Bruce: Sunderland manager Steve Bruce signed a new contract yesterday committing him to the Premier League side until 2014. Bruce, 50, who joined the Black Cats in 2009, has guided the club into seventh with a top ten finish within reach for the first time in a decade. Bruce said: “I’m delighted to have signed a new contract. It’s a magnificent club from top to bottom.”
Lopez: Lyon’s influential Argentine forward Lisandro Lopez has been ruled out of tomorrow’s crunch clash with French league leaders Lille. Lisandro, last season’s Ligue 1 Player of the Year, missed the 1-1 Champions League draw at home to Real Madrid on Tuesday with a thigh injury and has not recovered sufficiently for the trip north to Lille.
Maradona: Diego Maradona intends to continue his career as a coach and would like to work in Spain. “My desire (to coach) remains intact and I reckon I could do it in Spain,” said Maradona. “After the 2010 World Cup, I received two or three interesting proposals. But they didn’t suit me. I thanked (the clubs) and said the time wasn’t right. But now I’m approaching things differently.”
Tiote: Newcastle midfielder Cheick Tiote has signed a new contract which commits him to the club until the end of the 2016/17 season. The six-and-a-half-year deal follows his arrival from FC Twente last season.
New date: Next season’s Coupe de France final has been rescheduled from May 5 due to a clash with the 20th anniversary of the Furiani Stadium disaster on Corsica. The collapse of a stand prior to the 1992 semi-final between Bastia and Marseille killed 18 people and injured hundreds more. The 2012 clash would have fallen 20 years to the day after those events, a decision which provoked an outcry on Corsica.
League One: Notts County vs Charlton 1-0.
MFA Div. Three: Sta Venera vs Marsaskala 3-2; Kalkara vs Pembroke 0-2.
Basketball: Women’s Louis Borg Cup SFs – Luxol vs Depiro 57-62; Athleta vs Hibs 32-46.
Judo: International sport’s top court this week threw out a two-year doping ban imposed on Chinese Olympic judo champion Tong Wen last year due to procedural failure. Tong, who won the women’s 78+ kg title at the Beijing Olympic Games, was banned for two years by the International Judo Federation after she tested positive for clenbuterol during the World Judo Championships in 2009. However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said it had upheld her appeal against the ban because of a “procedural failure” in the testing process.
Figure skating: Former US pairs champions Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett announced they are ending a three-year partnership that took them to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Barrett has decided to retire, leaving Denney looking for a new partner. Denney and Barrett won the 2010 US crown. The couple finished 13th at last year’s Winter Olympics. No US couple has won a pairs Olympic medal since 1988.
Basket, NBA: The Sacramento Kings will receive an extension on Tuesday’s deadline to apply for relocation as they consider moving to Anaheim. Unnamed sources said that the Kings have sought and will be granted extra time by the NBA to decide about leaving to become the third NBA club in the Los Angeles area after reigning champions LA Lakers and the LA Clippers. The Maloof family, owners of the Kings, said they do not plan to sell the club and would finance any relocation to an arena in Anaheim.
Swimming: US Olympic swimming idol Michael Phelps returns to the competition pool next week for the inaugural Indianapolis Grand Prix meet. Phelps, whose 14 Olympic gold medals include his unprecedented eight from the 2008 Beijing Games, raced for the first time since August last month in another event on the US tour in Austin, Texas. Other US Olympic champions at the Indianapolis meet will include Ryan Lochte and Jason Lezak.
Golf: Lee Westwood, of England, and US fourth seed Phil Mickelson were among the surprise losers in the second round at the World Golf Championships Match Play Champion-ship. Westwood and Mickelson weren’t the only big guns spiked as Paul Casey, of England, Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and South African Ernie Els were also ousted on a day of drama. Following the first round elimination of third seed Tiger Woods, it left the $8.5m event somewhat lacking in star power with 16 players still standing.