Sports Infomation

German drivers Nico Rosberg (L) and seven time World Champion Michael Schumacher (R) pose next to a Mercedes GP Formula One race car during the team presentation at the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart, January 25, 2010. [Photo/Agencies]

Mercedes GP launched their new Silver Arrow car on Monday but the real fire power in the German team's camp is set to be the renewed partnership between Michael Schumacher and Ross Brawn.

Brawn was in Schumacher's pits for all seven of his world title wins - two at Benetton and five at Ferrari - and Brawn's involvement at Mercedes was a significant factor in enticing Schumacher back to Formula One.

Having retired in 2006, the 41-year-old Schumacher has broken his three-year hiatus to sign a three-year contract to race for Mercedes which will reunite him with Brawn ahead of the new season which starts in Bahrain on March 14.

Schumacher has made no secret of his desire to win an eighth world drivers' championship title with Brawn as team principal at Mercedes and Nico Rosberg as his teammate.

"We have everything it takes to succeed but it is one thing to have the correct ingredients and another to manage them," he said.

"With the experience of Ross and with all the know-how of Mercedes: I am sorry, but there can only be one target for us to achieve."

Even though Schumacher retired after the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2006, he stayed in touch with Brawn and the chance to work together again proved too strong.

"We have been in contact almost every year, when Ross went to Honda (in 2007 as team principal), he sort of suggested there was an option but I wasn't ready for it," said Schumacher. "We always kept in contact: sometimes he asked serious questions (about working together), sometimes it was a joke.

"When he called me at the end of last year, I knew why."

Brawn will be responsible for making sure the Silver Arrow car is in perfect condition when the season starts and the 55-year-old Briton said he is excited about the chance to work with Schumacher again.

"Working with Michael again is a treat, it is something I didn't think would happen again and it is something I am excited about," said Brawn.

"Nico is an exciting prospect and I think he will be good for Michael - it will also help him to see how a world champion operates."

Mercedes face stiff opposition in their assault on the world drivers' championship from McClaren's Lewis Hamilton and current champion Jenson Button, as well as Red Bull pair Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

"We are looking forward to closing the gap behind the other teams and we hope to have success in our cars, that is the aim," said Schumacher.

"It is rare to have two or three teams in close competition like last year but this year might also be an exception again.

"It doesn't really matter honestly: we are there to win whoever we are up against."

And in terms of his advancing years, Schumacher says he has nothing to prove.

"I just want to prove to myself that I am still able to do it," said the German. "The main reason I am doing it is because of the thrill.

"I feel a huge sense of excitement just to drive and compete at the highest level."

It feels as though all too often the Super Bowl is a forgettable affair, a complete blowout following weeks of hype. Fortunately, it's been the opposite the past two years running, with football fans served up game-sealing plays that will be remembered forever.

"There's so much pressure, so much attention on the game," says Jim Nantz, the CBS play-by-play man who will call the game on Feb. 7. "I think we all appreciate someone doing something incredible under that kind of scrutiny."

History does, too.

Some of the biggest names in the sport have helped burnish their legacy with a single spectacular play in the Super Bowl. Joe Montana made a game-winning pass to John Taylor in the 1989 Super Bowl; John Riggins bulled through the line for a 43-yard touchdown in the 1983 game. Other lesser-known players have made a career with just one play: New York Giants receiver David Tyree's incredible catch in the 2008 Super Bowl will never be forgotten. Neither will the game-winning reception made by Pittsburgh Steelers' Santonio Holmes in last year's game.

Best of the Best

What are the single best plays in Super Bowl history? We chose 10 with a few criteria in mind: importance to the outcome of the game; excitement; and how they've stood the test of time. Then we asked Nantz to chime in on our picks.

First up is David Tyree's miraculous catch in the 2008 Super Bowl. The underdog New York Giants were playing the undefeated New England Patriots, a team many believed to be the best of all time. With 59 seconds left in the game, the Giants were trailing 14-10. On a critical third-down play, Giants quarterback Eli Manning dropped back to pass and somehow avoided a sack, despite the fact that a Patriots defender had hold of his jersey. Manning heaved the ball 32 yards downfield. Tyree, a seldom-used receiver, leaped up and pinned the ball to his helmet with his right hand, holding it there despite Patriots' safety Rodney Harrison's best efforts to dislodge it. The game-winning score came on another play 20 seconds later.

An unlikely player made an unlikely play that helped knock off perhaps the greatest team in the history of the game.

"It just doesn't make any sense," says Nantz. "It's one of the greatest catches in NFL history. You never see it in practice, much less in an actual game, much less in a Super Bowl on a game-winning drive."

But Tyree's catch was equaled in last year's Super Bowl. Late in the fourth quarter the Pittsburgh Steelers were down 23-20 after a scintillating touchdown catch by the Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Behind Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver Santonio Holmes, the Steelers drove to the Cardinals' six-yard line with just over 40 seconds left on the clock. On the game-winning play, Roethlisberger double-clutched, then threw the ball over three Cardinals defenders to find Holmes, who tiptoed in the back right of the end zone.

"The pass was pure perfection," says Nantz. "So was the catch."

Big D

But not all great plays are on the offensive side of the ball. The 2000 Super Bowl ended on a fantastic defensive play. Down by seven points with just six seconds left to play, the Tennessee Titans had the ball at the St. Louis Rams' 10-yard line. On the final play of the game Titans quarterback Steve McNair hit receiver Kevin Dyson in stride at the five-yard line. Rams linebacker Mike Jones had been covering the Titans' tight end and, at the last possible moment, he shifted and tackled Dyson, who attempted to reach the ball over the goal line. He was just short as time expired.

"A great defensive play. And for just for a minute, it appeared that Dyson was going to get it across," says Nantz.

One of the most memorable plays for Nantz happened in the 1971 Super Bowl game between the Baltimore Colts and the Dallas Cowboys--the first championship played after the merger between the NFL and the AFL. The game wasn't a pretty affair--it's referred to as the "Blunder Bowl" for its numerous mistakes and turnovers.

One play epitomized it: In the first quarter, Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas threw a high, off-target pass to receiver Eddie Hinton. The ball bounced off Hinton's hands and then glanced off Cowboy defender Mel Renfro. It ended up in the hands of Colts tight end John Mackay, who scored a 75-yard touchdown. True to the nature of that game, Colts kicker Jim O'Brien's extra-point attempt was blocked (though he later redeemed himself with the game-winning field goal).

In the first Super Bowl Nantz covered, the 2007 clash between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears, he witnessed a play that didn't make our list, but it was memorable nonetheless. On the opening play of that game, Bears' return man Devin Hester took the kickoff 93 yards for a score, the first time that had ever happened in a Super Bowl.

"It was breathtaking," Nantz says. "I was as excited as the viewer at home."

Here's hoping he gets to call another great play this year

USA Luge's Lake Placid Fantasy Camp allows dauntless fans of the sport to test their mettle.

Imagine sitting on a sled the size of a bath mat while wearing head-to-toe spandex. Your eyes lock on the long, curvy track of ice that lies straight ahead. You grip the metal handle on either side of you just a bit tighter. Your heart thumps as you envision a series of grisly crashes. But eventually you push off the handles, lie back and succumb to the forces of physics.

Within seconds you hit 50mph and flop around like a rag doll through each sharp bend. A straightaway turns out to be a deceptive jaunt that you bump with both sides of your body, but the battering goes barely noticed because of the huge curve visible beyond. It slingshots the sled farther down the track.

By the time you get to the finish and come to a stop, less than a minute after the start, you remember very little of this. You only know that it has occurred because you're at the bottom of the track, still alive, still wearing the silly, skintight outfit. You have bruises and scrapes. Your heart is pounding even faster than it did at the start.

You can't wait to go back up and do it again.

That's just a few hours into the two-day spring Fantasy Camp held over a couple of weekends in Lake Placid, N.Y. by USA Luge, the sport's American governing body. Here attendees experience an otherwise inaccessible sport--and its adrenaline-fueled thrill.

For $2,000 (of which 50% is typically tax deductible as a charitable contribution; USA Luge has an annual operating budget of $2 million, much of that from private and corporate sponsors) participants get hands-on instruction from former pros. They eat in the same dining hall next to Olympic hopefuls and sleep in the same dorms. They also get a dozen or more runs a day on the $30 million, mile-long track that the athletes race on. Roughly one in five Fantasy Campers sticks with the sport, typically by joining local clubs, says Gordon (Gordy) Sheer, marketing director for USA Luge, a 1998 silver medalist in doubles luge in Nagano and administrator of the Fantasy Camp. The program takes up to ten participants at a time, once or twice per year. They need to pass a basic physical to participate.

Their stint begins in a training room attached to USA Luge headquarters, where Sheer explains each part of the sled and its function. "The more [they] understand the off-track stuff, the better they understand on the track," he says.

He then gets on a practice sled and demonstrates the "block" (pulling the sled forward by the mounted handles on the track), the "compression" (pushing back) and the "release" (by again pulling the sled forward), then moves into the set (lying back into racing position).

Most campers require a couple of hours of practice, much of it taking place on an indoor, 100-foot-long ice track with video cameras that allow for instant replay of start techniques.

On the real track a few miles outside town, Sheer indicates the starting points that feed into the icy chute. Fantasy Campers, outfitted in standard gear, start halfway up and reach speeds of 50mph to 60mph. It takes Olympic hopefuls seven or eight years of training, starting at age 11, before they slide from the main start at the top.

It's easy to sense the speed and force involved. At curve 14 (of 20) a bobsled--carrying United States Olympic Committee executives, in town for a pre-Vancouver 2010 visit--zooms by and slides halfway up the wall before instantly disappearing. Sheer explains that on a supine luge sled, taking a curve like this results in what's called "losing your head"--essentially, the g-force pushing your head toward the ice. Professionals exceed 90mph and hit 4 GS, at which point holding up a 10-pound head feels like holding up a 40-pound head. That can't be avoided, but how high up the wall and how fast the sled goes are largely under the slider's control with slight shifts and body movements. "We help people understand that physics is the big challenge--a lot of action and reaction. What you do in one part of the curve impacts the rest of the curve," says Sheer.

Such mental and physical gymnastics entice some Fantasy Campers to stick with it. Luge starts out a contact sport and eventually becomes a control sport; as sliders get better, at the finish they remember each curve, what adjustments or movements they made and how those decisions changed the time of the run. No matter how good one gets at luge, that heart-pounding rush--the escape from the boring life of the cubicle--is felt on every trip down the track.

The worst that happens? "Bumps and bruises," says Sheer. "The ego is the most common injury."

Hardly a surprise, Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller lead a list of U.S. skiers earning spots for the Vancouver Games.

The announcement of the team was delayed until Tuesday to see if any extra spots opened up.

Some did and the Americans received four extra spots, bringing the total on the men's and women's teams to 22 skiers.

Vonn is rolling into Vancouver having won five straight World Cup downhill events this season. She also leads the overall standings.

The way she's been storming down the mountain, the 25-year-old Vonn could be a five-medal threat in Vancouver.

Miller made his fourth Olympics team. He captured two silver medals at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City but got shut out in Turin.

Reigning Olympic champions Julia Mancuso and Ted Ligety also made the team. Mancuso won the giant slalom at the Turin Games in 2006 and Ligety captured gold in the combined.

The squad features nine skiers with Olympic experience and 13 newcomers. The list wasn't broken down into what events each would ski.

Like Miller, Sarah Schleper will be competing in her fourth Olympics.

For Vonn, Vancouver could be a chance at redemption. She crashed during a training run at the 2006 Games, slamming her right knee, back and head into the snow at nearly 50 mph.

Although she climbed into the starting gate soon after that harrowing fall, she didn't win any medals.

Since then, Vonn has captured just about everything there is to win, including two overall World Cup titles.

"I would predict she would win a gold medal or two or three or four or five in Vancouver," said Billy Kidd, who won silver in the slalom at the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. "This is not another Olympics. This is her Olympics. This is her chance to show what she could've done in Torino."

Vonn insists she's not thinking about winning five golds.

"Honestly, the toughest thing about ski racing is all the variables involved in our sport," she said recently. "I'm skiing really well right now, but anything can happen on race day in Whistler. I can get a gust of wind or the weather could change, so all I'm doing is preparing myself as best I can going forward. I hope all the pieces come together for the race days in Whistler."

The pieces have been falling into place for Vonn all season. She also leads the points standings in the downhill, super-G and super combined.

"With Lindsey, there's potential in every event," U.S. women's coach Jim Tracy said. "She's put in the hard work to make it happen and has proven she can, but the cream of the crop will be there and they all have the same goal. She's said it better than anyone: if she wins one medal of any color, she'll be happy. Everything else will be a bonus."

Miller had a rather forgetful performance four years ago, his socializing pretty much overshadowing his skiing. He came into Turin about the same way Vonn is entering Vancouver — as the cover story — but failed to land on the podium.

Now the father of a little girl and back with the U.S. Ski Team after two years of training and racing on his own, the 32-year-old Miller may be showing signs of mellowing. But he sprained his right ankle playing volleyball in December, forcing him to miss some competitions.

With his aggressive, hold nothing-back style, Miller is a factor in any race he enters.

He recently captured a World Cup super combined event in Wengen, Switzerland, for his first victory in nearly two years.

Ligety and Mancuso carry the weight of being reigning Olympic champions. This time, the two Americans won't enter as unknowns.

"I'm in a really good place with my skiing," Ligety said in a recent telephone call from Kitzbuehel, Austria.

One of the names not on the list is two-time Olympian Scott Macartney, who finished 15th in Turin in the downhill. But that's just how deep the men's downhill is these days.

The glare of the Olympic spotlight will shine brightly on Vonn, overshadowing Mancuso and Co.

That's just fine with Mancuso.

These two teammates have a healthy rivalry, pushing each other in training and hoping it spills into competitions.

While Vonn has been a podium fixture this season, Mancuso has yet to land in the top three.

"I've had good training runs," Mancuso said. "I just have to have everything come together for the race."

A total of 175 athletes have been named for the Russian delegation for the Vancouver Olympic Games, Vladimir Vasin, vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), said on Tuesday.

Vasin was appointed as the head of the Russian delegation at a ROC meeting on Tuesday.

Russia dispatched 178 athletes to the 2006 Turin Games, but selection standards are much stricter this time, Vasin told reporters after the meeting.

He added that there might be changes in the list and a final one would be announced on Feb. 1.

Also on Tuesday, Sport Minister Vitaly Mutko said Russian athletes will participate in 75 of the 86 events at the Vancouver Games. But he stressed that the Russian delegation made no special plan to claim gold medals.

The Russian government will award 100,000 euros (about 140,000 U.S. dollars) to gold medalists, 60,000 euros (84,000 dollars) to silver and 40,000 euros (56,000 dollars) to bronze, Mutko said.

Russia won 22 medals, including eight gold, to rank fourth in the medals table four year ago in Turin.

The Vancouver Winter Olympics is slated for Feb. 12-28.

With 15 days to go before the opening ceremony, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said Thursday that the weather is the only unresolved issue hanging over the Winter Games in Vancouver.

"I'm very optimistic for the staging of these games," Rogge said. "We're ready. I think that Vancouver can say that everything is ready now."

Rogge said his remaining concern is the possibility of weather problems affecting the outdoor events during the Feb. 12-28 Olympics.

"That's the only question mark," he said in a teleconference. "The rest, I'm very optimistic."

Rogge said that, as with all Winter Games, contingency plans are in place to deal with too much or too little snow.

Unseasonably warm and wet weather in the Vancouver area has been a worry for Canadian organizers in recent weeks. Cypress Mountain, the venue for snowboarding and freestyle skiing events, was closed to the public 2 1/2 weeks earlier than planned to protect the snow conditions.

No such problems have been reported in the Whistler resort area, where the Alpine and Nordic ski events will be held.

Rogge said he received encouraging weather news Thursday from VANOC, the local organizing committee.

