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Sports Briefs

■ GOLF

Norman, Evert get engaged

Golfer Greg Norman and former tennis star Chris Evert on Friday announced their engagement. Evert revealed the couple, both aged 52, were engaged on Sunday. The former tennis ace showed off an engagement ring but said no plans had been finalized for a wedding. Norman and his first wife Laura announced in June that they had reached an agreement on dividing an estimated US$500 million fortune amassed by the former world number one during his golf and business career. Evert has been married twice, to tennis player John Lloyd and skier Andy Mill.



■ SOCCER

FA hand Ferguson a ban

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has been banned from the touchline for two matches by the English Football Association. He was also fined £5,000 (US$10,097) for using abusive and/or insulting words toward referee Mark Clattenburg during last month's 1-0 defeat at Bolton. Ferguson will now have to sit in the stands for the matches at West Ham on Dec. 29 and at home to Birmingham on Jan. 1. Ferguson was sent off by Clattenburg at Bolton after speaking with the referee at half-time.



■ SOCCER

Cottbus crush Hannover

Dimitar Rangelow scored twice and Energie Cottbus recorded their most lopsided victory against a Bundesliga opponent on Friday, routing Hannover 96 5-1. The East German club climbed out of last place and escaped the relegation zone for at least two days with the upset of fifth-placed Hannover. Christian Bassila headed in an 11th-minute corner to give Cottbus the lead in front and Rangelow scored in the 44th and 70th minutes. Dennis Soerensen and Daniel Ziebig added goals in 30th and 65th minutes. Thomas Kleine scored a 68th-minute consolation goal for Hannover.



■ SOCCER

Corruption trial begins

Seventeen Polish players and officials went on trial on Friday in an alleged massive match-fixing scandal after the arrest of 100 suspects. The defendants are linked to the Arka Gdynia second division club and face charges of offering and accepting bribes and membership of an organized criminal group. The alleged ringleader, identified only as Ryszard F. under Polish privacy laws, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted by a provincial court in the city of Wroclaw. He was detained last year on charges of fixing first and second-league matches from 2000 to last year and accepting an equivalent of US$130,000. He has confessed to accepting a bribe once and witnessing one other such case. The other suspects face up to five years imprisonment. Many of them are also suspects in investigations of match-rigging by other soccer clubs. Prosecutors said over 400 domestic matches were fixed.



■ SOCCER

Offer spares Sky Blues

Coventry avoided going into administration and a mandatory 10-point deduction on Friday when a consortium headed by former Manchester City player Ray Ranson made an offer to take over the club. SISU Capital, which is led by Ranson, has agreed to buy 71.4 percent of shares in the League Championship club, including stakes owned by former chairman Geoffrey Robinson and Derek Higgs. SISU has to secure an agreement for 90 percent of the shares for the takeover to go through, and the club board is recommending the offer is accepted. Coventry are about £38 million (US$76.8 million) in debt.
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