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■SOCCER

Lens crash out of cup

French first division strugglers Lens, coached by former international striker Jean-Pierre Papin, slumped to a new low on Friday when they were dumped out of the French Cup by second division Niort. Lens, third from bottom in the top flight, were undone by a 30th-minute strike from Jean-Francois Riviere in what proved to be the only goal of the game in the round of 32 clash. Riviere's goal was set-up by a right-wing cross from Benoit Leroy.

■TENNIS

Kuerten eyes French Open

Triple French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten said on Friday that he had a "99 percent" chance of playing at Roland Garros this year. "I love Roland Garros. It's where I have had the best performances of my career," the 31-year-old, who was crowned French Open champion in 1997, 2000 and 2001, told Brazilian media. Kuerten has been dogged by injuries in the last two years and hardly played at all last year being eliminated in the first round of the US Open and Miami Masters. The former world No. 1 has slumped to 680 in the current rankings.

■SOCCER

Star under investigation

A judge requested further investigation on Friday into Valencia Portuguese midfielder Manuel Fernandes' involvement in a nightclub incident in which two police officers were allegedly attacked. Fernandes appeared in court in what was expected to be a fast-track trial to answer a charge of "resisting authority" during the incident early on Friday morning. However, the judge agreed to a request from the prosecuting lawyer, who argued for a more detailed legal procedure, which included physical examination of the officers. Fernandes' club and international teammate, defender Miguel Brito, said the nightclub trouble occurred when Fernandes, Brito and his brother were accused by another customer of stealing a watch, Efe and Spanish sports newspaper Marca reported. Brito was celebrating his 28th birthday. The police were called, leading to Fernandes, Brito's brother and four others being taken to the police station.

■ CRICKET

England axe Prior

England have dropped wicketkeeper Matt Prior for next month's tour of New Zealand after he dropped a number of chances in the series against Sri Lanka. Warwickshire's Tim Ambrose has been selected in his place and the uncapped 25-year-old will compete with Durham's Phil Mustard for a place in the team. Middlesex opening batsman Andrew Strauss who was omitted from the Sri Lanka tour was recalled to the 16-man Test squad announced by the England and Wales Cricket Board on Friday. "Ambrose fully deserves an opportunity at this level following impressive performances for the England performance squad in India before Christmas and for Warwickshire last season," said chairman of selectors David Graveney in a statement. "We felt in this instance that, as well as Matt Prior has batted, there are areas of his wicketkeeping that he needs to work at and that's the reason why we've made that decision," he said at a later news conference. Graveney said Strauss would come back stronger from the enforced break. "He's worked very hard on his game, we need his experience for what is going to be a tough series," he said.