"Whistler is absolutely fine," he said. "Cypress Mountain is absolutely fine on the playing field. On the track itself, there is no problem. There is a little bit of an adjustment of snow here and there but there is absolutely no problem. The competition will take place as scheduled."

Vancouver is hosting the first Olympics since the global recession, which has forced VANOC to make budget cuts. But Rogge said there would be no impact on the competitions or the athletes.

"Savings were chosen very carefully so as not to impact on the quality of the games and the quality of the experience of the athletes," he said. "The athletes won't feel anything about the financial crisis and they will have very good games."

Rogge also said he wasn't concerned that the Whistler resort could be auctioned off in the middle of the games after creditors moved to auction off the assets of Intrawest LLC.

"We've received comforting words from VANOC," he said. "VANOC is not preoccupied by that, and I trust that they have found good solutions. I don't think this will affect the games."

The IOC will conduct 2,000 doping tests during the Vancouver Games, a record number for a Winter Olympics. Asked how many positive cases he expected, Rogge noted there were seven in Salt Lake City in 2002 and seven in Turin in 2006.

"Something around that (number) would not be surprising," he said. "But hopefully we will have less than that."

Rogge said athletes could be caught without a positive test as happened to German speedskater Claudia Pechstein, a five-time Olympic champion who will miss the Vancouver Games after receiving a two-year ban for blood doping. She was sanctioned by the international skating federation based on irregularities in her blood samples.

"I cannot rule that out," Rogge said. "It is a possibility."

The IOC will carry out 450 blood tests in Vancouver. If any abnormalities are detected, the IOC will pass on the information to the relevant sports federations to compare with their own athlete blood profiles.

"If there is an indication of doping, a disciplinary hearing will be opened," Rogge said.

In Turin, Italian police raided the lodgings of the Austrian cross-country and biathlon team and seized blood doping equipment. Six Austrian athletes were later banned for life from the Olympics by the IOC.

Unlike Italy, Canada has no anti-doping laws. Rogge said it will be up to Canadian authorities to decide whether to conduct any raids during the games.

World No. 13 Ding Junhui from China was knocked out of the Welsh Open snooker 5-3 in the first round by Enland's qualifier Jamie Cope here on Wednesday.

Ding amazingly collected a 134 break in the sixth frame to draw 3-3 with his opponent, but the UK championships title holder couldn't stop Cope, dubbed "shotgun" to take the following two frames.

"I felt uncomfortable during the match because I caught cold two days ago," said Ding, who practiced six to seven hours every day recently to prepare for the ranking tournament. "I couldn't say I played badly, but I failed to concentrate sometimes and made some poor safety."

Ding and Cope equalized at 2-2 before the interval and Cope took the lead for the first time by winning frame five in 78-23. Although Ding came back strongly with a break of 134, Cope wrapped up the match after the eighth frame.

"He played quite well today," Ding commented on his rival. "He got few mistakes and could always collect the points whenever he can."

Although Ding could not avoid feeling disappointed for his loss, he said he was really satisfied with his mentality on Wednesday.

"I was least nervous today. Even I was 3-2 behind or trailed at 4-3, I still thought I got the chance to win," said Ding.

Ahead of the China Open from March 29 to April 4, Ding's only plan is to go back China to enjoy the Chinese traditional Spring Festival.

In the first competition day on Monday, Chinese qualifier Liu Song and World No

Russia's cross-country skier Alena Sidko has been banned two years for doping, the country's skiing federation (FLGR) said on Wednesday.

Sidko was tested positive for the blood-booster EPO at a home ski race last month, therefore the 30-year-old had already been kicked out of the Russian Olympic team.

"She waived the right to test the B sample, so we had no choice but to ban her for two years," said FLGR president Vladimir Loginov in reference to Sidko.

Sidko had been considered a contender for medals in the sprint events next month in Vancouver after winning several World Cup races and finishing third at the 2006 Turin Olympics and at the world championships the previous year.

Last month, three other leading Russian skiers had been banned for positive test of EPO including triple Olympic champion Julija Tchepalova, 2006 Olympic gold medallist in the men's 30-km pursuit Yevgeny Dementiev and national champion Nina Rysina.

The Snow Leopard of Ghana is going to race in Alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics. Seriously.

Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, the self-taught, self-funded, one-man team from West Africa has made it to Vancouver at age 35 after years of dedication to an improbable dream.

"It's like crossing the Sahara desert and getting to the end and getting a very cold drink and a lovely cold shower," he told The Associated Press.

"You think about, 'Wow, did I make that journey?' Man, how did I make it?"

Kwame faithfully proved his skill and determination in a true embodiment of Olympic ideals, said the International Ski Federation, which confirmed his starting spot this week.

First, by learning to ski on artificial snow at an indoor dome in England, then by earning race points in little-known events from Iceland to Iran, and Argentina to Bosnia.

He came back for more after failing on the brink of qualifying for the 2006 Turin Olympics.

Now, Kwame will race in slalom and giant slalom on the same Whistler Mountain slope as Bode, Benni, Aksel and the rest. His story will likely become one of the best-known and most-told at the Vancouver Games.

However, the first Ghanaian Olympic skier insists he is not the second coming of Michael "Eddie" Edwards, the hapless British ski-jumper and comical cult hero at the 1988 Calgary Games.

"I am not, and will not end up being, an 'Eddie the Eagle' at the end of the day," Kwame said, "because to me sports is a serious thing."

Kwame persuaded his wife Sena to share a dream that took six years to realize.

"I am kind of bullheaded," he said in a telephone interview from his training base at Pampeago, Italy. "When I focus on something and calculate it can be done, even if I don't have the resources or people tell me it can't be done, I want to find out for myself."

Kwame pursued his pro ski career while Sena stayed at home in Milton Keynes, England, working as a college administrator and bringing up their 6-year-old daughter Ellice and 1-year-old boy Jason with the help of extended family.

"Right now, she thinks it is really fantastic," the Snow Leopard said of his mate. "Now she knows it was possible."

What would have been impossible was gatecrashing the Olympics on enthusiasm alone.

The International Olympic Committee tightened qualification rules after Edwards landed on Calgary's big show, so Kwame plowed on through skiing's minor leagues.

Kwame planted his skis on race snow at Vol Thorens, France, in February 2005. Last to start in a blizzard wearing bib No. 111, he was last of 68 finishers in a two-run giant slalom, trailing by more than a minute.

He was last one week later in Shemshak, Iran, and in nine more races — always finishing both runs, never crashing out — before placing 74th of 81 at Courchevel, France.

His routine became summers of odd jobs in England and winters in Pampeago, where the tourist office took up his cause. Four years after his Turin near-miss, Kwame has "my band of merry men" — including a coach, manager, physiotherapist and Web guru — for the final push to Whistler.

"There is no funding to pay anyone," he said. "These guys have left their day jobs and are pursuing the Olympic dream with me."

Coach Denis Grigorev teaches at the Dubai ski dome and is a friend from the racing circuit, and Kwame concedes to having "some really bad habits. I don't think there's enough time for my coach to rectify them."

After daily double-duty in training, Kwame's work continues in dealing with sponsors, suppliers and contacts in Canada.

He needs a four-bedroom apartment in Whistler to house his support team and family, including his parents, Peter, a university professor, and Gladys from Cape Coast, Ghana.

"I think I owe these few people," said Kwame, who will have Grigorev and manager Richard Harpham with him in the Olympic athletes' village.

The Ghana ski team is scheduled to leave Saturday and begin 10 days of training at Vancouver Island — funded by his fans there and, notably, not the Ghanaian Olympic Committee.

Kwame, the president of Ghana's ski federation, is diplomatically silent about his country's sports officialdom. At least until he is assured of being flag-bearer at the opening ceremony.

"What I know from the Olympics is that the athlete carries the flag — unless the representative from the Ghana Olympic Committee decides to fight over the flag with me," he said.

The IOC did help Kwame, awarding him a grant as part of its solidarity program to help developing nations and underfunded athletes.

"We are proud of him and look forward to following him in Vancouver," the IOC said in a statement. "It is a real reward for this gifted Alpine skier who had to overcome a lot of challenges."

Kwame's charismatic story suggests a movie treatment, and comparisons with the Jamaica bobsled team immortalized in "Cool Runnings" are welcomed.

"I totally respect what they did," the Snow Leopard said. "They were making the effort to show people that, sorry, we didn't come here to joke."

He is a serious man, and a film of his life also would be a love story.

"It's clean, it's pure," Kwame says of skiing. "You go up on the mountain, everything is white. You're not going to get dirty. You've got vistas and peaks rolling in front of you.

"Let's face facts: I'm not the best skier in the world. But every day I step on to the mountain I can do something better to go faster."

Four-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson crashed during practice Thursday for this weekend's 24-hour race at Daytona International Speedway.

Johnson is feeling fine and hoping to get back behind the wheel for another practice on Friday, driver spokeswoman Kristine Curley said. Johnson is still planning to drive in the 24 Hours of Daytona on Daytona's 3.56-mile road course.

"I put myself in a position with a GT car that I shouldn't and paid the price," Johnson said in a statement. "I hate it that I tore up equipment and put the guys in this spot. It looks like we will get this fixed and hopefully everything will be good for tomorrow."

Johnson damaged the rear end of his No. 99 Chevrolet Riley Daytona Prototype trying to avoid a slower car. He hit the brakes, turned sideways, slid backward and slammed into the wall.

Johnson's team is planning to rush parts to Daytona and work through the night in hopes of getting the car back on the track by Friday.

Deputy Chef-de-Mission of the Chinese delegation, Xiao Tian, said here on Thursday that he expects the figure skating pairs to make sound performance and win the gold medal in the upcoming Vancouver Winter Olympics.

The Chinese Olympic Committee announced on Thursday to send a 182-member delegation, including 91 athletes, the largest ever in the nation's history, for the Vancouver Games slated for February 12 to 28.

"China became more competitive in the Winter Games compared with four years ago in Turin. I hope we will make a strong hit in Vancouver," Xiao Tian told Xinhua after the ceremony held for the founding of the delegation.

Xiao refused to make prediction on the medals, while he expected the Chinese athletes to achieve breakthrough in figure skating and curling events.

"Pairs skaters Shen Xuan/Zhao Hongbo came back to the stage for their last Winter Games. I really appreciate their passion and perseverance to the sport."

"I hope they can win a gold medal in Vancouver, which would be a perfect ending for their career," he added.

Besides bronze medalists Shen/Zhao in the Turin Games, other Chinese pairs Pang Qing/Tong Jian and Olympic silver medalists Zhang Dan/Zhang Hao were also regarded as medal hopefuls in Vancouver.

After announcing retirement in 2006, Shen/Zhao got married and were the only couple in the Chinese delegation.

China was still a winter sports fledgling though it went atop of the medals table at the Beijing Games in 2008.

China did not end its winter Olympic gold drought until the Salt Lake City Games in 2002 when Yang Yang (A) took two short track speed skating titles.

In the Turin Games in 2006, China also bagged two golds, one from the women's short track, and the other from the men's freestyle aerials.

"Apart from our strong sports like short track and the figure skating pairs, women's curling team is also promising," said Xiao.

The Chinese women curling players won their first gold medal in the world championships in 2009 but Xiao thought they were not strong enough to win a gold in the Vancouver Games.

"The national team was founded just seven years ago and they are still young. They need more experience and should learn more from the Winter Games. I won't give them too much pressure," Xiao said.

Xiao hailed the short track skating team which grew maturer in the last four years and showed confidence, but he noted that the men's skaters should try their best to win at least a medal in Vancouver.

"We can't count on Wang Meng alone in the women's 500m. The women's 1,000m and the relay are also our gold medal chances."

"The men's team should give all out to win at least a medal in the relay," he said.

Wang is hotly tipped to wipe out the field in the women's events after sweeping gold medals in the 500m and 1,000m and leading China to victory in the realy at the World Championships in Vienna in 2009.

Olympic champion Wang Meng will lead the field for China as the country send a largest ever team to next month's Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada, said the Chinese Olympic Committee here on Thursday.

China announced a 182-member delegation, including 91 athletes and 91 officials, for the 21st Games, slated for February 12-28. Ten sports with 49 events, out of 86 events in 15 sports in total, will feature competitors from the nation.

The previous record was set for Turin Winter Olympics four years ago when China fielded a delegation of 151 members, of which 76 were athletes, who entered nine of the 17 sports in the Italian city.

"It is not only China's largest ever team to a winter Olympics since we made debut in the games in 1980, but also a team with the most berths," Xiao Tian, deputy director of the State General Administration of Sport, told a small group of reporters at an exclusive ceremony for the founding of the Chinese delegation.

Defending champions Wang Meng and Han Xiaopeng are among the 30 men and 61 women athletes heading for Vancouver, with more than a half of the athletes are making their winter Olympic debuts.

The 25-year-old Wang, who claimed the women's 500m gold medal in Turin 2006, again come out the hottest favorite for women's short track speed skating events, while the men's aerials champion Han, 27, is not yet out of flavor despite one-year absence from international events.

"There's no specific task having been handed over to me, but I'm very determined to beat the South Koreans," said Wang, also a reigning world champion in women's 500m, 1000m and all-around, when asked about the Chinese short track team's target in Vancouver.

Figure skating pairs event is another title hopeful of China as former world champions and twice Olympic bronze medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo came back from retirement and won two ISF Grand Prix events before lifting trophy in the Finales to get themselves ready for their fourth Olympic campaign.

Li Nina, a favorite four years ago in Turin, is still leading the women's freestyle aerials rankings, and Wang Beixing pins China's medal hopes in women's speed skating.

The Chinese men's and women's curling teams have booked their tickets to the Winter Games for the first time in history, and China's hockey girls made a successful comeback after having missed the Turin Games.

Uneven with the nation's powerhouse image in summer games after topping the gold medal table in Beijing 2008, China, which didnot win a winter Olympic title until the Salt Lake City Games in 2002, is just underway in winter sports.

Yang Yang took two short track speed skating titles to end China's winter Olympic gold draught eight years ago. In the previous Winter Olympic Games in Turin, China brought home two gold, four silver and five bronze medals.

"We hope that our athletes could make breakthrough in Vancouver and surpass the previous games' result," said Zhao Yinggang, chief director of China's winter sports administrative center and secretary general of the Chinese delegation for Vancouver Olympics.

The newly established Chinese team averages 24.4 years old with the 37-year-old figure skater Zhao Hongbo the oldest and hockey player Zhang Mengying the youngest, who just enjoyed her 16-year-old birthday.

Around 5,500 athletes from 85 countries and regions are expected to compete at Vancouver with a total of 86 gold medals are up for grab.

The Czech Olympic team at the Vancouver Olympic Games will comprise 93 athletes, local media reported on Thursday.

Milan Jirasek, chairman of the Czech Olympic Committee (COV), approved additional five members' participation in the Olympics from the previous 88 athletes, thanks to a larger quota from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

The five newcomers are free-style skier Martina Konopova, accompanied by her coach Pavel Landa, mogul skier Tereza Vaculikova, cross-country racers Ales Razym, and Klara Moravcova or Eva Skalnikova.

"The nomination was confirmed on the proposal of the skiers. The widening is within the current budget of the Czech team," Jirasek said in a press release.

As the support personnel will be 95 persons, the whole Czech Olympic team will have 188 members.

World number one Ronnie O'Sullivan breezed into the quarterfinals of Welsh Open Snooker by sweeping qualifier Jamie Cope 5-0 here on Thursday.

The three times world champion O'Sullivan only needed 55 minutes to wrap up the victory as his opponent Cope missed easy balls one after another to give him enough chances to collect the points.

"That's the worst I've seen him play," O'Sullivan said. "I never look forward to playing him but today he barely potted a ball."

