Football Investments had owned an 80 per cent stake in the club but have now purchased the remaining 20 per cent from fellow shareholders Cronus Sports Management.

Davies: DC United forward Charlie Davies, fighting to return to the US national team for the first time since a 2009 auto accident, will be out for two weeks with a strained right hamstring. Davies will miss Sunday’s home exhibition game against Dutch champions Ajax but hopes to return for a May 29 match at Portland.

Basketball: Men’s League –Luxol vs Athleta 82-63.

Basket, NBA: Dirk Nowitzki scored 48 points and set an NBA record with a 24-for-24 free-throw shooting performance to power Dallas over Oklahoma City 121-112 in Tuesday’s opener of their play-off series. Nowitzki went 12-of-15 from the field and sank the most free-throws without a miss in a play-off game in NBA history as the Mavericks seized the lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference championship series.

Rugby Union: Italy lock Santiago Dellape has ruled himself out of the World Cup in New Zealand after announcing his international retirement. The 33-year-old’s last appearance for the Azzurri was in March’s historic Six Nations victory against France. The Argentine-born player played in two World Cups for Italy in 2003 and 2007. He announced his international retirement on French club side Racing Metro’s website.

Cricket: Australian seamer and former Test player Stuart Clark an-nounced his retirement from international and state cricket yester-day. The 35-year-old will instead focus on his new role as general manager of the Sydney Sixers in a new eight-team, city-based Twenty20 domestic competition starting this summer. He will continue playing club cricket for Sydney University. Clark played 24 Tests, taking 94 wickets at 23.86.

Horse Racing: Kentucky Derby runner-up Nehro will not compete in Saturday’s Preakness, owner Ahmed Zayat announced, saying he does not want the horse to risk an injury after a busy racing season. The pullout reduces the field of challengers for Derby winner Animal Kingdom as the three-year-old colt tries to capture the second leg of American horse racing’s Triple Crown.