Football - West Ham assistant Petrovic leaves after 4 months
West Ham assistant manager Zeljko Petrovic has left the Premier League's bottom club after just four months in east London. Vice chairman Karren Brady has said the club is not planning to fire manager Avram Grant despite a poor start to the season, but Grant now must cope without his right-hand man.
Saturday's 3-0 loss to Liverpool left the Hammers with only one win and nine points from 14 Premier League matches. Grant replaced Gianfranco Zola for this season after the team narrowly avoided relegation under the Italian.
Football - Scotland looks to Ireland and Scandinavia for refs
The Scottish Football Association is considering using Irish or Scandinavian referees to run this weekend's matches because of a strike by their own officials. Scotland's referees voted to boycott all four domestic leagues in protest at clubs' criticism of their recent performances. SFA chief executive Stewart Regan says it would be costly to bring in overseas officials to cover 20 matches but that "it could be the Republic of Ireland, it could be the Scandinavian countries" which help out. Scottish power Celtic has been the most vocal of the clubs criticizing match officials. Celtic chairman John Reid last week called for referee Dougie McDonald to quit or be removed over a debated penalty call last month.
Football - Filippo Inzaghi has knee surgery
AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi has undergone left knee surgery in Barcelona.
Milan says that after the postoperative phase, Inzaghi will return to Italy to begin physical rehabilitation. The 37-year-old forward was injured earlier this month in a Serie A match with Palermo and will miss the rest of the season, although he has vowed that this won't mark the end of his career. The injury occurred exactly a week after what Inzaghi called the best night of his career, having come off the bench to score two goals in a 2-2 draw with Real Madrid and become the all-time leading scorer in Europe with 70 career goals. In 289 matches overall with Milan, he has scored 125 goals, one more than former Milan star Marco van Basten.
Football - Ronaldo could miss Brazilian title run-in
Corinthians may have to do without striker Ronaldo as it tries to overtake Fluminense in the final two games of the Brazilian league season. Ronaldo's right thigh injury will definitely keep him out of Sunday's match against Vasco, and the club says his participation in the last game of the year next week will depend on how medical treatment progresses. Corinthians, trying to win its fifth Brazilian league title, trails leader Fluminense by one point. Ronaldo hurt his leg in the team's 1-1 draw with Vitoria last Sunday and had to be substituted in the 30th minute. He was playing in his seventh straight match after struggling to maintain his fitness throughout the season because of other injuries.
Football - Cyprus FA condemns attack on top referee's car
The Cyprus Football Association has condemned an attempt to set a top referee's car on fire outside a busy restaurant. A CFA statement said yesterday that the attack against the car of Referees' Association deputy chairman Aristidis Christou "creates serious problems in our football domain" and urged police to solve the case swiftly. Cyprus police said an eyewitness saw two hooded individuals smash the car's window and hurl inside a lighted flare, igniting a fire. Patrons of the restaurant managed to douse the fire, which caused extensive damage to the vehicle's interior. The attack happened early afternoon Monday in the southern coastal town of Limassol. Christou was having lunch in the restaurant at the time.
Sailing - Sports stars to crew Sydney-Hobart yacht
A yacht partly crewed by Australian sports starts will be among the favorites to win the prestigious Sydney to Hobart yacht race next month. World champion boxer Danny Green, Australian swimmer of the year Geoff Huegill, women's surfing world champion Layne Beachley and former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden will be among the crew on supermaxi Investec Loyal when the race starts on 26 December. The 100 foot yacht, which finished fourth in last year's race, was among 99 entrants confirmed for the 2010 event when entries closed yesterday. The race favourite is likely to be Wild Oats XI, which was runner-up last year after winning the blue water classic in four-straight years.
Golf - Kaymer won't join PGA Tour next year
Martin Kaymer says he will not be joining the U.S. PGA Tour next year, joining Rory McIlroy in deciding to stick with the European Tour.
Kaymer, the PGA champion who is ranked No. 3 in the world, says he talked it over with his family and manager and concluded that trying to compete on both tours was not possible. The German says he will play several U.S. Tour events but calls the European Tour "his home" and feels "comfortable in Europe." Kaymer is eligible for a five-year exemption by winning a major. His girlfriend is from Arizona and the German spent time there before becoming a star.
Olympics - Rome 2020 bid should get moving
A senior Italian IOC member is questioning whether the country is in a strong enough economic position to bid for the Olympics.
Echoing recent comments to local media, Franco Carraro tells The Associated Press that a commission of experts is urgently needed to determine if a bid for the 2020 Summer Games is financially viable. The Italian Olympic Committee endorsed Rome as a 2020 candidate in May.But Carraro says Italian officials haven't done enough since then. He says his fellow International Olympic Committee members are starting to wonder what's going on.