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Sports Briefs

■ Soccer
Keane appeal dismissed
Tottenham's Robbie Keane has had his claim for wrongful dismissal rejected by the Football Association (FA) on Tuesday. The Republic of Ireland international picked up the first red card of his professional career when he was sent-off for a deliberate handball in Sunday's 4-1 Premiership win against Bolton. Keane was furious with referee Graham Poll after his 36th-minute dismissal for handling Ivan Campo's header on the line. The ball struck Keane's chest before appearing to hit his arm as it dropped, and Poll issued a straight red card. Keane's red card marked the end an action-packed game from the Spurs' stand-in skipper -- he scored two goals and also set up Jermaine Jenas before receiving his marching orders.

■ Soccer
Flu hits Belenenses hard
Fifteen players from first division Belenenses have been hit by flu, giving the club a selection headache ahead of their midweek Portuguese Cup quarter-final tie, coach Jorge Jesus revealed on Tuesday. The Belenenses coach said they would have to call up their entire squad for Wednesday's match at third division Bragance and he would only decide who would play minutes before kick-off. "It's an unprecedented situation. Everyone will have to travel to Bragance. I hope some of the team will have recovered so that we can play our best," he said.

■ Judo
Japanese coach warns team
Japan's judo coach has told his athletes to train to the "edge of hell" or risk humiliation at next year's Beijing Olympics. A trio of Japanese Olympic gold medalists suffered embarrassing defeats at last week's Super World Cup in Hamburg, provoking a backlash from coach Hitoshi Saito. He said that veteran athletes had their own way of preparing but that they must change their mindset. "Otherwise they won't beat the world's best. They need to practice until they're bringing up bile -- until they're out of oxygen." Japan collected eight gold medals in the country's traditional martial art at the 2004 Olympics while the women won five.

■ Soccer
Bulgaria bans referees
Two referees were banned for life Tuesday by the Bulgarian soccer federation after corruption allegations. "We have information they have maintained illegal relations with some soccer clubs," executive committee member Hristo Portochanov said. He did not elaborate. Federation president Borislav Mihailov said the two referees -- Momchil Vraikov and Dimitar Dimitrov -- deserved the punishment. Mihailov did not directly confirm the referees were accused of corruption but said there were "many signals." Another three referees were suspended for a year for "making mistakes" in matches, Mihailov said.

■ Soccer
De Biasi comes back
Torino has reappointed coach Gianni De Biasi, six months after firing him. De Biasi replaced Alberto Zaccheroni on Monday following Saturday's 3-0 loss to Chievo Verona -- Torino's sixth straight defeat in the Serie A. "I'll resume from where I left on June 11, the date on which Torino was promoted to the Serie A," De Biasi was quoted as saying in Tuesday's edition of Gazzetta dello Sport. "The objective is safety." De Biasi led Torino to Italy's top division, only to be fired and replaced by Zaccheroni shortly before the start of the season. Torino is tied for 15th place in the league with 22 points, one fewer than Cagliari.

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