Cope, a two-time ranking event finalist, played quite well on Wednesday, giving Chinese ace Ding Junhui a blow of first round exit. However, the world number 18 seemed losing his sharpness over night, surrendering quickly to the two time Welsh Open title winner.

O'Sullivan is going to meet Mark Allen on Friday, who defeated qualifier Matthew Stevens 5-2.

Stevens finished two centuries during the encounter, but Allen managed to grab the victory with better safety.

Besides, world number two Stephen Maguire confirmed his place in the quarterfinals with a 5-1 win over Barry Hawkins. He will fight for a semifinal berth with Mark Williams as the Welsh claimed a 5-0 victory over Andrew Higginson.

Newly crowned Wembley Master champion Mark Selby booked a duel with defending world champion John Higgins after beating Mark King 5-3. Higgins went through the second round by seeing off Graeme Dott, Scotland 5-1.

An official ceremony sending off the Russian national team for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics was held here on Thursday.

President Dmitry Medvedev in a greeting to the mission wished all athletes achievements at the Olympic arena.

He said Russian athletes have repeatedly shown a high level of training and skill at the most prestigious international contests, according to the message published by the Kremlin website.

Nowadays Russia pays special attention to the development of sport activities and healthy lifestyles, said Medvedev, to which successes from professional athletes would be the best contribution.

Russian Minister of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy Vitaly Mutko and President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Leonid Tyagachev attended the ceremony.

ROC Vice President Vladimir Vasin, who was appointed as head of the Russian Olympic mission, announced on Tuesday a preliminary list of 175 athletes involved in the mission. The final list would be announced on Feb. 1.

Russia won 22 medals, including eight golds, to rank fourth in the medals table four year ago in Turin.

The Vancouver Winter Olympics is slated for Feb. 12-28.

The largest ever Chinese delegation aims at making records by winning more medals in the pending Winter Olympics in Vancouver, as they did in last two Games.

China announced a 182-member delegation on Thursday, including 91 athletes and 91 officials, for the 21st Winter Games, slated for February 12- 28.

It is not only China's largest ever squad to a winter Olympics, but also a team with the most berths, in which 30 men and 61 women athletes heading for Vancouver, spearhead by defending champions Wang Meng and Han Xiaopeng.

"We had made records in 2002 and 2006 Games. I hope we can continue the momentum to surpass the previous games' performance in Vancouver," said Xiao Tian, deputy Chef-de-Mission of the Chinese delegation.

"I hope we will open a new chapter in the Chinese winter Olympic history this time in Vancouver," he added.

China did not end its winter Olympic gold draught until the Salt Lake City Games in 2002 when Yang Yang took two short track speed skating titles.

In the Turin Games in 2006, China took two golds, one from the women's short track skating, and the other from the men's freestyle aerials.

"We spent more than 20 years longing for the first gold since we made debut in the Games in 1980. China becomes more competitive now and draws more attention after the 2008 Beijing Olympics."

The Chinese athletes in 10 sports are now preparing for the next month's Games. According to the secretary general of the delegation Zhao Yinggang, eight teams have been training abroad since January.

China's stronghold of short track speed skating team is leaving Beijing on Friday and they will have the closed-door training in a city near Vancouver for 10 days.

Wang Meng, winner in the women's 500m in Turin, again comes out the hottest favorite for the short track speed skating events. When asked about her aim in Vancouver, the 25-year-old said: "I'm very determined to beat the South Koreans."

China's short track team head coach Li Yan, who was the U.S coach in Turin, noted that she saw more than just South Korea as a threat to China.

"South Korea, the host Canada and the U.S are all our strong opponents," she said.

Figure skating pairs event is another medal hopeful for China as former world champions Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo came back from retirement and won two ISF Grand Prix events before lifting trophy in the Finales to tune themselves up for their fourth Olympic campaign.

"We still have time to adjust ourselves in Vancouver after we leave Beijing on February 7. One week is enough before the competition begins," said Yao Bin, head coach of the Chinese figure skating team.

The women's curling and ice hockey teams seldom stayed in China after they clinched berths for Vancouver as it was hard for the girls to find capable domestic rivals.

"The opponents knew us quite well after we took the gold in last year's world championships," said Li Dongyan, Chinese curling team leader.

"We will just focus on every match in Vancouver and not think about the medals," he added.

Apart from the curling and ice hockey teams, six other teams of freestyle skiing, snowboard, biathlon, Alpine skiing, cross-country and speed skating are now training in Canada, the U.S and Germany.

Li Nina, a favorite four years ago in Turin, is still leading the women's freestyle aerials ranking, and Wang Beixing pins China's medal hope in women's speed skating.

"Steal one and you will go to jail." That is the message from British Columbia (BC) authorities to car thieves looking to profit from the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

With auto theft currently at a six-year low in the Canadian province and the Games spectators being encouraged to leave their cars behind and take public transport to the events, Solicitor General Kash Heed has announced BC would be stepping up its long-running bait vehicle program to snare thieves and ensure safe Games.

As an estimated 250,000 people are expected to use public transit each day during the Winter Games beginning on Feb. 12, police will be planting late model bait cars in 22 park-and-ride locations and other key Olympic departure hubs.

The vehicles may prove irresistible to thieves as they will contain such items as cameras and laptop computer marked with Microdot technology. Heed said the new technology would enable police to easily identify the stolen items and provide indisputable evidence in court.

"This year, BC's auto crime enforcement month coincides with the largest influx of visitors our province has ever seen," said Heed in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb. "Strategic deployment of bait cars, which has cut auto crime by more than half since 2003, will provide drivers with greater peace of mind when they leave their vehicles for the day."

Under the theme of "Securing the Best Winter Games Ever -- Making Auto Crime a Priority," other key components of the Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team's (IMPACT) Olympic strategy include ongoing auto crime monitoring and deploying undercover vehicles equipped with automatic license plate recognition technology. The technology can scan up to 600 license plates an hour to locate stolen vehicles.

The team also makes use of helicopters and dogs to apprehend thieves who attempt to flee.

According to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, the provincial auto insurer, vehicle thefts dropped 15 percent last year from about 13,000 in 2008. There were also about 4,000 fewer thefts from vehicles in 2009, a 15-percent decrease from the 23,000 reported a year earlier.

Since 2003, auto crimes in the province dropped by more than half. The 11,000 car thefts last year were a 55 percent drop from the 26,000 vehicles stolen in 2003. In the same period, vehicle break-ins dropped from about 40,000 to 19,000.

"These latest reductions in auto theft are great news for our customers, as fewer claims help keep insurance rates low and stable," said Nicolas Jimenez, ICBC's road safety director. "Car owners can do their part to help keep these numbers falling by ensuring they leave their valuables out of sight, and doors locked, when they leave their vehicle."

The Winter Olympics is scheduled for Feb. 12-28 in Vancouver.

Asian boxing elites will fight for the continental glory in the first leg of the 2010 Asian Boxing Championship which is to kick off here on Monday.

The two-day tournament attracts 20 top boxers from seven Asian powerhouses. Local favorite Zou Shiming, the gold winner in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will fight for the title in the men's 48km category.

Apart from the 48km category, the tournament will also include 57km, 69km, 75km and 81km, all of which the Asian boxers are adept in.

Vijender Singh of India, who won the first Olympic boxing medal for the country after beating Carlos Gongora of Ecuador in the quarterfinal to secure a bronze in the Beijing Games, will participate in the 75km category.

Russian auto racing driver Vitaly Petrov is set to become Russia's first Formula One driver starting from next season, local media reported on Thursday.

The 25-year-old Petrov, runner-up of the 2009 GP2 series, will partner with Polish Robert Kubica to compete for French F1 team Renault.

Born on Sept. 8, 1984 in Vyborg of the Leningrad region, Petrov is known as "Vyborg Rocket" in Russia.

According to local media, Petrov would possibly bring a sponsorship of 15 million euros to Renault, as he was backed by state-owned Russian saving bank Sberbank and gas monopoly Gazprom.

After topping the gold medal table at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, China is now aiming for a major breakthrough at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

"We hope our athletes can achieve better results than at the last Winter Olympics in Turin," Zhao Yinggang, China's winter sports chief, said yesterday at a ceremony to announce the country's team to the Vancouver Games.

At Turin, in 2006, the Chinese side won two gold, four silver and five bronze medals.

In an attempt to surpass that achievement, China will send its largest ever delegation to Vancouver for the Feb 12-28 Games.

At yesterday's event, China announced a 182-member delegation - 91 athletes and 91 officials - for the 21st Winter Olympiad.

Led by defending Winter Olympic champions women's short track speed skater Wang Meng and men's freestyle aerial skier Han Xiaopeng, the team will compete in 49 of 86 disciplines in 15 sports.

At the Turin Games, China had a delegation of 151 members, of which 76 were athletes. They were entered in nine of 17 sports in the Italian city.

The team has an average age of 24.4 years and almost 70 percent of the delegation will make their Winter Olympic debuts in Canada.

The 25-year-old Wang, who claimed the women's 500m gold at Turin 2006, is the team's biggest gold medal hope.

She is the reigning world champion in the women's 500m, 1,000m and all-around events.

"I have been given no specific task but I am very determined to beat the (archrival) South Koreans," Wang said.

The comeback figure skating pair of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, which will compete in their fourth Winter Olympics, is chasing the dream of claiming China's first Olympic gold medal in the event.

"The only reason for our coming back is to win the Olympic gold," said 37-year-old Zhao, who is the oldest athlete on the China team. "It will be our last Winter Olympics, so we will try our best."

In the team events, China's men's and women's curling sides will appear at the Winter Games for the first time while the women's ice hockey team has made a successful comeback after missing Turin.

"The participation in those team events is of great significance for the whole delegation," Zhao said.

While the country is a Summer Games powerhouse, it didn't win a Winter Olympics title until the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.

Yang Yang won two short track speed skating titles to end China's Winter Olympics gold drought eight years ago.

"We started taking part in winter sports much later and we faced great obstacles ... generally speaking, we are below the level of the summer sports," Zhao said.

"We are working hard on narrowing the gap between China's winter and summer sports."

With 86 gold medals up for grabs in 15 sports, the Vancouver Games will attract about 5,500 athletes from 85 countries and regions.

It will be the largest Games in Winter Olympics' history.

Organizers of the Vancouver Winter Olympics (Vanoc) reported Thursday its contingency plan to ensure enough snow for the Games at Cypress Mountain, site of the snowboarding and aerial freestyle skiing competitions, was "paying dividends".

With Vancouver currently enjoying spring-like conditions with the day-time temperature hovering around 10 degrees Celsius two weeks before the opening ceremony, the warm weather has played havoc with preparations for the snowboard and freestyle courses.

While Whistler, the resort ski area that will host the Alpine and Nordic events, has enjoyed record snowfall in an area about two hours northeast of Vancouver, Cypress Mountain, located right in the city, has been closed since mid January, subject only to rain and warm temperatures.

On Friday afternoon, the forecast for the mountain was 7 degrees Celsius and light rain. The long-term forecast called for the temperature to drop to zero degrees by Tuesday and down to -6 degrees on Thursday.

With the closing of Cypress, a public facility in a national park that overlooks the Pacific Ocean, a Vanoc official said that a team of 45 workers have been working round-the-clock to protect the existing snow and build up existing stockpiles. To do so, eight "Snowcat" grooming machines and two large dump trucks have moved more than 300 truckloads of snow to the site from a neighboring mountain.

"The plan to stage the freestyle and snowboard events on Cypress Mountain is continuing full steam ahead," said Tim Gayda, Vanoc vice president of sport.

"We've made great progress in preparing the venue thanks to our team that's been working night and day to deliver on the contingency plan we had ready. We look forward to hosting some of the world's greatest athletes on Cypress Mountain in just over two weeks."

Among them will be a top team of Chinese aerial skiers that represent excellent chances for medals in both the men's and women's events. Since Jiangsu native Han Xiaopeng won Olympic gold in Turin, Italy, in 2006, Chinese aerialists have dominated the sport.

Chinese women led by Guo Xinxin and Li Nina, a silver medalist four years ago, currently occupy the top-four positions in the World Ranking, while Jia Zongyang stands second in the men's ranking.

Unlike Turin which was blessed with abundant natural snow, the Vancouver course is being built atop 1,065 bales of straw that are currently being put into place with the aid of a helicopter. Once completed, the snowboard cross and ski cross courses will be covered with snow and groomed.

On Tuesday, officials with the International Ski Federation (FIS), the body responsible for certifying the venue ready for athletes, stated their approval of the snow harvesting and course preparations after touring the venue.

"The FIS is confident that with the current amount of snow on the mountain, and the snow saving measures that have been taken, Vanoc will be able to create a world-class venue for our snowboard events during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games," said snowboard race director Marcel Looze, the federation's snowboard race director.

Joe Fitzgerald, FIS's freestyle ski coordinator, added: "I was pleased to see the heroic efforts of the organizing committee to prepare the snow on the freestyle courses. They have made every effort beyond expectations to create the best conditions."

Russia won seven gold medals to rank first in the gold medal table in this year's first Gold Grand Prix of the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) that ended in Russian city of Krasnoyarsk on Sunday.

Ukraine and Japan finished second in the tally with two gold medals respectively. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the United States and Belarus each grabbed one gold.

The three-day tournament for freestyle and female wrestling, named after renowned Soviet wrestler Ivan Yariguin, attracted 250 wrestlers from 22 countries, said the FILA website.

This year a total of six FILA Golden Grand Prix tournaments awarding cash prizes will be held to serve as qualifiers for the Final that will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, on July 16-18.

Ivan Yariguin, a bearer of the Orders of Lenin and the Red Labor Banner, was the twice champion of the Olympic Games in freestyle wrestling. Born in 1948 at a village of the Krasnoyarsk territory, he died in a traffic accident in 1997.

Sweden crowned at the 30th bandy world championship final on Sunday by beating hosts Russia here .

Sweden held a lead in Sunday's match from the beginning. Though Russia equalized the score 89 minutes into the game, Sweden managed to defend its championship title in the play-off.

The two traditional strong teams defeated Kazakhstan and Finland respectively in Saturday's semi-finals.

A total of 11 teams, divided into two groups, took part in the 2010 bandy world championship that started last Sunday.

Bandy is a not-so-popular winter sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The game is played on a rectangle of ice, the same size as a soccer field.

Two teams of 11 players each will compete in a match consisting of two halves of 45 minutes.

The bandy world championship for men was first held in Helsinki, Finland, and then every two years to stage once starting in 1961, and yearly since 2003.

World champion John Higgins repeated to lift the trophy at Welsh Open snooker after one decade by beating defending champion Allister Carter 9-4 here on Sunday.

Higgins, 34, opened the final with a dominant 5-0 lead and was just three frames away from his 21st ranking title for taking a 6- 2 lead before the interval.

The 30-year-old Carter tried hard to chase down 7-4, but was helpless to allow Higgins to finish the match with two more frames.

"I've always felt that ranking tournaments are the ones to go for so I'm just delighted to add another one," said Higgins who has collected 21 ranking tournament titles in his career. "I'm feeling really confident at the moment and just taking it as it comes."

Higgins made two centuries and eight more breaks over 50 during the final. The Wizard of Wishaw also hit the highest break in the event by finishing a total clearance of 138 in Saturday's semifinal against Ronnie O'Sullivan.

World champion Petar Stoychev of Belgium won on Sunday the 37th edition of the open water marathon "Rio Coronda" organized by the International Swimming Federation.

To win the fifth time of the event between the Argentine Coronda and Santa Fe, Stoychev became the historical maximum winner, with a new mark of six hours, 57 minutes and 52 seconds.

German Alexander Studzinski finished second, followed by Italian Rodolfo Valenti and Argentine Damian Blaum.

Spaniard Esther Nunez Morera won the women's event, followed by Australian Sehelley Clark and Argentina Pilar Geijo.

The Rio Coronda competition, one of the most important swimming meets at open waters in the world, covers 57 kilometers between Coronda and Santa Fe in the province of Santa Fe.

