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■ Soccer
Ex-Hamburg player nabbed
Peter Rohrschneider, a former Hamburg SV midfielder, has been arrested over a series of bank robberies, Bild newspaper reported yesterday. Rohrschneider, 60, played in 27 Bundesliga matches for HSV between 1966 and 1968. Bild reported that an accomplice of Rohrschneider involved in the 16 bank robberies in 1991 and 1992 had recently confessed to police and implicated him. A total of 430,000 marks (US$200,000) was stolen during the robberies, state prosecutor Manfred Warnecke said.

■ Cricket
Warne dismisses Proteas
Shane Warne has dismissed South Africa's chances of winning the World Cup. He said South Africa, who recently replaced Australia as the world's number one ranked team in one-day cricket, lacked the flair required to win the championship in the Caribbean, starting on March 13. "I don't think South Africa are a chance," Warne said yesterday. "They're very regimented. I know they're rated the number one side in the world at the moment but I don't think they're the best side in the world." Warne said New Zealand and Sri Lanka loomed as the biggest dangers to Australia's bid to win an unprecedented third straight title. "I just like the way they play," he said. "I reckon they're a chance with the small grounds and the way the wickets will play. I'm sure they'll be a very good chance."

■ Hockey
NHL sides to clash in London
The National Hockey League will play regular-season games for the first time in Europe with the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings opening the 2007-2008 season by playing two games in London. The games are set for Sept. 29-30 at the O2 Arena, which is set to open in July. It is being built by Anschutz Entertainment Group, the Kings' parent company. "Our commitment to grow the game globally has never been stronger," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said on Thursday.

■ Soccer
Club denies gas claims
Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk denied on Thursday that it had agreed to accept gas shipments as part of a record US$20 million deal with Russia's Zenit St Petersburg for midfielder Anatoly Tymoshchuk. "I hereby state that there is no gas element in the agreement for the transfer of Anatoly Tymoshchuk to Zenit, nor was this even possible," Serhiy Palkin, Shakhtar's general director said on the club's Web site. "Shakhtar is a soccer club, not a gas broker." Some Ukrainian media had reported that half of the sum paid for the transfer would be settled in natural gas shipments to plants owned by the club's president, Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's wealthiest business magnate.

■ Football
Pacman facing more charges
Pacman Jones, linked to a Las Vegas strip club shooting last month, faces felony and misdemeanor charges of obstructing police in another incident, the Tennessean newspaper reported on Thursday. Jones has been subpoened to appear in Superior Court in Fayetteville, Georgia, later this month over an incident last month, the newspaper said. Police said Jones became verbally abusive to a woman and "spit a huge amount of mucus" on the woman's face and hair. Police continue to investigate a triple shooting incident in Las Vegas in which Jones was at the scene and was identified as a friend of the shooter by the strip club co-owner. One of the victims suffered a severed spinal cord.

■ Motorsports
Promoter jailed for murder
Former motorsports promoter Michael Goodwin was sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without possibility of parole in Pasadena, California, on Thursday after declaring he did not murder former business partner Mickey Thompson and the racing legend's wife. "I can't apologize because I'm not guilty of this crime," Goodwin, 61, told the judge. He said the 1988 killings of Mickey and Trudy Thompson were "a tragedy." Thompson was a high-profile motorsports figure who pursued land-speed records and raced all kinds of vehicles. The Thompsons were shot to death while leaving their gated home in a Los Angeles suburb. The killers, who came on bicycles, were never caught. The prosecution said Goodwin sent hit men to kill the couple as revenge for a business deal that went sour.

■ Cricket
Oram mulls losing finger
New Zealand all-rounder Jacob Oram has said he would consider cutting off his fractured finger to play in the World Cup. Oram departed with the New Zealand squad for the tournament in the Caribbean despite breaking a finger on his left hand when taking a catch against Australia two weeks ago. "If it means cutting the finger off, if that's the worst case scenario, if that's the last resort, I'll do that," Oram told the NZ Press Association before leaving for the West Indies, where the tournament begins on March 13. "There's no way I'm missing this," he said.

■ Golf
Camera click throws Daly
John Daly withdrew from the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on Thursday when a fan's camera click caused him to halt his swing and apparently sprain a rib. "I felt pain like I've never felt in my upper body," Daly said. Daly also complained of shoulder pain, and PGA Tour officials said he had injured both his ribs and shoulder, although the exact nature of the injury wasn't known. The woman culprit, who had somehow managed to get on the course with the offending camera despite a ban on cameras in the gallery, was found by tournament security and escorted from the grounds.

■ Rugby League
Allen's coke ban doubled
Former Widnes rugby league player David Allen, banned for a year after "accidentally" taking cocaine, has had his suspension doubled after an appeal by UK Sport, the organization said on Thursday. The Widnes second row tested positive for a metabolic of cocaine but a Rugby Football League (RFL) tribunal accepted his claim that he had taken the substance accidentally and suspended him for a year. UK Sport appealed against this decision to a separate RFL panel on the basis that his defense did not amount to "no significant fault or negligence." The appeal was upheld and the panel confirmed that the mandatory two-year bans prescribed in the World Anti-Doping Code should apply.

■ Basketball
Trail Blazers president quits
Portland Trail Blazers president and general manager Steve Patterson unexpectedly resigned on Thursday. Tod Leiweke, chief executive officer of the Seattle Seahawks, will take over Patterson's duties while a replacement is found, team owner Paul Allen's company said. Petterson has been the team president since 2003. "I concluded this was simply the right time to step away," Patterson said in a statement.

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