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Sports Briefs

■ Basketball
Smith fined for rude gesture
Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Smith was fined US$25,000 on Monday by the National Basketball Association for an obscene gesture to fans during a game against Charlotte. Smith was called for an offensive foul with 4:15 left in the second quarter and picked up a technical foul for arguing the call in a 104-85 loss to the Bobcats. He continued to argue and was hit with a second technical and ejected from the game. On his way to the locker room, Smith was about halfway down the tunnel when he raised both hands and made an obscene gesture to the crowd.

■ Football
Raiders hire youngest coach
The Oakland Raiders hired Lane Kiffin as their coach on Monday, making the 31-year-old University of Southern California (USC) offensive coordinator the NFL's youngest head coach. Kiffin, the son of Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, earned the job with a strong interview on Monday after the Raiders failed to reach a deal last week with 32-year-old Steve Sarkisian, Kiffin's fellow assistant to Pete Carroll at USC.

■ Olympics
LA, Chicago submit plans
Los Angeles and Chicago submitted detailed plans for the 2016 Summer Olympics to the US Olympic Committee (USOC) on Monday, a major step in the process to decide which city will bid for the games next year. The so-called bid books contain 19 sections, detailing every aspect of the cities' plans -- from their strategy to woo international decision-makers to their outline of their prospective Olympic villages, venues and media operations. Other cities that have expressed interest in hosting the 2016 Games are Madrid, New Delhi, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Rome and Tokyo.

■ Football
`The Tuna' retires
Bill Parcells resigned as coach of the Dallas Cowboys on Monday and announced his retirement from coaching. Parcells, 65, compiled a 34-30 regular season record with the Cowboys in four years in the job but was 0-2 in the playoffs, including a bitterly disappointing Wild Card loss to the Seattle Seahawks two weeks ago. "I am retiring from coaching football ... I am in good health and feel lucky to have been able to coach in the NFL for an extended period of time," Parcells said in a statement on the team's Web site. Parcells -- nicknamed "The Tuna" -- coached the New York Giants to two Super Bowl victories and has led four different teams to the playoffs.

■ Football
Peyton Manning is `fine'
X-rays found no broken bones in the right thumb of Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning on Monday and he's expected to start against Chicago in the Super Bowl, Colts owner Jim Irsay said. "There's no concerns with that at all. He's fine," Irsay said. Manning bruised the thumb on his throwing hand when he hit left tackle Tarik Glenn's helmet in the Colts' 38-34 victory over New England on Sunday. Manning, a two-time league MVP, engineered the greatest comeback in NFL championship game history, rallying the Colts from an 18-point first-half deficit, to reach his first Super Bowl. He ranks second on the NFL's consecutive starts list for quarterbacks, behind Brett Favre. He has started 156 consecutive games, including the playoffs. Manning has missed only one play because of injury in his nine-year pro career, in 2001 against Miami.

■ Soccer
China confirms friendlies
China's Olympic soccer team will play three friendly matches next month in England, part of the club's two-week training stint with London club Chelsea. The Chinese Football Association confirmed yesterday that its Olympic team will face Chelsea's reserve team on Feb. 5, followed by matches against Queens Park Rangers on Feb. 8 and Brentford on Feb. 16. Queens Park plays in the League Championship, the level just below the Premier League. Brentford plays in League One, two rungs below the Premier League. China, coached by Ratomir Dujkovic, is training in France and is expected to arrive on London on Feb. 1.

■ Badminton
Lin DanTM
Badminton world champion Lin Dan of China is having trouble cashing in on his new fame. Lin, who won the men's world singles title last year, has discovered that his name has already been trademarked -- not once, but twice. According to yesterday's state-run China Daily newspaper, Lin's name has been trademarked by a health products company and by a food processing plant. One trademark is in Chinese and the other in pinyin.

■ Table tennis
Tiananmen tourney planned
Table Tennis is big in China. Very big. Officials have announced plans to hold a tournament in the middle of this year in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, with a field of about 10,000 players expected. The event will be part of the city's sixth sports festival, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported. "I think nothing is more exciting than playing ping pong at Tiananmen Square," Sun Kanglin, head of Beijing's Municipal Sports Bureau, was quoted as saying in yesterday's edition of the Beijing Daily Messenger. To qualify, players will have to advance through local tournaments.

■ Rugby union
Naqelevuki fails dope test
Fiji sevens star Sireli Naqelevuki tested positive for a banned substance after the first round of the International Rugby Board's sevens circuit in Dubai last month, the Fiji Times reported yesterday. The former Fiji sevens captain, who had hoped to play for the Stormers Super 14 side in South Africa, has asked for his B sample to be tested and has been suspended from all rugby until tests have been completed. "We can't make any further comment until the B sample results are known," Fiji Rugby Union chairman Keni Dakuidreketi said. "The IRB have provisionally suspended Naqelevuki from all levels of rugby pending the completion of this case."

■ Cricket
Gibbs' appeal heard today
Herschelle Gibbs' appeal against his two-Test ban for breaching the ICC's code of conduct will be held today. Former Australia captain Richie Benaud will conduct the hearing by teleconference. Gibbs was banned on Jan. 15 after he was heard calling Pakistan supporters "a bunch of bloody animals" during the first Test. He was found guilty of using "language or gestures that offends, insults, humiliates, intimidates, threatens, disparages or vilifies another person on the basis of that person's race, religion, color, descent or national or ethic origin." Gibbs said he was provoked by the fans, but Broad rejected this defense and said the remark was "racially offensive." He was also due to appear before a Cricket South Africa disciplinary board.

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