World and Olympic handball champion France lifted the European title on Sunday after beating Croatia 25-21 in the European championship final.

It was the second European gold medal for France who also defeated Croatia in last year's world championship final in Zagreb.

Iceland won the bronze medal with a 29-26 defeat of Poland, its second honour in a major tournament after finishing runner-up at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

U.S. Olympic freestyle skier Daron Rahlves dislocated his right hip after a nasty wreck in his opening skicross race Sunday at the Winter X Games.

The injury is a setback as Rahlves prepares to compete in Vancouver, but a doctor who checked him out at the scene was optimistic after the crash that resulted in the 36-year-old's fourth hip dislocation.

"People who have multiple hip dislocations, the tissues get so loose and go in and out and it doesn't cause so much damage," said Dr. Kevin Stone, who looked in on Rahlves after the wreck. "Hopefully, that's the situation here and hopefully he can come back quickly."

A few hours after the accident, X Games officials said the hip had been popped back into place, and that Rahlves was putting pressure on it. He was released from the hospital late Sunday afternoon.

Rahlves, a former Alpine skier, qualified for his fourth Olympic team this year and was using the X Games as a final tuneup before the trip to Vancouver.

In his opening race, though, he lost his balance while going over a series of small bumps midway down the mountain and went flying off the course.

Earlier in the week, America's other skicross Olympian, Casey Puckett, landed awkwardly during a run and suffered what he called a minor setback in his recovery from a separated shoulder.

Felipe Massa returned to a competitive Formula One car Monday and the Ferrari driver was fastest in a morning testing session — his first since a life-threatening crash last summer.

Massa led the seven-car field at Valencia's Cheste Circuit with a best lap time of 1 minute, 13.088 seconds. Massa, who completed 32 laps, was nearly two-tenths of a second faster than Pedro De la Rosa of Sauber.

Massa suffered a skull fracture during a crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix last July. The 28-year-old Brazilian underwent surgery and missed the remainder of the season.

Massa has driven several older model Ferraris since late last year, but Monday's outing was the first in the new F10 car.

Ferrari set the pace as F1's 2010 campaign got under way, with Michael Schumacher expected to return to the track with Mercedes GP later Monday. The 41-year-old German is racing again for the first time since retiring in 2006.

Teammate Nico Rosberg was on the track in the morning and was third with a best lap of 1:13.543 in the former Brawn GP car — nearly half a second back of Massa.

McLaren test driver Gary Paffett was fourth, Rubens Barrichello of Williams was fifth, while Renault driver Robert Kubica and Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi completed the standings.

Massa will also drive Tuesday before giving way to new teammate Fernando Alonso a day later.

New Jersey Devils defenseman Paul Martin will not play for the United States in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver because of a slow-healing broken left forearm.

A disappointed Martin announced late Monday afternoon that he was withdrawing his name from the U.S. team.

The defenseman broke his left forearm on Oct. 24 in a game at Pittsburgh when he was hit by a Bill Guerin shot. He had a setback in his recovery in December when minor surgery had to be done because the fracture was not healing at the rate the doctors wanted.

Martin skated on his own last week and was to be examined by doctors on Monday to see if the cast could come off his arm.

The Vancouver Games open in two weeks.

The world's biggest curling nation Canada, having the top-ranked men's and women's teams going into Vancouver, is aiming to sweep the two curling golds with the home advantage of hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Canada, home to 1.2 million of the world's 1.5 million curlers, dominates the Olympic competition with two medals of every color since curling re-entered the Olympics in 1998 as an official sport. They are not expected to be satisfied with anything else but gold in the Olympic curling competition.

Canada has won three medals in men's curling: two silver medals in 1998 in Nagano and in 2002 in Salt Lake City before Brad Gushue spearheaded the team to take home the gold from the 2006 Games in Turin.

Skipped by two-time Olympian Kevin Martin, the unbeatable Canadian men's team is not to let their compatriots down. The 44-year-old Martin, world champion in 2008, will be eager to prove why they are top ranked in the world and top seed in the Games.

But the Canadians will be harshly tested by reigning world champion Britain, cradle of the sport back to the 16th century, and Norway, the Continental Cup winner and world championships bronze medalist.

While the above three are the favorites to clinch medals, other teams from the United States, Germany and Switzerland are also to make a strong push in the men's field.

Also the world No. 9 Chinese men's team, improving rapidly in the world ranking, will make its debut in the Olympics. The goal for the Chinese men is to do their best to go as far as they can.

On the women's side, 15-time world champion Canada, skipped by Olympic rookie Cheryl Bernard in the Games, remains the favorite to take the gold, just as the country has for many years.

The 44-year-old Bernard and her foursome even surprised the home circles by upsetting national queen Shannon Kleibrink in the Canadian Curling Trials for Vancouver 2010 last December. The highlights of Bernard's career are 2004 Canadian curling tour crowns and two time provincial titles.

The new home team will manage to make the Canadians grab a medal in four Games consecutively. Because of the first trip to Olympics and lack of international experience, Bernard's foursome will bear high pressure for a gold from the enthusiastic home crowds.

But opponents such as world champion China and reigning Olympic gold medalist Sweden are out to stop them.

Though there are fewer than 200 active curlers and just three curling stadiums suited to host official competition in China, the sport has been well-known considerably in the world's most populous nation since the national women's team was founded in 2003.

With the coach of Canadian Dan Rafael, the studious Chinese team has turned out to be a powerhouse after it stunned the curling world by upsetting Sweden at the 2009 world women's curling championship in South Korea. And now it is ranked fifth in the world and second in the Olympic qualifications.

"We try to be like five fingers on one hand that hold the fist together to make a team," said Chinese skipper, the 25-year-old Wang Bingyu, "and as newly crowned world champions and Olympic rookie team, you will naturally burden yourselves psychologically. In order to focus on each rock, you have to turn the pressure into your power."

"Definitely, my goal is to take the Chinese girls to the Olympic gold podium," added Rafael, who has practiced curling for four decades and coached the Chinese national teams for two-odd years.

Olympic runner-up Switzerland and Canada's neighbor the United States are also the medal round competitors. They are reluctant to give up their hope by doing their best to knock down the host favorites.

Two-time Olympic champion Steve Williams is to retire from rowing and will miss the London 2012 Olympic Games, the Press Association said.

The 33-year-old, who took a year out after winning his second gold in Beijing in 2008, is yet to make an official announcement, but notified British Rowing performance director David Tanner of his decision in November.

"I'm hanging up my oar," Williams told www.insidethegames.biz.

Williams teamed up with James Cracknell, Matthew Pinsent and Ed Coode to win coxless four gold at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

He defended the title with Andy Triggs Hodge, Peter Reed and Tom James in Beijing.

Hu Yadan, a 13-year-old girl from Sichuan Province, earned a gold medal Tuesday in women's 10-meter platform at the All-Star Diving Series Jinan stop.

Olympic champion Chen Ruolin finished with bronze due to an unexpected failure in her last attempt.

Since the adoption of a brand new match system which comprised of four separate rounds, it became almost impossible to guess the results as to who will laugh the last. In the final round, Hu scored the highest marks.

Chen won a gold medal in Changshu stop four days ago, yet her last dive stirred too much splash, earning 76.80 points which had her slip into the third place. After the competition, Chen said that a momentary relax should be accounted for her misplay.

In the men's 3-meter springboard in the afternoon, Olympic champion He Chong pocketed the gold medal, followed by Li Shixin from the Chinese naval and Matthew Mitcham from Australia.

After Han Xiaopeng clinched China's first ever Olympic gold on snow events in Turin four years ago, the Chinese aerials freestyle team nowadays tries to amplify a more prospective vision, heading towards Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The prospect might sound reasonable as both its men's and women's teams are spearheaded by either Olympic or world champion, and even reigning Olympic champion Han was only included into the Chinese men's squad in the last minutes.

In 2006, world champion Li Nina led the four-member women's aerials squad with great expectations to the Turin Winter Olympic Games, and she finished only next to Swiss Evelyne Leu in the final.

Then it was nobody Han who won the world spotlight, grabbing the sweetest victory for China in the men's event, unheraldedly.

After the historical win in Turin, Han proved himself by winning the world title in 2007. Since then, the 26-year-old struggled for a long period against injuries and eventually knocked out one of his teammates to make the Olympic squad.

In the men's field, Han is determined to defend his title at Cypress Mountain, teenager Jia Zongyang cherishes his hope at his Olympic debut with two World Cup victories within two month and a crown from last year's Winter Universiade, and the 19-year-old Qi Guangpu is also promising as he has collected three World Cup silver medals this season.

Although the Chinese youngsters are full of energy, the seasoned athletes such as American Jeret Peterson and Anton Kushnier from Belarus are likely to make more steady landings.

Two-time Olympian Peterson attempted his signature "Hurricane" move in the final four years ago but failed. In fact, a more conservative leap would have earned the American nicknamed "Speedy" a medal.

This time, the 28-year-old will give his all to convince the judges with the "Hurricane" jump. And teammate Ryan St Onge is also going to compete for the title.

Kushnier, who finished eighth at the Turin Games, pushed himself forward this season by grabbing four golds, one silver and one bronze from six World Cup races.

Yet, China could be more confident in the women's team as the squad is even stronger than the one in Turin.

The 27-year-old Li clinched her third consecutive world title last year and would be relaxed towards her third Olympic Games. Olympic debutant Xu Mengtao was only behind Li at the 2009 World Championships and the 20-year-old hopeful leads the difficult degree in the women's field.

In the moguls, defending champions Dale Begg-Smith and Jennifer Heil are still hot favourite.

The Canadian-born Begg-Smith, 25, who had knee reconstruction surgery almost a year ago, came back strongly with three World Cup golds this season.

The 26-year-old Heil topping the World Cup podium four times this season, is surely among the host's prime hopes for gold in Vancouver.

As for ski cross, the debut event at the Winter Olympics, athletes from Austria, France as well as Canada have achieved great results at World Cup competitions.

American Shani Davis and Canadian five-time Olympic medalist Clara Hughes are due to steal the limelight of the speed skating rink at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games slated for Feb. 12-28.

Davis, the first Winter Olympic individual black champion, will be a hot contender in the 1,000 meters and 1,500m in Vancouver as he schedules to line up for four individual events.

As a three-time 1,500m and two-time 1,000m world champion, Davis holds the world records of each distance and has snatched the gold medal in the 1,000m at the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics, apart from a silver in the 1,500m.

The 27-year-old has secured his spots to Vancouver in the 500m, 1,000m, 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m from the recent US speed skating championships.

However, he decided to quit the 10,000m in order to concentrate on his strongest events.

In the 1,000m, Davis will face the challenges from world champion teammate Trevor Marsicano, South Korean Lee Kyou-Hyuk and Lee Kang-Seok as well as Japanese Olikawa Yuya. He has scored four wins against one loss this season in 1,500m, beaten only by compatriot Chad Hedrick in the World Cup.

Dutch triple world champion Sven Kramer eyes the title in the 5,000m or 10,000m after he finished second in the 5,000m in Turin. He will also compete in the team pursuit in Vancouver.

Five-time Olympic medalist Hughes will try to defend her title in the 5,000m after she was named the flag bearer for the hosts at the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Games.

Hughes collected two bronze medals in cycling at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Summer Games, and stormed to her first Winter Olympic bronze medal in the 5,000m at Salt Lake City six years later, becoming the fourth Olympian to reach both the Summer and Winter Olympic podiums.

Hughes celebrated her first Olympic title in the event in Turin, adding to a team pursuit silver.

The Canadian women skaters swept two golds, four silvers and two bronzes in Turin, and renewed a team pursuit world record last December.

Their winning chance is further boosted as Cindy Klassen, reigning 1,500m Olympic champion and world record holder in the 1,000m, 1,500m, and 3,000m has recovered from surgery on both knees.

World record holder and triple world champion Jenny Wolf of Germany is tipped as the biggest gold contender by dominating the women's 500m with six World Cup victories this season.

China's Wang Beixing, four-time 500m world silver medalist, will try to make a breakthrough by taking the first ever speed skating crown for China. She is only 0.02 seconds shy of Wolf's world record. South Korea's Lee Sang-Hwa and Japan's Nao Kodaira are also strong in the sprint.

The natural wood and acrylic glass podium designed for the Vancouver 2010 medal presentations was unveiled Tuesday in downtown Vancouver, along with the dramatic "haute-couture-meets-sport" costumes medal presenters and athlete escorts will wear.

The individual and team podiums, 23 in all, have a fluid and organic design, echoing the undulating peaks and ridges of the Coast Mountain Range.

Each one is assembled from more than 200 pieces of precision-cut wood hewed from the forests of British Columbia, renowned internationally for their towering red cedars and Douglas firs.

"When the best winter athletes in the world step onto these magnificent podiums in mere days, they will also be standing on the shoulders of countless people who've helped them achieve their dreams," explained John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC).

The podiums range in size from 4.8 metres to 15.3m in length, 1.7m to 5m in depth and half a metre tall at their highest point, the spot reserved for gold medallists.

The lightest podiums, built of Western Red Cedar, weigh approximately 200 kilograms while others range up to 260kg. They will be used in 86 Olympic and 64 Paralympic victory ceremonies and are easily accessible for all athletes.

Wooden trays, matching the design aesthetic of the podiums, will showcase the Vancouver 2010 medals as they are presented to the athletes by the 51 volunteer flower and medal bearers.

The ergonomic trays have a non-slip surface to protect the undulating medals, which all feature a unique hand-cropped portion of larger Aboriginal artworks.

"Built from wood donated by communities, First Nations, businesses, and individuals across the province, each one of these podiums has a story to tell about the people and places that make up British Columbia and about the forest industry that is the heart of so much of our culture and history," said Gordon Campbell, premier of British Columbia.

"We hope all the athletes feel this connection and are inspired by this close connection to the people of British Columbia when they step up to receive their medals on these incredible platforms."

All the ceremony elements are designed to complement each other and have a youthful, modern and West Coast style reflecting the Host Region and Look of the Games, according to VANOC.

The premier of British Columbia, reiterated Tuesday the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games were good for the local economy and were literally generating thousands of jobs.

Speaking in Vancouver where Game's organizers unveiled the sculptured podiums and costumes the medal presenters and athlete escorts will wear, Premier Gordon Campbell said the 6 billion-plus Canadian dollars being spent to stage the Olympiad starting on February 12, would benefit the western province enormously.

"Everyone can see what the costs of the Olympics have been. It has been fully funded by the province, the federal government. We have been clear about that throughout. I think again, this is an Olympics that is generating revenue, that is generating jobs. All the people who are protesting it, I've never heard them go to someone who has one of those jobs and say 'I don't think your job is worth it,'" said Campbell.

"Those jobs are of huge value to our economy, particularly at times like this. Literally thousands of jobs, about three to four million (Canadian) dollars a day is going into the provincial economy. Now that's something to celebrate."

"Some businesses will probably have some challenges, but overall the province, the economy, the people of the province, are benefiting enormously from these Olympics."

Campbell, who last visited China on a 2007 trade mission promoting BC's expertise in green technology and life sciences, praised the Vancouver Organizing Committee (Vanoc) for the Games, saying the group had been exceptional in its preparations and exceeded expectations "every step of the way".

"They have exceeded sponsorship expectations, they have exceeded broadcast revenue expectations and tickets are effectively sold out now. All of those are generating revenues, which is paying for the Olympics."

Canada will be looking to reach the top of the podium in Vancouver and Whistler as its athletes have failed to win a gold medal in the country's two previous hosting of Olympiads at the 1976 Montreal Summer Games and the 1988 Calgary Winter Games. It is the only host country never to see its athletes win on home soil.

The distinctive medal podiums being used for the Games, 23 in all, are shaped like Vancouver Island and each feature more than 200 pieces indigenous wood from around the forestry-rich province. The fluid, wave-like pattern of the wood is said to echo the undulating peaks and ridges of the Coast Mountain Range.

