■ 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
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