Chelsea's Mikel out of FA Cup final





Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel will miss the FA Cup final against Portsmouth on May 15 after undergoing minor knee surgery.


The Nigerian, who will also miss the final Barclays Premier League game of the season against Wigan on Sunday, has not played for three weeks because of the injury.

A Chelsea statement read: John Mikel Obi has undergone minor knee surgery and will take no part in Sunday's final Barclays Premier League match nor the FA Cup final.

The operation is due to an injury suffered when fouled by Bolton's Kevin Davies last month and subsequently led to Mikel's early substitution at Tottenham the following match.

The joy of the 17th at Sawgrass



It is open to debate whether The Players Championship still deserves to be called golf's unofficial fifth major.



But what is not in doubt is that the tiny 17th hole at Sawgrass is one of the sport's most fun places to be - if you are watching rather than playing.

Surrounded by water except for the narrow walkway to the green, no hole has caused more mayhem over the years.

So much so that a count is kept of how many balls have gone in the lake over the last seven years - 29 in 2003, then 30, then 68, then 57, then 93, then 64 and then 32.

That is a total of 373 from the game's biggest names.

Top score was the 12 taken by Boby Tway five years ago and in the week that he hopes to take over from Tiger Woods as world number one Phil Mickelson might not like to know that he is joint holder...

Serena Williams makes winning comeback



Serena Williams reached the second round of the Italian Open with a straight-sets defeat of Timea Bacsinszky in Rome.


The world number one was returning from injury to play her first game since January and the American made hard work of the first set before winning it 7-6 (7/2).

She then eased through the second 6-1 although her figures of five aces and four double faults underline how Williams struggled with her form having not played for so long.

Third seed - and former world number one - Dinara Safina went out in three sets to Alexandra Dulgheru in a marathon match lasting two hours and 40 minutes.

The Romanian claimed the first set 6-4 before Safina forced a third set when she won the second on a tie-break 7-5, but Dulgheru eased through 6-1 in the decider.
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Tevez: Draw would be a disaster!



Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has sounded the battle cry before the vital game against Tottenham.


The two teams will meet in the City of Manchester Stadium on Wednesday night in what is probably the most important match in the history of both sides.

The winner will be virtually guaranteed a place in the Champions League next season - given that both sides have relatively easy games to round off the season on Sunday.

Tottenham travel to relegated Burnley while City will go to West Ham - who were almost relegated.

City will be under slightly more pressure - given that they trail their rivals by a point. A draw would definitely suit Spurs but the Eastlanders must go for a win to leapfrog Harry Redknapp's men.

And Tevez thinks the mission cannot be bungled.
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Colly acknowedges rain helped




England captain Paul Collingwood had cause to be grateful for rain as his side advanced to the World T20 Super Eight stage after a no-result to their shoot-out with Ireland.


England could only reach 120 for eight on a difficult pitch, after being put in to bat at the Guyana National Stadium.

Collingwood had questioned the Duckworth-Lewis method in its current form as a means to determine rain-affected matches having lost to the West Indies yesterday but Ireland's reply was halted twice as they reached 14 for one from 3.3 overs and when the 5pm local time cut-off arrived, with five overs of their innings yet to be completed, a no-result was declared.

That meant England progressed alongside group winners West Indies on a superior run rate having hit 191 for five against the hosts, while Ireland had been bowled out by them for 68.
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Mickelson hails magical McIlroy





There are many amazing, remarkable, astonishing things about Rory McIlroy's first victory in the US.


Amazing that the Northern Ireland phenomenon did it with closing rounds of 66 and then a course record 62 - the lowest final day score to win for six years - after surviving the halfway cut at the Quail Hollow Championship with nothing to spare.

Remarkable that he did it in just his sixth start as a PGA Tour member. Justin Rose has played more than 150 events now and is still searching.

Astonishing that, with his 21st birthday on Tuesday, he is the youngest winner on the circuit since Tiger Woods captured the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational in his just his fifth tournament as a professional two months short of his 21st.

But the most stunning thing of all was that it came totally out of the blue just three weeks after...

Spanish doubt for injured Torres





Liverpool striker Fernando Torres faces a race against time to be fit for Spain's opening World Cup match.



The 26-year-old's recovery from a second operation in three months to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee is going well but the club do not want to rush his rehabilitation as it is key he is fully fit for the start of next season.

However, with the European champions' World Cup campaign just over a month away Brukner accepts a balance has to be struck as the player is desperate to feature on South Africa.

He's doing well and he's certainly tremendously committed to his rehab, as are the staff here, and if anyone can recover from an injury, he can, said Peter Brukner, Liverpool's new head of sports medicine and sports science who will head to South Africa with Australia before returning to take up...

O'Brien: Morgan can expect no favours



Niall O'Brien has promised fellow Dubliner Eoin Morgan that friendships will be left in the pavilion when Ireland face England at the ICC World Twenty20 tonight.

Morgan, 23, will face many former Ireland team-mates at the Guyana National Stadium when England play their group rivals in a must-win game for the Irish.

The last time England and Ireland met in Georgetown it was at the Super Eight stage of the 2007 ICC World Cup and Morgan was run out for two by the English.

England won the contest by 48 runs, when another Irishman Ed Joyce was amongst their ranks - managing just single that day.

