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Sports Briefs

■ Hockey
Finns claim unusual title
The lake of Weissensee in southern Austria hosted an unusual sporting event this weekend, with divers taking part in the first-ever ice-hockey world championship -- underwater ice-hockey, that is. Eight international teams from Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, competed under 30cm of ice without oxygen tanks. The players, decked out in wetsuits, masks and flippers, chased a styrofoam puck around a "rink" 6m wide and 8m long, having to resurface every 30 seconds for air. Each game was made up of three periods, according to ice hockey rules, but playing time was reduced to 10 minutes from the usual 20 and a 10-minute break was afforded between periods. Finland defeated Austria in Sunday's final.

■ Soccer
Star says he was duped
South Korean Jeon Kyeong-joon is to report Singaporean soccer club Home United to FIFA this week, claiming he was duped into quitting his contract. The midfielder signed for the Protectors last March from K-League side Chonbuk Motors and his contract was to run until the end of this year. Jeon, however, says he was duped into signing a letter of termination by Home in November. "Jeon does not understand English. He was not aware that it was a termination letter," the player's agent Jang Ki-hyun told Singapore's Straits Times newspaper. "We will be making an appeal to FIFA. He thought he was signing an agreement for new salary terms. According to Home, the termination was mutual.

■ Soccer
`Female Rooney' moves
Chinese striker Ma Xiaoxu (馬曉旭), dubbed the female Wayne Rooney for her precocious talent, is moving to top Swedish side Umea IK for six months, local media reported yesterday. Ma's goals are key to the Steel Roses' hopes of winning the women's World Cup on home soil later this year and she becomes the latest in a stream of top Chinese footballers moving to Europe. "I'll be going as a spy," the 18-year-old joked to Goalchina.net. Last season, Ma became the first woman to win the Asian Young Footballer of the Year award after inspiring China to an Asian Cup triumph and winning the best player and top goalscorer awards at the women's under-20 world championship. Although Ma's aggression, strength and eye for goal have won her the comparisons with Rooney, Ma believes she has a less fiery temperament than the Manchester United striker. "I know lots of people would like to compare me to Rooney but I do not like the comparison," she told the China Daily last December.

■ Soccer
Ronaldinho fights flab
Barcelona star Ronaldinho has admitted he was keen to prove critics wrong who said he was overweight, after his side's 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao on Sunday. Photos showing a roll of fat around his waistband after he had taken off his shirt at the end of Wednesday's Champions League defeat to Liverpool, sparked a heated debate about his weight and form. But having put on a scintillating display in the Camp Nou on Sunday, he stripped to the waist at the end of the match and jokingly challenged pitchside photographers to snap him. "Over the last week photos have come out insinuating I'm fat but I feel fine. I have always looked after myself and am in better shape then ever. With everything that has been said recently I was motivated to play even better."

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