Also unveiled were the three victory ceremony costumes designed by Canadian-Japanese Yumi Eto. The pieces include a midnight navy and blue "vintage inspired" ski coat adorned with Aboriginal artwork, and a chunky hand-knit heritage sweater, cinched at the waist with a hand-tooled belt. The outdoor version of the latter comes with a dark blue cocoon parka.

With the Games just 10 days away, Campbell added Vancouver and Whistler's hosting of the 21st Winter Olympics had lifted the spirits of a nation coming to terms with the current economic downturn.

"We've seen that in Canada, we've seen the torch go out to every province and touch literally millions of lives. What you can't ever measure is that the inspiration of young people is part of the Olympics. It might be a young artist .. a young speedskater," he said.

"It generates the kind of enthusiasm and excitement that I think is good for the entire nation. We obviously have to manage the finances of it, but I'll tell you, it drives economic opportunity. For us in British Columbia, it is going to be a launching pad into the 21st century."

Chinese boxing star Zou Shiming defeated Pongprayoon Kaeo of Thailand at the Asian Champions Boxing tournament here on Tuesday, claiming his first international title after winning the 48kg category gold at the Beijing Games.

As the defending Olympic and world champion, the world top-ranked Zou showed great aggression and took a 2-0 lead in the opening round. However, Kaeo grabbed two counter-attack opportunities to level the score in the second round, saving the three-round game from being a lopsided match-up.

Although not being the best shape, the 28-year-old Zou did not disappoint the local crowd. He earned 4 more scores in the final round and secured the victory 6-3.

After winning the first Olympic boxing gold medal for China, Zou spent much of his time outside of the boxing ring in 2009, only competing in the National Games. It was his first international competition after the Beijing Games and the 1.62m boxer had already pinned his goal on the coming Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

"All the boxers fighting in this tournament are continental elite and they showed very good condition in the games. They will be tough rivals on my way to defend the Asian Games title," said a confident Zou.

Get ready for a full dose of Bode Miller.

U.S. Ski Team men's coach Sasha Rearick said Tuesday that Miller plans to race all five Alpine events at the Vancouver Olympics. Miller's first event will be the downhill on Feb. 13, and he'll also compete in the super-combi, super-G, giant slalom and slalom.

A five-event schedule was not a given because Miller skipped summer training while he debated retirement and is still not in top shape after injuring his ankle during a team volleyball game in December.

But Rearick said the biggest challenge for Miller would be getting his equipment dialed in, not his fitness.

"I'm not so worried from the point of view of conditioning as much as I am that he hasn't had much time skiing, and the setups are still a challenge," Rearick told The Associated Press by phone from Park City, Utah, where the Americans are holding their pre-Olympic camp.

"That's going to be the biggest challenge — getting all those things set up. Right now in downhill he's going pretty good, and he knows what he's going on; slalom is getting close. But in super-G and GS we've got a lot of work to do. He's had no super-G training and no GS training, so that's going to be important these next days here."

There were questions over whether Miller would race the giant slalom because he has not scored a single point in the discipline on the World Cup circuit this season, whereas four other Americans have — Ted Ligety, Tommy Ford, Jake Zamansky and Tim Jitloff.

The U.S. squad gets four starting spots in each event. Ligety leads the World Cup GS standings and will be among the race favorites, meaning Ford, Zamansky or Jitloff risk sitting out.

Remember, at the Olympics the only thing that counts is winning a medal — there are no World Cup points to be had — and Miller is capable of finishing in the top three if he puts together two solid runs.

Rearick said Miller will get the giant slalom start based on his career record, which includes a silver medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, gold at the 2003 world championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the 2004 World Cup title and nine World Cup race victories.

Miller has not won a giant slalom since a December 2005 race in Beaver Creek, Colo. His last podium finish in the discipline was a third-place result at Lenzerheide, Switzerland, in March 2007.

In the two giant slalom races he entered this season, Miller failed to finish his opening run in Beaver Creek and was disqualified in Alta Badia, Italy.

Rearick pointed out Miller's seventh-place result in the Olympic giant slalom test event in Whistler two years ago.

"He's got the experience," Rearick said. "He had a good race even though he wasn't in form in Vancouver the last time there."

Miller has gone three consecutive major championships without a medal, beginning with the 2006 Turin Games, where he made more headlines for his late-night partying than skiing.

After a slow start this season, Miller showed his potential again last month by winning a super-combi in Wengen, Switzerland.

"The only thing I'm expecting of Bode is to put down an inspiring run every single race. That's what I want to see him do," Rearick said. "Go out and put down the type of skiing that he's done all of his career and that has been inspiring to both himself, the fans and the coaching staff. That's what I'm looking for, and I expect that."

Three months after first pulling on a glove, Liu Guoliang has turned his back on China's national sport and fallen love with baseball.

"Baseball is much more fun than table tennis," said the 11-year-old Liu, who used to idolize his Olympic table tennis champion namesake and now dreams of playing in a Major League club in the United States.

"My kid is crazy about baseball since I took him to an MLB Baseball Park in October last year," said Liu Wenzhong, an avid sports fan who named his son after the 1996 Olympic champion, hoping the junior Liu would make it to the Olympic podium someday.

The American game also lured Liu's classmates Xiao Qi and Wang Xiaoqiang away from their previously favorite sport - badminton.

"Baseball is more exciting than any other game," said Xiao, who confessed to keep a baseball glove beside his pillow.

Baseball is not ready to replace table tennis in the world's most populous country despite the change of allegiance by schoolboys like Liu and Xiao. But one fact is undeniable: baseball has exploded in popularity in China, thanks to the Major League Baseball's Play Ball! China program supervised by Xie Long (Leon Xie), Managing Director of MLB China.

Four million Chinese play baseball and more than 60 Chinese universities and colleges and 1,000 high and primary schools have their own teams, according to the Chinese Baseball Association (CBA).

A TNS Sports Asia survey shows 16.2 percent of the Chinese population are interested in baseball and about 1 percent are loyal baseball fans. Also, up to 26 percent of Chinese are interested in MLB and its merchandise and the majority of them are young, highly educated and have well-paid jobs.

"Baseball has a bright future in China," said Xie Long. "What MLB China is doing is to get more people playing baseball in China."

MLB launched its grassroots youth baseball program, Play Ball!, in five cities across China in 2007. The program has been incorporated into the physical education curriculum for students aged eight-to-12 in 120 elementary schools in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu and Wuxi.

Play Ball! China has reached more than 400,000 people since its launch. The participating students have been introduced to the rules of the game and instructed on developing their baseball skills as part of their in-school physical education programs.

"It was a very good start and we plan to attract more Chinese youth to take part in the Play Ball! program," said Xie, who announced the Baseball Park would tour 10 more cities in China in 2010, bringing the total to 15.

MLB is also thinking about cultivating a baseball equivalent of NBA star Yao Ming. That's why MLB has decided to work with the nation's education and sports departments to promote the sport in public schools and communities, hoping to reach millions of Chinese youngsters and find and nurture future talent.

The MLB Baseball Development Center (MLBDC), a baseball academy established in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, in September, is the cream of the crop of such cooperation.

The academy hosts 16 select school-aged baseball hopefuls and provides them with regular classes, baseball training and English lessons.

"We are fostering these hopefuls with patience and expect some of them can grow into a Yao Ming of baseball," Xie said.

"Three Chinese players are playing in the Major League Baseball system in the United States. They're young and in the developmental stages, so they're not quite yet at the Yao Ming level, but they all played for the 2009 China national baseball team."

The three promising Chinese players include pitcher Kai Liu and catcher Zhenwang Zhang, who started in the New York Yankees developmental organization in 2007. Ray Chang, who was born in Kansas City to Chinese parents, plays shortstop for the Altoona (Pennsylvania) Curve in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

About Play Ball!

Play Ball! is Major League Baseball International's youth start-up program aimed at supporting organizations that want to introduce or expand organized youth baseball in their communities. Since 1994, MLBI has conducted successful league and school-based youth programs in Australia, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Britain and China.

Leading by halfpipe star Shaun White and snowboard cross ace Lindsey Jacobellis, the U.S. snowboard teams are striding for another harvest at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games from Feb. 12 to 28.

Snowboarding was developed in the United States in the 1960s as people across the country began to seek out new winter activities. And since its debut at the Nagano Games 12 years ago, American snowboarders have won 14 Olympic medals, including five golds and a men's halfpipe podium sweep on home soil in 2002.

The Americans should be particularly proud of their achievements in the halfpipe events as its dominant teams have collected 10 of the possible 18 Olympic medals awarded.

White, nicknamed "Flying Tomato", is unparalleled in the high-flying halfpipe routines. After stunning the judges and crowd to triumph in Turin, Italy four years ago, the 23-year-old talent has never stopped to try new thrilling tricks and keeps his reign in the event.

Although other top American snowboarders Kevin Pearce and Danny Davis were both excluded from the Olympic squad due to injuries, White should make sure that he would steal most of the spotlights on Cypress Mountain.

The U.S. women's halfpipe team has more than one favourite as 2002 Olympic gold medallist Kelly Clark, defending Olympic champion Hannah Teter as well as Gretchen Bleiler, the runner-up four years ago, build up a formidable squad, threatening to run another sweep of the podium just as their men's counterparts did eight years ago.

However, Chinese teenager Liu Jiayu has shown her capability of making a splash at her first Olympics as the 17-year-old has clinched six World Cup titles. The former martial art apprentice began her snowboard training in 2003 and triumphed at last year's World Championships in Gangwon, South Korea with the highest ever score in the women's event.

In the mass-start snowboard cross, American Jacobellis will try hard to prevent the nightmare in Turin from happening again. Jacobellis, leading all the way down, let the gold medal slip away as she fell in executing the last jump.

Four years later, Jacobellis comes to Vancouver as a favourite again. By now, the 24-year-old is the winner of 19 World Cup races and two World Championships.

Recently, the "lucky" winner Tanja Frieden from Switzerland announced retirement after tearing both Achilles tendons in a World Cup event. This time, Jacobellis, nicknamed "Lucky" promises: "That won't happen again."

As coach Peter Foley said, it was a huge battle to make the U.S. men's snowboard cross team as six riders have been on the World Cup podium this season and only four of them make the Olympic team.

At last, defending champion Seth Wescott is going to lead seasoned Nate Holland, World Championships bronze medallist Nick Baumgartner and three-time World Cup winner Graham Watanabe.

In the parallel giant slalom, the 34-year-old Canadian Jasey Jay Anderson is going to fight hard with the Schoch brothers from Switzerland. Philipp Schoch and his elder brother Simon Schoch made one-two finish at the 2006 Games with Philipp Schoch successfully defending his title. But Anderson has announced that he would no longer compete in the snowboard cross, showing his determination to achieve in the parallel giant slalom.

Anderson has collected two parallel giant slalom World Championships titles and is also a top athlete in the snowboard cross in which he won two World Cup titles and came fifth at the 2006 Games.

As a legend of the most demanding sport in the winter Olympics, Norway's Ole Einar Bjorndalen is determined to win his sixth gold medal at the coming Vancouver Winter Games.

The 35-year-old Norwegian has dominated the sport with a total of eight Olympic medals, including four golds in Salt Lake City in 2002 and one in Nagano in 1998.

As the current world champion in four of the five events and has 91 career victories in the World Cup competitions, he is amongst the favorites for the 20km individual race when the race starts in Whistler.

Competition on the men's side is expected to come from Germany and Russia. If Bjorndalen is the man to beat in Vancouver, then Germany's Michael Greis has to be a close second.

The 33-year-old Greis is the reigning Olympic champion in the individual race, relay team and the mass start. He also has 11 career victories under his belt, along with three golds in the World Championships.

Russia's Evgeny Ustyugov is another one to watch in the event and is vying for Bjorndalen's domination of the sport.

In Whistler, as in the season-to-season World Cup, men and women biathletes will compete in five disciplines: individual start, pursuit, sprint massed start and relay.

On the women's side, Germany's Magdalena Neuner is a name to watch out for.

Two years ago, the photogenic Neuner won the World Cup and finished the season with six World Championship gold medals in her collection, three each from the 2007 and 2008 championships.

A back injury, and a sudden drop in accuracy, blighted the 22-year-old's form last winter, but she seems to be hitting her stride in time for the Olympics.

Besides Neuner, Kati Wilhelm of Germany won four medals, two golds and two silver, during the recent World Championships in South Korea. Wilhelm is currently ranked fourth in the world. Russia's Olga Zaitseva won the mass start event and was a member of the winning relay team. The top-ranked woman biathlete is Helena Jonsson of Sweden.

Poor in the shooting part, Chinese biathlon team sent six athletes to Vancouver including the most competitive Liu Xianying, who aims at entering the top eight in the Games.

The biathlon competition begins on Saturday, February 13, with the women's 7.5 km sprint, and concludes on Friday, February 25 with the men's 4x7.5km relay.

The Russian mission for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics will compete for 40 medals, said Vitaly Mutko, Minister of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy, on Wednesday.

The Russian government has decided to award athletes who win medals at the Olympic arena with cash and vehicles, the minister told reporters after meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev.

The Russian mission consists of 179 people, he added, while pledging all measures necessary to avoid the recurrence of doping incidents.

Biathlon, skiing, figure skating, speed skating and snowboarding were widely seen as likely items in which the Russian athletes could claim gold medals.

Anton Sikharulidze, chairman of the Sport Committee at Russia's lower house of the parliament, said on Tuesday that Russia should finish top three in the medal table at the Vancouver Olympic Games.

Russia won 22 medals, including eight gold, to rank fourth in the medal table at the Turin Games.

The Vancouver Winter Olympics is slated for Feb. 12-28.

Following Michael Schumacher footstep, little brother Ralf could be set to return to Grand Prix racing, Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone is reported having said on Wednesday.

Ralf, 34, retired from Formula One in 2007 after 10 years on the circuit to race in Germany's DTM touring car competition, but Ecclestone says he has recommended the younger Schumacher brother to the new Stefan GP team who have taken over from Toyota.

Serbian businessman Zoran Stefanovic has taken over the team's finances and Ralf, winner of six Grand Prix' from 180 starts and whose best finish in the overall standings was fourth twice, has been recommended to drive for the new outfit with elder brother Michael set to drive for Mercedes this season.

Ecclestone says he does not expect Formula One teams USF1 and Campos to race this season and says Schumacher should race for Stefan having driven for them under the Toyota banner in 2007.

"Ralf Schumacher would be the perfect driver for them, he knows the team and he has experience," Ecclestone told German magazine Sport Bild.

Schumacher has no DTM contract for 2010 and there have been reports here he is eager to get a Formula One berth for the new season which starts on March 14 in Bahrain.

Vancouver commuters will face the hard reality of what it means to be an Olympic host this Friday when the Canadian city undertakes the final practice day of its transit plan meant to reduce traffic by 30 percent in downtown core.

With the Winter Games opening ceremony set for February 12, the city is closing two key viaducts to the downtown area, thoroughfares used daily by thousands of suburban commuters.

The closures, implemented during Games times for security reasons and easy access for Olympic-related vehicles transporting athletes, officials and media, are for all public traffic, be it vehicles, cyclists or pedestrians.

During a media tour of the City of Vancouver's traffic headquarters on Tuesday, Dale Bracewell, the municipality's director of Olympic transportation, said commuters needed to get the hard message that starting Friday, if they were coming downtown, they needed to come by bus, metro, the seabus, or better, walk or cycle.

At the high-tech, albeit cramped control center, transport officials showed off a range of controls in their traffic signal management system room and main operations room.

Among their arsenal to control traffic flow in a city with about 850 traffic light intersections, were 30 real-time cameras and changeable message signs that could be adopted almost instantly whatever situation arises.