This time around Morgan is the exiled Irishman, and bang in form having smashed 55 off 35 balls in England's eight-wicket Duckworth-Lewis method defeat against West Indies last night.
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AFC Champions League Group F Review



Three-time J.League champions Kashima Antlers marched ominously into the last 16 of the Asian Champions League with a 100% record.

This was after they downed Korean counterparts Jeonbuk Motors 2-1 in Group F.

Korea Republic defender Lee Jung-soo and Takuya Nozawa scored the goals in two minutes midway through the first half at a sodden Kashima Soccer Stadium as the Antlers secured top spot and a home last-16 tie against defending champions Pohang Steelers in two weeks.

Jeonbuk had also already assured qualification but failed to find the win they needed, with a strike from Jin Kyung-sun with 13 minutes remaining proving only consolation to leave the K-League champions with a trip to Australia to face Adelaide United next month.

After the home side had made the attacking start which was promised by manager Oswaldo Oliveira,...

Badale backs IPL over image crisis



Rajasthan Royals chairman Manoj Badale insists the enormous Indian Premier League will come through its current image crisis relatively unscathed.

Commissioner Lalit Modi has been suspended amid allegations of misdemeanours - all of which are vehemently denied - with Chirayu Amin placed in interim control.

Modi was suspended amidst a swirl of as yet unsubstantiated allegations and accused of rigging bids, receiving kickbacks from telecast deals, impropriety with regard to sale and distribution of internet rights and behaviour amounting to indiscipline.

Badale believes the tournament must make the most of the situation.

It's an opportunity to take stock of what's been quite a meteoric rise of a sporting event, he told BBC Radio Five Live.

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Lee ruled out of ICC World T20



Brett Lee has been ruled out of Australia's ICC World Twenty20 campaign with a muscle strain in his right forearm.

The 33-year-old suffered the injury in Australia's surprise one-run defeat in yesterday's warm-up match against Zimbabwe in St Lucia.

Lee completed the match, bowling four overs and taking one for 13, but after complaining of soreness afterwards he later had MRI scans which revealed the extent of the damage.

Australia have asked the ICC's Technical Committee for the right to call for a replacement player.

Doug Bollinger, who helped the Chennai Super Kings win Sunday's Indian Premier League final, and Ryan Harris are the most likely contenders to step into Lee's place.

The news is the latest setback for Lee who retired from Test cricket in February because of injury...

Unbeaten champion Edwin Valero has committed suicide in jail just 24 hours after admitting to killing his wife.


The 28-year-old had been staying in a hotel in his native Venezuela when he alerted security in the early hours of Sunday morning that he had stabbed wife Jennifer three times.

Valero, who successfully defended his WBC lightweight title two months ago, was detained by police and had been expected to be charged with the murder.

However, he was found by a fellow inmate on Monday morning having tied his own clothes to a bar of his cell in an attempt to hang himself.

Valero, who was on the verge of the big time following 27 successive stoppage victories, still showed signs of life but authorities were unable to revive him.

The fighter had become a household name in Venezuela but had been in trouble with the law on several...

Thomaz Bellucci reached the second round of the Barcelona Open following a straight-sets victory over Jarkko Nieminen.


The Brazilian edged a tight encounter 6-4 6-4 at the Real Club de Tenis.

The tournament had earlier been hit by the withdrawal of defending champion Rafael Nadal, the world number three.

Nadal, who secured the Monte Carlo Masters title yesterday for the sixth consecutive time, said in a statement published on the Marca website: I regret not being able to play in Barcelona, more than any other tournament, but this year after winning in Monte Carlo I must rest my body.

Back on court, Nicolas Almagro eased through against fellow Spaniard Santiago Ventura, taking only an hour to secure a 6-1 6-2 victory.

Almagro, the 15th seed, was completely dominant, firing 10 aces en route to victory.
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Armstrong completed the 185km opening stage in the peloton


Lance Armstrong's preparations for the Tour de France have suffered a setback after illness forced him to pull out of the four-day Circuit de la Sarthe race.


The seven-time Tour winner, who was 24th after the first stage, withdrew before Wednesday's 6.8km time trial.

His RadioShack team spokesman Philippe Maertens said: Lance is not starting because of gastroenteritis.

Armstrong had indicated after stage one that six of his team's riders in France were struggling with a stomach bug.

The 38-year-old American, who was 27th in Sunday's one-day Tour of Flanders classic.

Maertens added that Armstrong was suffering from diarrhoea, vomiting and a fever, and described his condition as really bad.
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Premier League: The final countdown



Kelvin Leong has never seen a tighter Premier League table than the one this season. Oh what joy!

The league title is still up for grabs, the coveted UEFA Champions League play-off fourth spot is still hanging in the balance, and the relegation dogfight is very much alive, with the exception of Portsmouth.

Manchester United's last gasp victory against City at the weekend, coupled with Chelsea's humiliating loss to Spurs and Arsenal's puzzling defeat at the hands of Wigan, has thrown the title race wide open.

Spurs have regained fourth spot ahead of Roberto Mancini's cash-rich City side while Burnley, Hull, West Ham and Wolverhampton are stuck in the rut at the bottom of the hill.

With an average of four to five games left for all the top--flight clubs, it is ‘squeaky-bum time'...