Sporting briefs

Perisic: Croatia midfielder Ivan Perisic has signed for Borussia Dortmund from Bruges. The 22-year-old, who was top scorer in this season’s Belgian league with 22 goals, signed a five-year deal until June 30, 2016, financial details of which were not given.

Elmander: Galatasaray have signed Swedish striker Johan Elmander from Bolton. The 29-year-old Elmander, who scored 10 goals for Bolton this season, will receive an annual salary of €1.8 million. Galatasaray could only finish eighth in the league won by Istanbul rivals Fenerbahce, and missed out on a place in Europe.

Klose: Germany striker Miroslav Klose will miss Euro 2012 qualifiers against Austria and Azerbaijan through injury. Klose, who is second in the German national side all-time scorers list with 61 goals, suffered bruised ribs in the 2-1 victory over Uruguay in a friendly on Sunday.

Jones sacked: Cardiff sacked manager Dave Jones in the aftermath of the Welsh club’s latest failure in the play-offs. The Blue-birds missed out on promotion to the Premier League for the second successive season after losing to Reading in the play-off semi-finals earlier this month.

Bristol Rovers: Paul Buckle has left Torquay to take up the vacant managerial position at Bristol Rovers. Buckle, who led the Gulls to the League Two play-off final where they lost 1-0 to Stevenage, becomes the permanent successor to Dave Penney after caretaker boss Stuart Campbell was unable to save the club from relegation to the bottom tier.

Golf: Keegan Bradley beat Ryan Palmer at the first hole of a sudden-death play-off to capture his first US PGA Tour victory on Sunday at the Byron Nelson Championship. Bradley, the nephew of LPGA Tour great Pat Bradley, made a two-foot par putt at the first play-off hole, the 419-yard 18th at the TPC Four Seasons, to seal the victory. “I don’t know what to say. I’m so happy, I can’t believe this just happened,” said Bradley.

Rugby Union: Otago Highlanders said the Super 15 team will drop its traditional blue, yellow and maroon strip next year, in a move that has angered some club stalwarts. The Highlanders, the surprise package of this year’s southern hemisphere competition, said the change signalled a fresh start for the NZ club when they move into a new stadium in Dunedin next year. The new strip is being kept under wraps until Friday, when the team will wear it for the final home game of the season.

Olympics: Australia’s oldest Olympian Bill Roycroft has died aged 96, the Australian Olympic Committee said yesterday. Roycroft, the patriarch of the prominent Australian equestrian family, competed in five consecutive Olympic Games from 1960 to 1976. He won the gold medal for the team three-day eventing at the 1960 Rome Games and was a bronze medallist in the same event at Mexico City in 1968 and Montreal in 1976. Roycroft died in hospital on Sunday.

Athletics: The course for next year’s Olympic marathon was given the thumbs-up by athletes at a test event in London yesterday. But the Paralympic course will be tweaked after wheel-chair athletes reported problems with tight corners, organisers said. The event, which started at 6 a.m. with invited club runners taking part, was designed to test technology and timing and identify any issues with the route ahead of the 2012 Games.