Chelsea: New coach Guus Hiddink met Chelsea's players for the first time yesterday after taking over from the sacked Luiz Felipe Scolari. The Dutchman, who has agreed a deal until the end of the season while also remaining in charge of Russia, watched a training session at Cobham. Hiddink will not officially take over until Monday but is expected to be at Chelsea's FA Cup fifth round tie at Championship Watford tomorrow.
Ashton: West Ham have confirmed that Dean Ashton has had another operation on his ankle. The striker has been out since September with his current problem and the Hammers had hoped that following previous surgery he would now be back in action but this failed to materialise.
Tymoshchuk: Zenit St Petersburg coach Dick Advocaat is resigned to losing captain Anatoliy Tymoshchuk to Bayern Munich. The 29-year-old Ukraine midfielder is expected to join the Bundesliga club this year in a deal worth €14 million. "He is one of our top players but we'll have to do without him after July," Advocaat told Reuters yesterday at Zenit's training camp in Turkey.
Hleb: Alexander Hleb's agent has dismissed speculation that Barcelona want to cash in the former Arsenal star this summer. The Belarus international was a high-profile acquisition at the start of the season but has failed to hold down regular football at the club. Hleb's agent Uli Ferber believes his client is liked by manager Josep Guardiola and said the club are not looking to part company with the playmaker.
Torino: Italian businessman Raffaele Ciuccariello is believed to be lining up a takeover bid for struggling Serie A club Torino. Over the last few days, there have been reports in Italian media that a wealthy man was ready to step in and buy Toro and now his identity has been revealed. Ciuccariello inherited around £550 million from his father and is reportedly ready to invest £90m into Torino.
Cyprus Tournament: Ukraine beat Serbia 1-0 on Wednesday to win the 17th Cyprus FA international tournament, with Jason Demetriou helping the hosts to prevail over Slovakia in the third-place play-off. Serhiy Nazarenko volleyed home the only goal in the final as Ukraine topped the tournament.
Basketball: A group of hardcore Caserta fans stormed a training session and threatened to hold the players hostage following a run of poor performances, the Italian team's coach said yesterday. Around 50 'ultra' supporters invaded the court and said they would prevent the players from leaving the arena on Sunday if the top-flight strugglers lose against Benetton. "There was no physical contact but we came close to it because some of the players didn't like having their work interrupted," coach Fabrizio Frates said.
Rugby Union: France centre Florian Fritz has been suspended for three weeks by the disciplinary committee of the Six Nations championship. Fritz was cited for alleged eye gouging by the commissioner of the Ireland game last Saturday, which France lost 30-21 in Dublin. His three-week suspension means he will not be available for the next two Six Nations games against Scotland tomorrow at the Stade de France and versus Wales on Feb. 27 also in Paris.
Cycling: Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde has been summoned by Italian anti-doping authorities in relation to the Operacion Puerto drugs scandal. The Italian Olympic Committee's (CONI) anti-doping prosecutor said that the Caisse D'Epargne rider would appear next Monday to discuss possible violations of anti-doping rules. Italian media said samples the 28-year-old gave at a doping control when last year's Tour de France entered Italy for a stage had matched DNA from files of the Operacion Puerto case in Spain.