■ENGLAND
Gerrard signs new deal
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez on Thursday saluted skipper Steven Gerrard’s contract extension, claiming it would serve to bolster the team’s renewed push for silverware. Gerrard in April agreed a deal to stay at Anfield until 2013, completing the formalities after returning from his summer holiday to begin pre-season training. Dirk Kuyt, Fernando Torres, Daniel Agger and Yossi Benayoun have also penned new deals. “We have spent this summer trying to secure the players we have,” Benitez said. “It’s really good to keep Kuyt, Torres, Agger, Benayoun and Steven. They are the here and now of the club and for the future it is really good. We are really pleased. We have a lot of good players who want to stay, to win and compete.”
■MOROCCO
Lemerre out of a job
Roger Lemerre’s departure as Morocco coach was made official on Thursday, ending weeks of speculation over the future of the French manager. Lemerre leaves a year into his four-year contract after a resolution on pay-off terms was reached with the Morocco Football Federation, spokesman Abdelah Ghellam told reporters. Lemerre, who won the European Championship with France in 2000 and four years later achieved a unique double by guiding Tunisia to the Africa Cup of Nations trophy, took over Morocco a year ago with a mandate to secure World Cup qualification. However, after an easy passage through the first phase of the preliminaries, Morocco have struggled in their final-round group, picking up two points from their first three matches.
■ENGLAND
Aurelio injures his knee
Liverpool defender Fabio Aurelio could miss the start of the season after injuring his knee on holiday and requiring a cartilage operation. “He was injured playing with his son and was really disappointed because he was enjoying the summer,” Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez told reporters on Thursday. “He had the operation — he has had a problem with his cartilage — so he will be one month, maximum two months, not six months like I see in the press.” The 29-year-old Brazilian fullback was a regular last season, making 33 appearances.
■ITALY
Marchionni joins Fiorentina
Juventus winger Marco Marchionni agreed to join Fiorentina on Thursday, opening the way for Arsenal target Felipe Melo to move in the opposite direction. “Florence was always my first choice,” Marchionni told reporters after initially rejecting Fiorentina’s offer which threatened the player plus cash deal involving Brazil midfielder Melo. If Melo completes a move to Turin he will join up with compatriot and former Werder Bremen playmaker Diego, who was being unveiled on Juve’s first day of pre-season training on Thursday. Diego will wear No. 28 because Alessandro Del Piero holds his preferred No. 10 shirt.
■SPAIN
Pennant signs for Zaragoza
Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant completed his switch from Anfield to promoted Spanish side Real Zaragoza on Thursday on a three-year deal. The 26-year-old, who played in the 2007 Champions League final, said he had snubbed offers from other clubs to play in Spain. “I wanted to come to Spain. I had offers from other important clubs in Europe, but I wanted to sign for Real Zaragoza,” Pennant, who played 163 matches in three seasons at Liverpool, told the club’s Web site. “I want to get started and do well in the championship.”
BOUNCE BACK: Curry scored 46 points in the Warriors’ victory over the Spurs, after ‘everybody stepped up’ following Tuesday’s blowout loss to Oklahoma City Nikola Jokic scoring 50 or more points had never been enough for the Denver Nuggets to win — until now. Jokic on Wednesday night tied the highest-scoring performance in the NBA this season with 55 points, as the Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 130-116 for their sixth straight victory. The Nuggets were 0-4 in his previous 50-point outbursts. “It’s a good feeling,” the three-time NBA Most Valuable Player said. He equaled Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 55 in a double-overtime game at the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 23. Jokic has been on a roll during Denver’s winning streak. He is the
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
The tri-nation Twenty20 international series featuring hosts Pakistan, as well as Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, is to be played entirely in Rawalpindi from Tuesday next week, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said yesterday, after this week’s suicide bombing in the capital, Islamabad. The change came after at least eight Sri Lankan players asked to leave over security fears following Tuesday’s bombing that killed 12 people and wounded 27. Their country’s cricket board issued a stern directive to the team to stay put or face consequences. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said the decision to stay was taken after “close consultations” with hosts Pakistan who
LIKE FINE WINE: Thirty-eight-year-old Djokovic won his 101st title of his career in Athens, becoming the oldest tournament winner since Ken Roswell, 44, in 1977 Elena Rybakina on Saturday clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy. Having gone 3-0 in round-robin play, Rybakina earned a record US$5.235 million and would finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world. “It’s been an incredible week, I honestly didn’t expect any result, and to go so far,
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