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■ OLYMPICS
Doctors get manners training
More than 60,000 Beijing medical personnel will take manners courses so that people who fall ill during next year's Olympics Games are not further traumatized by the city's often unfriendly hospitals, the First newspaper reported yesterday. The Beijing daily said the topics would include "cultural etiquette, Olympic knowledge and professional morals" as well as basic English medical terms. Participation is mandatory for doctors and nurses at 22 hospitals and clinics designated as official Olympic medical facilities, the paper said. Desperate to project a good image during the games, Beijing has launched a number of campaigns to discourage bad behavior by some of its citizens and its famously surly police.

■ SOCCER
J-League player arrested
A player in Japan's professional J-League was arrested yesterday on suspicion of having sex with a 15-year-old high school student while knowing she was a minor, the Nikkansports newspaper reported on its Web site. Jubilo Iwata midfielder Naoya Kikuchi, 22, admitted to the allegation after being arrested by police, the report said. According to police, Kikuchi had sex with the student in a parked car late last month. The police identified Kikuchi after the girl brought them a wallet containing his driver's license. Kikuchi tried to give her US$82 in cash and forgot the wallet in the basket of her bicycle. The girl was unaware the man was a professional soccer player, the report said. Kikuchi, who played for Japan at the Athens Olympics, joined the professional club in 2003.

■ SOCCER
Swearing striker sacked
S-League striker Kim Grant has lodged a complaint with FIFA and the Singapore FA after being sacked by his club for swearing. The former Charlton Athletic front man was shown the door by Geylang United for indiscipline, Singaporean media reported. "Grant breached the rules when he used the language at the office in front of a few other players as well as other staff," Geylang general manager Ong Yeok Phee told the Today tabloid. "The vulgarity was targeted at the club ... we felt it was unacceptable." Grant said he had lost his temper following a spat over his home leave entitlement. "I admitted it was an error and I apologized for it," the 34-year-old said. "It is part of my culture and I did not say it to anyone's face ... I looked down and exclaimed angrily. I did not think it would hurt anyone."

■ FORMULA ONE
Alonso feeling uneasy
Double world champion Fernando Alonso said on Tuesday he felt a little uneasy with the euphoria surrounding McLaren team mate Lewis Hamilton's impressive start in Formula One. Briton Hamilton celebrated his first Formula One victory on Sunday, keeping his cool to win a chaotic Canadian Grand Prix and take an eight-point lead over Alonso after six races. "From the first moment I wasn't completely comfortable with everything [at McLaren]. I am in an English team, with an English team mate, who is doing brilliantly," Alonso told the Spanish radio station Cadena Ser. "We knew all the help and support would be for him. It is something I understand and I don't complain." When asked if he felt some of the mechanics in the team celebrated Hamilton's successes more than his, Alonso said: "I have sensed it a little, but I understand it, it's an English team."

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