■ CRICKET
Proteas dismiss binge
South Africa's team management have attempted to play down a controversy over a number of their players staying out drinking late on Saturday night after a World Cup defeat against New Zealand. South African team manager Goolam Rajah brushed aside the issue, suggesting no player faced any disciplinary action over the incident which happened in Grenada after the five-wicket defeat left the team concerned for their semi-final berth. "A few guys had a few drinks after the match. It is not an issue at all," Rajah said on Monday. Skipper Grame Smith dismissed the issue, telling a news conference on the match eve that some players were "blowing off some steam."
■ SOCCER
Ref reports death threats
The referee in charge of Real Madrid's 2-1 defeat by Racing Santander in Madrid on Saturday has lodged a complaint with his local court over receiving threatening phone calls. Javier Turienzo enraged Real fans when he awarded Santander two penalties in the last 20 minutes of the match and sent off two Real Madrid players, Ivan Helguera and Alvaro Mejia, in the 87th and 90th minutes respectively. The national committee of referees said that Turienzo had posted his complaint with his local justice department in Leon where he lives. The defeat and Barcelona's victory on Sunday leaves Real five points adrift of their bitter rivals in the title race.
■ RUGBY UNION
Cannon quits after injury
Former Australia hooker Brendan Cannon quit all rugby union yesterday after another serious neck injury. Cannon, 34, was carried from the field after a scrum collapse playing for the Western Force against the Crusaders in Canterbury in a Super 14 match last week. He consulted a specialist on Tuesday and immediately decided to retire. "I really didn't have any option," he said. "As much as I wanted to play on and represent the Western Force and the Wallabies, I really couldn't. It would have been very silly of me to tempt fate again." Cannon missed most of last season with a serious neck injury after a bone fragment from compressed vertebrae lodged in a nerve canal. Cannon played 106 Super rugby matches in more than a decade.
■ OLYMPICS
China vows to protect logo
China will issue a plan soon to protect the logo of next summer's Beijing Olympic Games, a senior trademark official said yesterday. Zhao Gang, deputy head of the trademark department under the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, told a news conference that China was working on a set of schemes to protect Olympic intellectual property rights. Zhao provided no details about the plan.
■ NFL
Fans flock to Europa games
NFL Europa set an attendance record on opening weekend with 89,367 fans attending the three games, up 54 percent from last season. A year ago, 54,411 fans attended the openers in a league then named NFL Europe. The mark bettered the previous record of 89,001, set in Week 9 of 2005. All three games this weekend were in Germany. The largest crowd was in Frankfurt, where the Galaxy drew 38,125 fans at Commerzbank Arena and beat Amsterdam 30-14 in a rematch of last season's World Bowl. In Dusseldorf, 30,355 fans turned out to see the Rhein Fire beat the Berlin Thunder 15-3. The Hamburg Sea Devils beat the Cologne Centurions 24-18 before 20,887 fans in Hamburg.
■ SOCCER
Hibs players deny rebellion
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