In this metropolis of 2.2 million that is heavily dissected by water and mountains and where private cars are the favored mode of transport, it is clear that there is potential for traffic chaos on Friday. It is also the day when the Olympic lanes, those for official vehicles only, go into effect.

Last Friday, the fourth Friday of its "Travel Smart" traffic reduction plan, the city registered a paltry four percent net vehicle reduction into the downtown core across a 24 hour period, far below its 20 percent target. This week, the target is an ambitious 25 percent reduction.

With 122,000 people travelling via the new Canada Line metro system that brings people in from the neighboring satellite areas of Richmond, Ladner, Surrey and White Rock, and another 20,000 commuters coming from the North Shore on the SeaBus, Bracewell said there was signs people were starting to get the message to use public transit.

"The morning rush period saw a 13 percent reduction (on Friday), largely indicating people are starting to plan. When you look at that period we are seeing a larger take-up in terms of the response. If they are still driving, they are working their way away from the 7am to 9am or 2pm to 7pm periods where we are encouraging people not to use those windows."

Reaction among locals to the pending road closures proved mixed. Some indicated they would be using public transit to go to work and attend the Games, while others planned to stay clear.

"It's only for two weeks, so it's the least we can do to support the Games," said Hong Kong immigrant Ivy Wong. "I live in Richmond and they are having some of the Olympic activities and events out there. I'll take my kids and use public transport to get there."

Ivan Marks, owner of a freight forwarding company near the Vancouver airport in Richmond, said he commuted from his West Vancouver home each weekday and the road closures would make his daily travel plans difficult.

"I understand why they are doing this, but they really have closed a lot of roads far too in advance of the Games. It is convenient for the Olympic people and athletes, but it comes at the expense and inconvenience of local residents. They have given these (Olympic) people far too much leeway. I'm going on holiday during the Games to get away from it all."

Maybe it's better for Bode Miller this way. Maybe the bad boy of the Turin Olympics relishes being an afterthought this time around.

The emergence of U.S. skiing star Lindsey Vonn has allowed Miller to escape the spotlight heading into these Winter Games. No controversial interviews. No hype.

"I think I'll get some attention, but with Lindsey doing so well this year, I think I'll be more under the radar than I was in '06," Miller wrote in his online blog last week.

Referring to media backlash about his off-course antics four years ago, Miller continued: "That was a joke. They blew that completely out of proportion." And looking ahead to Vancouver, he said: "There's no way to know what it will be like until we get there. It won't be shocking either way, and I'm capable of dealing with it."

After debating all summer whether to even return to the Olympics, Miller is back. And love him or hate him, he's again a multi-medal threat. At 32, he's a father now and has rejoined the U.S. Ski Team after two seasons of training and racing on his own.

"I'm looking forward to the Olympics more this time around because I feel like all the pieces are fitting together better," he said in his blog. "I'm more physically fit, I feel better mentally, my equipment is good."

Actually, the most pressing issue for Miller now might be his fitness after skipping summer training and then injuring his ankle in a team volleyball game in December. Yes, volleyball.

"I would say Bode is not going to be 100 percent physically," U.S. men's head coach Sasha Rearick said. "He's made a good effort in the last couple weeks to get there, but I don't think he'll be at his best.

"The high-end tolerance, in order to do that type of work, your body has got to feel right. With the ankle the way it was, he wasn't able to do those types of sessions. He wasn't able to lift and do some of the high-end stuff. He's trying to get it in now, but it takes time for the body to adapt. It's not like you do a hard session one day, and the next day, you're fit."

At the 2006 Turin Games, Miller entered as a major focus of attention, as much for his attitude as his talent, after saying on CBS' "60 Minutes": "If you ever tried to ski when you're wasted, it's not easy."

He was coming off his first overall World Cup title and was tapped as a heavy favorite in multiple events — only to leave medal-less. After his final event, Miller told The Associated Press that at least he "got to party and socialize at an Olympic level."

"The Olympics has always been kind of a sore subject for him, and I don't quite know why. Especially since he had an amazing Olympics in Salt Lake," said John McBride, the former U.S. speed specialist whom Miller hired as his personal coach when he broke away from the national team. "He always felt like people had unrealistic expectations of him."

Miller won two silver medals at the 2002 Olympics but now has gone three consecutive major championships without a medal.

In his first season on his own, Miller won his second overall World Cup title. Then with McBride gone for 2008-09, and Miller's buddy and former teammate Forest Carey in charge, last season became the most difficult of Miller's career.

He failed to win a single race for the first time in nearly 10 years and skipped the final four events after again failing to medal at the world championships.

"It did surprise me that last year he was in the hunt to win the downhill title and he decided to skip the last races," McBride said. "That was unusual, because in my experience working with him, he always wanted to win a downhill title."

Over the summer, Miller pondered his future while spending time with his daughter, Dacey, who was born in February 2008.

When Miller visited with McBride in the fall, he had practically hung up his skis.

"If you had told me at the beginning of this fall that he was going to come back and race the Olympics, I would have been like, 'Rrright,'" McBride said.

Some time in September, though, Miller decided on a full-fledged return, rejoined the U.S. team and dedicated himself to racing.

"He kind of wanted to set everything free and see if he woke up one morning in September and the calling was there for him to go out and be a ski racer," said Miller's agent, Lowell Taub.

"Not because there was a train of momentum pushing him to do it or coaches or agents or sponsors or the media. He wanted to do it, because he wanted to do it," Taub said. "If he feels that he is skiing for the right reasons and the right motivation, he is far more successful than if he feels he is skiing for outside forces."

Miller won his first race in nearly two years at a super-combined in Wengen, Switzerland, last month. But a better gauge of his condition came in the grueling Lauberhorn downhill the following day, when Miller was on pace for the podium before his legs turned into jelly within sight of the finish line.

Miller simply was unable to apply the needed muscle pressure on the final turns of the classic course and skidded to a premature stop.

"Generally in years prior, he's been so strong there, even on the bottom — winning the bottom split — so that was pretty indicative to me that he wasn't in the kind of shape he's been in, in the past," said McBride, who has kept tabs on Miller this season in his new position on the Canadian staff.

"But he's not going to see a downhill that long for the rest of the year."

The downhill in Wengen lasts a seemingly eternal 2 1/2 minutes, whereas the Olympic course in Whistler should run about 30 seconds shorter.

Two years ago, Miller flew to Whistler for the Olympic test events directly after the birth of his daughter in San Diego. He didn't finish the super-G and placed seventh in the giant slalom.

As for away from the snow, Rearick said there was no need to lecture Miller about how to behave in Whistler.

"We've talked about every single day giving the effort to achieve greatness, and that's what we're focused on — putting the effort in and the time and dedication to doing that," Rearick said. "We all know what it means to be a professional and what it takes to do that, so as long as we're on that same page, we're charging forward."

Part of Miller's strategy seems to be a ban on interviews, including rejecting a request for this story.

"His whole comeback and his whole approach has been focused on execution and the process of getting faster, getting fit and getting healthy," Rearick explained. "He'll talk to the media about his skiing and he's done a good job with that — at the events in the finish."

Miller could have plenty to talk about if he follows through on a plan that Rearick said includes all five races at the Olympics.

"Whether or not I ski all five events in Vancouver is going to be a matter of how my ankle feels and how well my body holds up," Miller said in his blog on universalsports.com. "I think the most important thing is that now I feel like I have the speed to be on the podium in all five events."

Perhaps. Still, it's hard to shake the sense that anything can happen with Miller, for better or for worse.

Listen, for example, to McBride speak about his former protege.

In one breath, the coach said: "He's so talented, and he's got so much speed. It's really just about putting a run together. I think he'll be a force at the Olympics."

A few moments later, though, McBride offered this tongue-in-cheek assessment: "Put it this way — I hope he's there, and if he's there, he'll be pushing hard. If for some reason he's not, it wouldn't be a shocker to me."

In other words: With Bode Miller, you just never know what you're going to get.

Fourteen gang members were arrested by Vancouver police nine days before the opening day of the Winter Games, said the police in the western Canadian city.

Officials said the gang members, including a prominent leader, were arrested on drug and weapons charges.

Mayor Gregor Robertson said the timing of the arrests shortly before the world arrives for the games was good, but that the investigation against the gang members had been ongoing for years.

Bringing their 2009 World Series championship trophy, the New York Yankees came to help China develop baseball youth program here on Wednesday.

It's the first time the World Series trophy, which is symbolic of team excellence in Major League Baseball, came to China.

Yankees, who clinched their 27th World Series championship last November, beat the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in Game 6 in the World Series.

The Yankees created a partnership with the CBA on January 29, 2007, when the pair drafted a Memorandum of Understanding that formalized the CBA' s first strategic alliance with a Major League Baseball club.

Randy Levine, Yankees' president, said in the press conference held in the Kunlun Hotel: "We are happy to help China to develop the sport among school students."

As a plan, the Yankees will visit China every August after their regular season since this year, watching the China's Youth Baseball League (CYBL) matches and giving lessons to the young players.

Yankees started the trophy tour in Asia on Jan. 31, visiting Japan, China and Hong Kong, China. The tour is organized by QSL Sports Limited, which has been active in the promotion of baseball in China and operates the CYBL together with the CBA.

Mr. Kenny Huang Jian Hua, chairman of QSL, revealed a plan to boost a 1,000-team youth league in China.

"In 2009, we have more than 300 teams in the CYBL. I hope with the help of the Yankees, the CYBL will become a 1,000-team baseball league," Huang said.

The trophy will make its Hong Kong debut on February 5 at New World Development's recently-opened K11 mall at 18 Hanoi Road TST.

Danica Patrick could win her stock car debut at Saturday's ARCA race at Daytona and still decide to bypass the Nationwide Series opener there a week later.

"(Finishing high) doesn't mean that I'm ready for that race," the IndyCar star said Wednesday. "Maybe I didn't get put in very many tough situations."

Patrick joked that she was giving herself "a get out of jail free card." She won't commit to any particular yardstick of what it would take to convince her to make her NASCAR debut in the second-tier series Feb. 13 at Daytona International Speedway.

"That way, whatever I decide, nobody can argue with me," Patrick said.

Where she finishes is less important than which new challenges she faces — and how she handles them.

"I'll have to feel comfortable in all situations," Patrick said. "It's a much different animal from the Daytona 500 weekend with 30 Cup drivers and more cars and more experience. Every level you step up, if you're not prepared, it's just exponentially harder.

"It's going to have to be a pretty stellar weekend."

Otherwise, Patrick will make her debut the following week in Fontana, Calif. JR Motorsports said last week that Patrick would race at least 12 NASCAR events this season but left the first one up in the air.

It all depends on how she feels after Saturday's debut — and that may have very little to do with the standings.

"Trust me, there have been some (IndyCar races) where I've walked away, I'm like, 'Dude, I did a pretty good job. I know I finished eighth today, but if you'd have known how that car felt, you'd see how much of a hero I was,'" Patrick said.

Daytona would be a daunting task with its field of more than a dozen Sprint Cup regulars. Then again, it would also be a high-profile stage. The race was just renamed the DRIVE4COPD 300, supporting the cause Patrick was in New York promoting Wednesday.

Patrick, actor Jim Belushi, former Olympic decathlon champion Bruce Jenner, singer Patty Loveless and former NFL star Michael Strahan are part of an initiative to screen people for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. The other four will serve as grand marshals at the race.

Patrick's grandmother suffered from emphysema, one form of COPD. She remembers how her grandmother was confined to a wheelchair, on oxygen 24 hours a day.

"For me, I didn't even get a chance to really have a good, deep relationship and a meaningful, mature one with her," Patrick said, "because she was gone so young, and I was just a teenager."

U.S. Olympic defenseman Mike Komisarek of the Toronto Maple Leafs will have shoulder surgery that will knock him out of the Vancouver Games and the rest of the NHL season.

A date for the operation has not yet been set, the Maple Leafs said Wednesday.

"Our team doctors have recommended this after a determined effort to rehab the injury without surgery," Komisarek said in a statement. "Having this done immediately is the right thing to do for the Leafs. I am truly sorry that I will not be able to represent my country at the Olympics."

It is the latest blow to the U.S. team that already lost New Jersey Devils defenseman Paul Martin to a broken left forearm. Both players can be replaced before the games begin later this month.

Potential Olympic replacements for Martin and Komisarek include Atlanta's Ron Hainsey, Los Angeles' Rob Scuderi, Ryan Whitney of the Anaheim Ducks, and Carolina's Tim Gleason. Final rosters are due on Feb. 15, one day before the United States opens play with a game against Switzerland.

The 28-year-old Komisarek, a Long Island native, was chosen for the Olympic team on Jan. 1 and was injured one day later at Calgary. Signed by the Maple Leafs as an unrestricted free agent last summer, Komisarek had four assists in 34 games this season.

Phil Mickelson won't be using the Ping Eye2 wedge that led a fellow player to accuse him of "cheating," even though he hopes others will use the controversial club to keep attention on what he calls a ridiculous rule.

"I won't be playing that wedge. My point has been made," Mickelson said Wednesday on the eve of his two-time title defense at Riviera. "But if these governing bodies cannot get together to fix this loophole, if players stop using this wedge — which would stop the pressure of the issue — then I will relook at it and put the wedge back in play."

The Ping wedge has grooves that no longer conform under a new USGA regulation, adopted by the PGA Tour. However, any Ping wedge made before April 1, 1990, is approved for play under a legal settlement from two decades ago.

Mickelson is among five players who have used the Ping wedge in competition this year.

Several players believe using the club goes against the spirit of the new grooves regulation, although Scott McCarron fueled the debate when he said of Mickelson and others, "It's cheating."

Mickelson hinted at legal action after saying he was "publicly slandered." He said McCarron offered him a sincere apology on Tuesday night, which he accepted.

"We all make mistakes, and we all say things we wish we could take back," Mickelson said. "I've done it a bunch in my career. And the fact that it's also not easy to come up and face that person, look them in the eye and apologize ... I appreciate him being a big enough man to do that."

Instead, Mickelson vented his anger at the USGA and its lack of transparency in developing the new rules for grooves. He has complained that his submitted wedges that fit the guidelines, only for the USGA to reject the club for violating the intent of the new rule.

"I've very upset with the way the rule came about, the way one man essentially can approve or not approve a golf club based on his own personal decision, regardless of what the rule says," Mickelson said. "This has got to change."

The next step remains murky.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem met with players on Tuesday night and conceded that tour officials did not realize a Ping wedge from 20 years ago would become such a big issue.

Finchem said the Ping Eye2 wedge produces spin at about 60 percent of the rate from last year's wedges, but about 10 percent more than wedges approved for competition this year.

"The assumption was made last year that very few, if any, players would use that club because they're 20 years old," Finchem said. "I think we underestimated that a little bit."

He said the tour could either do nothing and monitor how many players used wedges, an option that seemed unlikely because Finchem said it still raised issues over fairness in competition. Some players are going to eBay to find the clubs, as Ping stopped making them and now only can confirm through serial numbers when the wedges were made.

The other option is to work out an agreement with Ping chairman and CEO John Solheim. He said Solheim was to meet with the USGA over the next few weeks, and "I can only hope progress is made in that regard."

Ping plays the biggest role in any solution because of its lawsuits against the USGA and PGA Tour over square grooves.

Finchem said the third option involved a complicated process in which the tour's independent committee on equipment tries to establish a local rule. He called that a "cumbersome process."

Any solution could be weeks, if not months, away.

In the meantime, Mickelson said he would not use the wedge at the Northern Trust Open, even though he's hopeful others will.

"If there's no pressure among these organizations to make changes, I will immediately put the club back in play," Mickelson said.

By Tym Glaser

BEIJING, Feb. 5 --To the uninitiated, and that is most of we folk born outside of the US of A, the 'holiday' known as 'Super Bowl' is something of a mystery.

