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Sports Briefs

■ Basketball
Gasol to have foot surgery
Spanish forward Pau Gasol will have surgery today to repair a broken bone in his left foot. Gasol fractured the fifth metatarsal in his left foot last week while playing at the FIBA World Championship. He was scheduled for surgery in Memphis at the Campbell Clinic, his club team the Memphis Grizzlies said on Wednesday. He is expected to be sidelined for up to three months.

■ Basketball
Payton resigns with Heat
Gary Payton, who traveled the NBA in search of a title, will stay with the team that delivered one after re-signing with the Miami Heat on Wednesday. Payton, 38 and a future Hall of Famer, spent his first his first 12-plus seasons with the Seattle SuperSonics and holds nearly every team record. Known as "The Glove" for his blanketing defense, he is a nine-time All-Defensive Team selection and was the 1996 Defensive Player of the Year.

■ Figure skating
Kwan plans to study
Michelle Kwan will skip the upcoming figure skating season and attend the University of Denver. Kwan said on Wednesday she will become a full-time student at Denver, and will be content to skate in exhibitions. "Each year, since 2002, I have taken a one-year-at-a-time approach to my figure skating plans," the five-time world champion said. "Education is very important to me, and this year I have decided to put college first. Next year at this time I will again evaluate all my options, including returning to competitive skating." The most accomplished skater of her generation, Kwan won a silver medal in the 1998 Olympics and a bronze in 2002. Kwan plans to major in political science, with a minor in international studies.

■ Soccer
Coach laments team psyche
Japan coach Ivica Osim said his players were unable to take criticism positively after Wednesday's fortuitous 1-0 Asian Cup qualifying win in Yemen. Substitute Kazuki Ganaha's injury-time goal sent holders Japan through to next year's finals but a poor display in Sana'a enfuriated Osim. "The result was the only positive," fumed Osim. "I'm not criticizing the players but if you tell them this was not good, the fear is they'll get a complex about it and play worse." Osim added: "It's an old disease of Japanese football and I don't see it improving anytime soon."

■ Olympics
Woodward gets new job
Sir Clive Woodward, who led England to Rugby World Cup victory in 2003, has been named as director of elite performance at the British Olympic Association (BOA). The BOA said on Wednesday that Woodward will help prepare and advise British competitors during the buildup to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the Winter Games at Vancouver in 2010 and the Summer Games in London 2012. "It is a privilege to be joining the BOA at such an exciting time for British Olympic Sport," Woodward said in a statement released through the BOA.

■ Soccer
Heart attack player OK
A 20-year-old Brazilian player was in good condition after going into cardiac arrest during team practice on Wednesday. Diogo, a reserve for Cruzeiro, collapsed shortly after a routine physical session Wednesday morning. He was revived by team doctors with the help of a defibrillator, the club said. Doctors said Diogo's condition was not life threatening anymore, but he remained under observation at an intensive care unit in the city of Belo Horizonte, about 590km north of Sao Paulo.

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