Boca chief dies: Pedro Pompilio, the president of Argentine football club Boca Juniors, died yesterday of a heart attack. He was 55. Pompilio, who took over as president of Argentina's most popular club in December last year, had played an important role in the team's administration since the 1980s. He was vice president of the club from 1995 to 2007.
Gauthier: Frenchman Herve Gauthier will take over as interim coach of African champions Etoile Sahel after the dismissal earlier this week of Michel Decastel. Gauthier, 59, has been serving as technical director at the Tunisian team since July and formerly coached French clubs Lille, Laval and Caen.
Tight security: Some 1,250 policemen will be on duty for tomorrow's Bulgarian league match between Levski Sofia and traditional city foes CSKA at the Vasil Levski national stadium. Matches between the two most popular clubs in the Balkan country have been highly charged affairs in recent years with a 30-year-old man killed by a bomb after the game in 2000. "We're warning them (fans) that everyone who violates the law will suffer the consequences," Sofia police chief commissar Anton Zlatanov said.
Foreign players: The Asian Champions League will limit the number of foreign players in each team to four, one of whom must be from an Asian country, in the 2009 competition. In a statement yesterday, the AFC called on member countries to introduce the 3+1 rule in their domestic leagues to promote the growth of local players.
Bubukin: Valentin Bubukin, a member of the Soviet Union team that won the first European Championship in 1960, has died after a long illness, his former club CSKA Moscow said. Bubukin was 75-years old.
De la Red collapses: Real Madrid's Spain midfielder Ruben de la Red collapsed and was taken to hospital during their King's Cup last 32, first leg tie at Real Union last night. In the 13th minute, De la Red was running back towards the half-way line when, without anyone in close proximity, he suddenly fell face first on to the pitch and lay motionless. Spanish media reports said the 23-year-old had recovered consciousness after a drop in blood pressure and had to be taken to a local hospital in Irun.
King's Cup: Last 32, first leg - Real Union vs Real Madrid 3-2.
Tennis: American Andy Roddick secured one of the three remaining spots for the Masters Cup when he beat France's Gilles Simon 6-3 7-5 in the third round of the Paris Masters yesterday. The win means the 2003 US Open champion, sixth in the ATP Race, cannot end the week lower than seventh. The top eight qualify for the season-ending tournament in Shanghai. Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Nikolay Davydenko have already qualified for the Masters Cup, which starts on Nov. 9.
Cricket: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have formally invited Pakistan to play a test series in 2010 and negotiations will be held soon. Saleem Altaf, director-general of the board, told Reuters they had received a formal proposal from the ECB to play three tests, five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match on the bilateral tour. Pakistan, for the first time since 1970, have gone without playing a test all year after the postponement of Australia's test tour in April and the West Indies' withdrawal from a proposed two-test series.
Cycling: German Linus Gerdemann has left Team Columbia to join Milram, the German outfit said. Gerdemann briefly wore the Tour de France yellow jersey following a mountain stage win in 2007.
Olympics: This week, Russia celebrated the centenary of winning its first Olympic gold medal at the 1908 Games in London. One hundred years ago Nikolai Panin-Kolomenkin beat several favourites to claim the gold in figure skating. Because competitions could be held indoors, figure skating was added to the Olympic programme for the 1908 Summer Games. It became an official sport in 1924.
Horse racing: Dubai's Melbourne Cup hope All The Good is in danger of missing next Tuesday's race after pulling up lame during trackwork. All The Good burst into contention for Australia's biggest race after winning this month's Caulfield Cup, the main traditional lead-up event, but showed signs of stiffness in his hindquarters after a light workout yesterday. The favourite for this year's race is the Irish-trained stayer Septimus.
Basket, NBA: Portland Trail Blazers centre Greg Oden will miss between two and four weeks of action due to a foot injury. Oden, the NBA's top draft choice in 2007, sustained the injury when he landed awkwardly after going up for a rebound during the first quarter of Portland's 96-76 defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. The injury is the latest in a string of setbacks for the highly-regarded Oden, who was making his NBA debut after he missed all of last season following a knee injury.