It is widely celebrated in that country, much like Christmas and Thanksgiving but, fortunately, during Super Bowl, you do not have the give out expensive gifts or kill ugly birds which say 'gobble-gobble'.

Now, if you have the misfortune to be invited to a Super Bowl party this coming Monday morning by an American friend, I have some tips that will help you blend in like a true little Yankee Doodle Dandy or, if you so desire, a Redneck.

Don't thank me, I'm a solution-orientated type of guy.

THE GAME

The Super Bowl game involves people in helmets running into each other and provides an interesting diversion between the TV ads. It's a little like a demolition derby without the cars, if you get my drift. In the States, they call it football but, aside from a guy called 'punter' and another called 'kicker', there is very little footing of the ball. When watching the game with your American friends just follow their leads and abuse the men dressed in the zebra suits at every given opportunity.

THE FOOD

Like most holidays in America, the Super Bowl has its own special dishes, which are simply heaven and beyond for fast-food junkies.

First, and most importantly, is the hot dog. This delight is basically a sausage in a bun. What actually comprises that sausage remains one of life's great mysteries and it's probably best left that way.

Canny Americans drown out the taste of said 'dog' by lathering it in mustard and/or ketchup (tomato sauce). Popcorn bathed in melted butter or any other heart-attack inducing condiment is another traditional festive feast. This is also a multi-purpose food as you can throw said popcorn at the TV and cause minimal damage. The nachos, first created at Tom's Bar and Diner in Pasadena, California, circa 1972, is a fine US dish which features corn chips swamped in cheese. Not the most complicated menu item ever invented but it can also feature salsa (why can't Americans ever just say tomato?), guacamole (the avocado pear, must they come up with a different word for everything?) and whatever else you'd like to throw on top of this 'cholesterolic' bonanza.

THE DRINKS

Beer must be drunk during the Super Bowl. No wine, no fancy cocktails, just beer. Unfortunately, the US in renowned as the worst beer-making country in the world. Here you can play on your naivety and carry a brew from your home country. Remember to protect your stash though because Americans don't like their own beer either.

THE HALFTIME SHOW

A mini-mini-mini concert which features a band or singer that was popular about the same time the radio was invented and people listened to music on gramophones. This year's act is The Who. Who? An elderly English band with an exceptional guitarist but you wouldn't want to hire him as a babysitter.

THE ADS

What the Super Bowl is all about. Major corporations spend millions and millions of dollars to get an ad on during the game because, well, just because, OK! Of course, these are not just any ads but ones that promote beer, fast-food and cars and are supposed to be incredibly funny. To our American friends they are the equivalent of The Goons, Monty Python and Fawlty Towers all rolled into one 30-second vignette. Laugh when your friends do at talking frogs and Clydesdales and you may just survive the Bowl holiday.

Tym Glaser is a sports copy editor who will take the Colts by 3 1/2 points over the 'Who Dat?' Saints. You can contact him at tymglaser@hotmail.com

The world's most famous cyclist, Lance Armstrong, will compete in this year's Cape Argus Pick Pay Cycle Tour in South Africa, for the first time.

The seven-time winner of the Tour de France announced his decision on his Twitter page on the Internet.

Armstrong formed his own RadioShack team late last year after splitting from the Astana team.

South Africa's Daryl Impey forms part of the RadioShack team and competed alongside Armstrong in the recently concluded Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia

The Argus Cycle Tour will take place on Sunday, March 14.

Sport24 reported on Thursday that Armstrong will be in South Africa from March 9 to March 11 as part of a fund-raising initiative for and will be holding a series on breakfasts, dinners and a 100 kilometer ride around the Cape for which fellow cycling enthusiasts can pay to join.

No place is like home. The sweet word, however, turns bitter for the under-pressure Canadian men's and women's ice hockey teams when Olympics is coming to town.

As Vancouver is ready for the Feb. 12-28 Winter Games, the hockey-mania nation has laid its accounts with the double golds, especially after the Canadian men's team finished seventh out of eight teams in Turin 2006.

To ensure Canada walking away from the disappointment four years ago, including a 2-0 shutout by minnow Switzerland, team director Steve Yzermann, a former National Hockey League legend, called up a squad with all its stars from the break-taking league.

Sidney Crosby, arguably the sport's most dynamic player who led the Pittsburgh Penguins to win the Stanley Cup eight months ago, will head the hosts' superpower lineup, while veteran defender Scott Niedermayer captains the side to make up for his injury absence in 2006.

Also young star Drew Doughty was put on the roster, just in front of superstar goalie Martin Brodeur.

There's no easy drive for the Canadian hockey boys, however, with two-time reigning world champion Russia, defending Olympic champion Sweden, the 2006 silver medalist Finland and the dangerous neighbor the United States all set minds for the flavored gold.

Just finishing fourth in 2006 and having not won Olympic gold since 1992 as the Unified Team, Russia beat Canada in both 2008 and 2009 worlds finals, including the one in Quebec two years ago.

With two-time NHL MVP Alexander Ovechkin and three-time Stanley Cup winner Sergei Federov being back for the 2010 Games, Russia will become even stronger than that of the 2009 world championships.

Holder Sweden, along with Canada, has the best goalkeeper in the world in Henrik Lundqvist, while Finland has put together a team of experience with veterans like Saku Koivu, Kimmo Timonen and Teemu Selanne. Both of the northern squads have injury worries, though.

The United States may keep its soft point in scoring goals, but the back end will not come bothering like it did in Turin. And more luckily, the pressure is not on its side.

"The only pressure that I can see on the horizon right now is the pressure for the Canadian team which is massive and glacial and unrelenting," said general manager Brian Burke with a smile.

On the women's part, the clear edge is jointly held by Canada and the United States, as the rest of the world is still working to catch up with the North American powerhouses in ice hockey.

The Canadians are overwhelming at Olympics, having won the 2002 title in Salt Lake City and defended it four years later in Turin, but lost to the U.S. twice in a row in the 2008 and 2009 world championships. The 2007 worlds, however, saw Canada beating the United States, who took silver and bronze in the last two Olympic Games.

With a perfect 10-0 record in its last two Olympics, Canada will seek a hat-trick victory on home soil with veterans Hayley Wickenheiser and Cherie Piper, while the U.S. comes closely with Angela Ruggiero and Jenny Potter.

China, having earned the women's berth for the second time after missing the 2006 Games, has fixed its eyes on a sixth finish to the least under Finn Hannu Saintula, while the surprise silver medalist Sweden, who beat the U.S. 3-2 in the semifinal in 2006, will try hard to repeat the Turin glory.

Nominators of Asian Games and Asian Para Games Logo Design were awarded by the Guangzhou Asian Games Committee at the Guangzhou Asian Games Function on Thursday afternoon.

During the Award Ceremony, Gu Shiyang, assistant general secretary of the Guangzhou Asian Games told the press that the logos, emblem and mascots of both the Guangzhou Asian Games and the Guangzhou Asian Para Games reflect Guangzhou essence and feature Lingnan Culture.

Gu Shiyang, assistant general secretary of the Guangzhou Asian Games, said, "The image system of the Guangzhou Asian Games is one of its kinds in the Asian Games history, which has won the acknowledgements and applauses from both the International Asian Games Council and the Olympic Games Committees of state and regional level."

Professor Zhao Jian, head of the Guangzhou Asian Games Overall Image Design Group, said that all the designs of the Guangzhou Asian Games logos are very special and that the concept of the fire figures of the Sports Logo is borrowed from the Guangzhou Asian Games Emblem.

Zhao said, "This time, we use the shape of fire instead of dot to stand for the head of the sports figures. Such is called 'Guangdong-made Product' as it is a brand new try in Sports Games Logo Design."

He said that the fire figures decide that the upcoming Asian Games are different from the last Olympic Games and the Universiade, which break the conventionally visional concept and further reflect "China-Design" Essence.

Dancers of the cheering team for the United States National Football League (NFL) perform in Shanghai, east China, on Feb. 4, 2009. In order to promote the Super Bowl 2010, the championship game of the NFL, which is to be played on Feb. 8, three cheering members came to Shanghai to perform for Chinese audience.

Ask anyone in NASCAR about the many, many industry ailments and the answer is that everything will be just fine.

They better be right.

NASCAR opened Daytona International Speedway on Thursday for the first practice session of what's expected to be one of the most critical seasons in sport history. Faced with slumping attendance and television ratings, and economic woes that have handcuffed teams and manufacturers, NASCAR has planned a series of adjustments designed to re-energize the industry.

There's no doubt that it's a clear reaction to growing fan unrest.

"I think the fans want to see results," veteran driver Jeff Burton said. "The fans have been speaking for the last several years saying we want to see different stuff. I think if we give it to them, and it's different, and the racing doesn't improve from it, then yeah, this is a critical year.

"When you make changes, because you are making it better, then it better be better."

The first test was expected to be Saturday night in the exhibition Budweiser Shootout, when 24 drivers will run the first race under NASCAR's new "Boys, have at it" policy that green-lighted aggressive driving.

But the drivers didn't even make it through Thursday's first practice session without incident. Contact between Denny Hamlin and Mark Martin triggered a multicar accident that destroyed several cars.

It was a preview of what fans can expect during the lead-in to the Feb. 14 season-opening Daytona 500.

"Trust me, we're not finished," warned Greg Biffle. "It's going to be awesome."

NASCAR has relaxed its stance on bump-drafting and aggressive driving, and has encouraged participants to whittle down their obligatory sponsor plugs and start showing some real emotion. It's a clear response to fan complaints that drivers had become too corporate, and that NASCAR's restrictions had ruined the racing at Daytona and Talladega, typically the two most exciting tracks on the circuit.

The decision by NASCAR to be more lenient has so far been applauded, even though the true ramifications won't be known until the checkered flag falls on the Daytona 500. The policing of bump-drafting was to cut down on the spectacular accidents that typically mar Daytona and Talladega races.

"You should care about the racing, and (NASCAR's) not afraid of making changes," said Juan Pablo Montoya, who openly challenged president Mike Helton when he announced a ban on bump-drafting in the pre-race driver meeting at Talladega last November.

"Do they always get it right? No. But at least they admit when they don't get it right and they'll change it and make it better. Other series, if they make a huge screwup and racing is terrible, they live with it."

NASCAR also is showing a softer side by finally relenting a bit on its strict stance concerning the current Sprint Cup Series car. The car was designed by NASCAR to improve safety and cut costs. Phased into competition in 2007, the car has been criticized by competitors who found it difficult to drive and lampooned by race fans who hated the design and blamed the car for ruining racing.

Series officials had been strongly opposed to any major design changes, but recently announced a transition that will replace the rear wing with a more traditional spoiler. Testing on the spoiler has already started, and it could be introduced by late March.

NASCAR has also tried to give relief to struggling track operators by reducing fees it charges to hold a race. The trickle down effect should allow tracks to lower ticket prices — potentially luring fans back into the stands.

But the move has also led to a 10-percent cut in race purses, a reduction that directly effects the cash flow for race teams.

Even with the belt-tightening, team owners seemed uniformly on message in gushing about the steps NASCAR has taken to cure its many ailments.

"I am probably as excited about the future of racing as I have ever been," team owner Joe Gibbs said. "I can honestly say that everybody is pointed in the right direction, and we want this sport, we want it to bounce back and come roaring back. And we will."

Team owner Roger Penske preached about a cooperative effort from competitors and NASCAR.

"We've got to be sure we do this together, build this back up, because we need the TV ratings up, we need more people in the stands and I think we need better competition," he said. "I think the folks at NASCAR realize that."

There's more to this season, though, then just fixing problems.

The sport is still rife with competition storylines, starting with Jimmie Johnson's bid to extend his historical roll to a fifth consecutive Cup title. He was the media's 2010 preseason pick to win the championship — the first time during his run he's not been overlooked in favor of another driver.

"I'm thinking it my be a curse," he laughed. "We'll see how it turns out."

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate, will try to bounce back from a horrendous season that rattled his confidence. If Earnhardt succeeds, it will only strengthen an organization that Rick Hendrick has established as the very best in NASCAR.

All eyes will be on Hamlin, the trendy pick to upend Johnson based on a torrid close to last season. But he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee playing basketball two weeks ago, and a decision to postpone surgery until after the season has some questioning whether he'll still be a contender.

Then there's his nemesis, Brad Keselowski. The two openly feuded over the final three months of last season over incidents in the Nationwide Series. Hired by Penske for a full-time Cup ride this season, the controversial Keselowski will now be racing every week against Hamlin — and all the other drivers he's annoyed.

He's not concerned.

"It's so hard to come into this sport and run well when you're worried about making everyone else happy," Keselowski said. "I just don't see how you can do that because in competitive sports, the only time your competitors are happy with you is when they're beating you."

And don't forget Danica Patrick.

The enormously popular IndyCar driver will begin her transition into NASCAR via the second-tier Nationwide Series driving a car owned by Hendrick and Earnhardt. She'll make her stock-car debut Saturday in the ARCA race, and has not fully decided on whether or not she'll run next week's Nationwide race at Daytona.

But the crowd of reporters and photographers surrounding her at Thursday's media day was at least three-deep, and the buzz about her arrival has been a tremendous boost to NASCAR at a time it clearly needs some positive press.

"You'll have people come in and watch a race that would never watch a NASCAR race in their life just because she's there," said defending Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth. "It's good for all of us, and NASCAR, to get some new people to come in and watch the sport.

"Hopefully, they'll like what they see and want to come back."

Somehow, despite a global meltdown and a local thaw, the hosts are ready. Vancouver is abuzz and the stage is set for a Winter Olympics with dazzling settings and story lines.

Bring on Lindsey Vonn, skiing for a slew of gold medals, and the unpredictably intriguing Bode Miller. Anticipate the showdown between Asian figure skaters Kim Yu-na and Mao Asada. Root for, or against, a star-studded Canadian men's hockey team that knows anything less than gold will crush the home-country fans whose passion for a triumphant Olympics grows by the day.

Odds are high that it will rain at times in Vancouver during the Feb. 12-28 run of the games. On Cypress Mountain, in West Vancouver, crews are combatting unseasonably warm, wet weather by trucking in snow to cover the freestyle skiing/snowboarding venue.

But further north, at the vast ski resort of Whistler, snow abounds on the Alpine courses, and the towering mountains there combine with high-rise, harborside Vancouver to offer perhaps the most stunning mix of scenery ever for a Winter Olympics.

Many of the venues have successfully hosted world-class events over the past few years; the new bobsled/luge track at Whistler has been described as perhaps the fastest in the world.

Canada's Olympic athletes have had full access to the venues for training, part of the Own the Podium initiative that has set the bold goal for the host country to win the most medals at the games. Germany and the United States, which finished 1-2 in Turin four years ago, would love to thwart that goal

Asked what would make these games special for visitors, the CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee, stressed the excitement and sense of unity that they are kindling among Canadians.

"Let the world see what good Canadians can do if they work hard and pull together," John Furlong said in a telephone interview. "It's really a coming out event for Canada."

Few if any other host cities have faced such an overwhelming and unexpected crisis as VANOC did the past two years in the form of the global recession.

"We never thought we'd be confronted with an economy that went over a cliff," Furlong said. "We took the company, turned it upside down, shook it, and everything that didn't matter we left out."

Despite staggering financial woes for some of the corporate sponsors, VANOC managed to keep its own budget in order. Ticket sales have been robust, with most events sold out; even the most-hard hit sponsors — including General Motors of Canada — kept their commitments; and the International Olympic Committee has promised to help cover any post-games deficit that might emerge.

One of the biggest victims of the meltdown may turn out to be NBC, which has the U.S. television rights to the games. It expects to lose an estimated $200 million, with advertising revenue not matching the high bid price of $820 million that it committed to in 2003.

The fiscal crisis forced VANOC to become more creative as it trimmed some staff and operational costs without scaling back on the events, festivities and amenities being offered to the Olympic family and the public.

"We had to pay attention to every single tiny thing we were doing," Furlong said. "We didn't lose anything that anyone else will notice."

Now, on the eve of the games, VANOC has declared itself ready to welcome 5,500 athletes and a projected 350,000 visitors. Trendy restaurants and bars in Whistler and Vancouver's Gastown district will be bustling; official entertainment acts include DEVO, Usher and Buffy Sainte-Marie.

The influx of visitors will mean some inconveniences. For example, access to Whistler for Alpine events will be strictly controlled, and private cars without parking permits will be stopped at a checkpoint along the 90-mile Sea-to-Sky Highway.

For all events, authorities are advising spectators to arrive at least two hours early to allow time for the screening process.

The security budget for the games, initially projected at $175 million, quintupled to more than $900 million. Personnel will include about 4,500 members of the Canadian military; more than 6,000 police officers, mostly from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police but also scores of other Canadian jurisdictions; and 5,000 screeners hired by a private security consortium to conduct searches, under RCMP supervision, of people entering Olympic venues.

"We want to do this in Canadian style — we're subtle but we're ready," said RCMP Cpl. Bert Paquet, a spokesman for the security task force.

For some Vancouverites, there's concern about the hundreds of surveillance cameras being installed, not only at Olympic venues but also in some other crowd-attracting parts of the city.

Richard Smith, a communications professor at Simon Fraser University in suburban Burnaby, has helped lead a campaign to ensure that all the cameras — whether operated by the city or the Olympic security team — are dismantled after the games.

"I'm concerned that in the enthusiasm to provide security, people go way over the top," Smith said. "Canadians are fairly anti-surveillance — they like their privacy."

In most of Canada, Olympic fever has been high — notably during the torch relay that began in October. By Feb. 12, it will have passed through more than 1,000 Canadian communities — from major cities to Arctic hamlets — over a 28,000-mile route.

Not all Canadians are enthralled, of course. Some activists from Canada's aboriginal communities have viewed the games as a chance to press political grievances, and on a couple of occasions protesters prompted changes in plans for torch relay legs through native areas.

A rallying cry of these protesters was "No Olympics on Stolen Land" — a reference to the fact that in much of British Columbia, unlike other provinces, treaties were never completed to address the takeover of land by white settlers.

However, the prospect of serious friction diminished once VANOC established official partnerships with the four First Nations whose traditional territories overlap the vast Olympic zone.

Another challenge for organizers has been dealing with Vancouver's skid-row neighborhood — the Downtown Eastside — an area just a few blocks from the city center that abounds with run-down rooming houses, drifters and drug addicts. Prostitutes from the area were the main targets of serial killer Robert Pickton, serving a life prison term after being charged in 2002 with the deaths of 26 women.

VANOC and an array of civic leaders depicted the Olympics as a chance to uplift the Downtown Eastside, pledging to promote new affordable housing, provide jobs for inner-city residents and patronize local businesses. Some activists say more should have been spent to combat homeless and predict the end result will be gentrification that displaces many down-and-out residents.

Overall, residents of Greater Vancouver have displayed an understandable ambivalence about some aspects of the games. Many are wary of the transportation plan that will curtail driving into downtown, and one recent poll indicated that British Columbians — more so than residents of other provinces — are apt to think that too much money has been spent on the games.

Furlong said he understood why some Vancouverites might have curbed their Olympic enthusiasm to a greater degree than other Canadians, but senses a change as the opening ceremony approaches.

"The debates all took place here," he said. "The whole city has had to do all the work, the planning, and by the time the games start, they might have a different view."

"The community has lived it," he added. "Now they can enjoy the fruits of their labor."

The seven-time African Champions Egypt entered the top ten of FIFA's latest world ranking released on Wednesday, the organization said on its website.

Egypt made the great leap from number 24 on the table after beating Ghana 1-0 in the finals of African Nations Cup, which ended on Sunday.

It was Pharaohs' third consecutive victory in the pan-Africa event, and the seventh in history.

Now Egypt is the top African team on the table, followed by Nigeria, which advanced senven places to number 15.

It is also Egypt's highest ranking on FIFA's table for men. Nigeria had got the fifth place only once in 1994, the record one for an African team.

Spain is still the number one on the table, closely followed by Brazil. The rest of top ten was dominated by European powerhouses and Argentina, which ranks eighth.

John Terry's hopes of keeping the England captaincy were boosted on Wednesday after he was supported by an assistant to coach Fabio Capello.

Stuart Pearce, who also coaches the under-21 team, is the first member of the England coaching setup to support Terry in the wake of his sex scandal.

The 29-year-old Chelsea defender's position has been called into question following reports the married father of twins had an affair with the ex-girlfriend of former teammate Wayne Bridge.

Pearce strongly defended the player's importance to England ahead of the World Cup.

"John Terry is a fantastic captain, in footballing terms on and off the pitch I think he is a selfless professional and his form is fantastic for his country," Pearce said.

"So I'm not a big lover of witch hunts of people which I'm afraid our country tends to follow a little bit these days."

No public announcement on Terry's position is likely to be made before he meets later this week with Capello, who has been entrusted by the Football Association with making the final decision.

Carlo Ancelotti has backed John Terry to come through his personal crisis and lead Chelsea to the title despite his side's disappointing failure to overcome Hull City in a 1-1 draw at the KC Stadium.

Terry's week of woe showed no signs of improving as he was subjected to abuse on Humberside on Tuesday evening.

And just to make matters worse he was booked before having to watch his side drop two crucial points against Phil Brown's struggling team, blowing their chance to open up a four-point lead over Manchester United at the top of the table.

Terry had to run a gauntlet of hate from the home supporters that promises to become a regular event for the defender, but Ancelotti insists his captain can handle the flak and will carry on playing.

Terry will meet England manager Fabio Capello later this week to discuss his future as his country's captain following reports of his affair with the former girlfriend of international team-mate Wayne Bridge.

But he has the backing of Ancelotti, even if the Italian admits he might give the centreback a family holiday later this month when Chelsea face Cardiff City in the FA Cup fifth round at Stamford Bridge.

Ancelotti said: "Nothing can distract our concentration in this competition. In every game the Chelsea team has good focus and we can play good football.

"Concentration is always on top. This is an issue for me and John Terry. I think it's not a problem. You can see the line-up against Cardiff.

"If he needs a holiday he will have one and if not, he will play against Cardiff.

"I don't like to speak about this. It's not a question I want to speak about.

"For him (Terry) nothing has changed. He continues to play a very good game and every game he's living a good moment.

"He's doing his best. The atmosphere in the team is the same. There has been no change.

"We are in a good position now. We are top. We know Manchester United are very good and it will be a long race until the end of the season.

"We are happy to have a two-point lead. This was an opportunity, but it's impossible to win every game."

Chelsea had to rely on Didier Drogba's clinical free kick to salvage a point for the league leaders. It was his 20th goal of the season and cancelled out Stephen Mouyokolo's opening goal for Hull, his first for the club.

Ancelotti praised the impact Drogba had on his return to the side following international duty at the African Cup of Nations and believes his form and fitness will be key as the season enters its final third.

Ancelotti added: "It's an important moment for us, but we need to have all the players in good condition between now and the end of the season."

Hull rode their luck at times with goalkeeper Boaz Myhill once again impressive but Brown is convinced this result can provide his side with the belief that they have what it takes to go on and avoid relegation for the second season in succession.

"Against the quality of the opposition, that performance is right up there. I'm just disappointed we can't perform like this on a more regular basis," said Brown.

Cash-strapped Portsmouth remained rooted to the bottom of the English Premier League after Jonathan Greening scored the winner for Fulham in a 1-0 victory at Craven Cottage here on Wednesday to end the hosts run of five successive league defeats.

Portsmouth, as has been the case in recent matches, created several good chances but could not finish and they were made to pay the price when Greening scored his first goal for Fulham 16 minutes from time to nudge the visitors nearer relegation.

Now Pompey, who are battling off the field against a winding up order from British tax authorities and have paid their players late several times this season, travel to Old Trafford to play champions Manchester United on Saturday with the south coast side five points adrift at the foot of the table.

"We played so good, we dominated the game and created a lot of chances, especially in the first half," disappointed Portsmouth manager Avram Grant told Sky Sports.

"And then, from one mistake, we lost the game. It was very frustrating because we are not playing the football you'd expect at the bottom of the league but football of a team who deserve to be higher up the table," the Israeli added.

"But this is football, football is a game of results. We need to learn to take our chances. The boys tried hard and created a lot of chances but we need to put the ball in the net."

Asked if Pompey's financial problems were affecting players' performances on the field, Grant replied: "When they come on the pitch they are trying to do their best.

"Of course, it's not easy but they try hard, they fight and play good football. Except the result, everything was good today (Wednesday)."

Grant's own future at Fratton Park has been called into question by the cash crisis engulfing Portsmouth but he insisted: "I'm not the issue, the issue is the club, the issue is the fans.

"You see the fans today, they are great. It is a city that belongs to the club, the club belongs to the city and this is the life of the fans. The future of the club is what is important."

Kevin Prince Boateng got Pompey off to a bright start against Fulham, testing Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer with an angled drive.

Frederic Piquionne then threatened and had a fine chance in the 12th minute only for Schwarzer to make the save.

Prince Boateng then saw a shot from 20 yards fly just wide of Schwarzer's right post.

But Pompey are not where they are for no reason and it needed a fine one-handed save from their England goalkeeper David James to prevent a header from Aaron Hughes crossing the line following a Fulham corner.

Stefano Okaka missed a fine chance to score on his Fulham debut when the on-loan Italian somehow missed at the far post from Greening's header back across goal.

In the second half, Pompey nearly took the lead when Ivory Coast international striker Aruna Dindane's far-post header was turned away by Schwarzer.

Midfielder Greening, who made his name at Manchester United, finally ended the stalemate in the 74th minute when he turned in Damien Duff's centre across the six-yard box after the winger had dispossessed Algerian international Nadir Belhadj.

Pompey kept pushing forward but the 2008 FA Cup winners still suffered their 16th defeat in 23 league games so far this season.

Italy will play three friendlies against Cameroon, Mexico and Switzerland to warm up for the South Africa World Cup.

The Azzurri will face Cameroon March 3 in Monaco, Mexico June 3 in Brussels and Switzerland June 5 in Geneva.

The Italian football federation said there was still the possibility that the Mexico game could be moved to another site.

Argentine coach Diego Maradona changed the squad for the soccer friendly against Jamaica as one of them was injured and other four are playing the Libertadores Cup, local press said on Thursday.

Local press said that Maradona announced the squad for the match against Jamaica on Wednesday, but a few minutes later he had to change it.

Local press said that Maradona had included four players of Estudiantes de la Palta club, but on Thursday they will start playing at the Libertadores Cup.

Maradona summoned other four players to replace them, but again had to change his idea as Juan Pablo Pereyra of Altetico Tucuman club on Monday had a nose surgery.

So Maradona called up Racining club's forward Caludio Bieler to replace Pereyra.

Maradona has called more than 100 players to the national team, since he started coaching the team in November 2008.

Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez was content after seeing his side triumph over Getafe in the semifinal of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday night, but said they still had work to do to reach the final.

Goals from Luis Fabiano and an own goal from Getafe defender Mario gave Sevilla a 2-0 lead in the first leg of the semifinal, but with the return leg still to be played in Getafe' s Alfonso Perez Coliseum, Jimenez said the tie was not yet over.

"It is an important result and a very good one for us. We have scored twice and not conceded. It is a good result, but it is not a decisive one," he said on the official Sevilla website on Thursday morning.

"We will still have to give everything in the second leg. We have got an advantage, but it is not over yet," he insisted, before responding to fans who had booed his decision to replace striker Alvaro Negredo with midfielder Renato before half time.

"I' m not paid to make people happy with my decisions. We were leaving a lot of space in midfield and I had to make a decision."

"Negredo accepted it well and it worked out well. That's why they pay me my wages," said Jimenez.

Meanwhile Getafe coach Michel Gonzalez assured that his side would not renounce a place in the final despite the first leg defeat.

"The tie against Sevilla is not at all easy, but we are not giving up on anything. We have the return leg at home and that has to give us a boost to turn the semi-final around," said Michel.

Arsenal striker Eduardo has been ruled out of this weekend's Premier League match against leaders Chelsea due to injury, Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said Thursday.

The Croatia forward has failed to recover from the hamstring strain he suffered during last week's goalless draw against Aston Villa.

But midfielder Abou Diaby could return from the calf problem that has kept him out of action in recent weeks for Sunday's London derby at Stamford Bridge.

"Diaby is not yet back in normal training," Wenger told ArsenalTV Online. "Eduardo is already ruled out."

Wenger confirmed Robin van Persie is not expected to recover from his ankle injury until April at the earliest after a report stated the Dutch striker might be available by mid March.

Arsenal are third in the Premier League table, six points behind Chelsea.

ROME – AS Roma's stunning recent run continued as they beat Udinese 2-0 in the capital to take a commanding lead in their Coppa Italia semi-final.

Goals from Mirko Vucinic and Philippe Mexes settled the first-leg tie in Roma's favour and took their recent run to 15 wins and three draws in their last 18 matches.

It is a run that has lifted them from just above the relegation zone in Serie A to joint second while they have also progressed in the Europa League and Italian Cup.

They did the damage in the first half with Montenegro forward Vucinic giving them the lead on 12 minutes when he ran onto Daniele De Rossi's pass to find himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Samir Handanovic and he shot home in off the post.

Five minutes before the interval French defender Mexes doubled the advantage as he headed home a free-kick from David Pizarro.

Having dominated the first period, Roma controlled the second to ease to a comfortable victory.

On Wednesday Diego Milito gave Inter Milan a narrow 1-0 win over Fiorentina at the San Siro.

The second legs will be played on April 14.

The Spanish Committee of Sporting Discipline (CEDD) this Friday rejected the appeal Real Madrid had lodged over Cristiano Ronaldo's two game suspension.

Ronaldo served the first match of the suspension, which he received for lashing out and breaking the nose of Malaga defender Mtiglia a fortnight ago, when he sat out last weekend's win against Deportivo la Coruna.

Real Madrid wanted the forward to be available for Saturday's home match against Espanyol.

Although the CEDD had last week rejected an appeal to suspend the ban, the club again took its case to the government controlled body in a bid to overturn what remained of the suspension.

However, the CEDD again rejected Real's allegations and Ronaldo will now have to wait until next weekend's trip to Xerez before returning to action.

It was not the best news for the Portuguese international on his 25th birthday

Real Madrid defender Pepe this Thursday explained the work he is doing to recover from the knee injury that has ruined his season.

The Portuguese international damaged ligaments on his right knee playing away to Valencia on December 12. He needed an operation and is expected to miss the rest of the current season and probably this summer' s World Cup finals.

However, Pepe says he is doing everything possible to return to action before time.

"I am working very hard to be able to get back on the pitch and help my companions as soon as possible," he said on the official Real Madrid website.

"At the moment I feel good and I really want to recover well. I feel better with every passing day, that helps give me hope and keep my morale up and it also helps me know that things are going well," he added.

Pepe said he was grateful for all of the support he had received both from supporters and his teammates.

"That is the most important thing that I have had up to now. The people around me believe in me and have given me a lot of support. My companions tell me that they want me back as soon as possible."

"There will be moments when you feel sad, but all of the work is worth the effort," concluded the defender.

Chelsea defender John Terry lost his captain armband on Friday after a meeting with coach Fabio Capello, said the Football Association (FA).

Terry's position as a skipper since 2006 was under speculation after negative news about his private life splashed newspapers.

"After much thought I have made the decision it will be best for me to take the captaincy away from John Terry," Capello said on the FA website (www.thefa.com).

"As a captain with the team John Terry has displayed extremely positive behavior. However, I have to take into account other considerations and what is best for all of the England squad.

"What is best for all of the England team has inspired my choice," added Capello.