Today's other stories in brief
England lose main frontrow
RUGBY:England have been robbed of their entire first-choice frontrow for the autumn after Phil Vickery was ruled out with a neck injury.
Vickery will miss the Twickenham appointments with Australia, Argentina and New Zealand after it was revealed he requires surgery that will entail three months of rehabilitation.
England have also lost hooker Lee Mears and loosehead Andrew Sheridan.
MLB clubs woo teenage pitcher
BASEBALL:Japanese schoolboy Yusei Kikuchi may leave the decision on whether to sign a multi-million dollar deal with a Major League Baseball club up to his parents.
After completing meetings with eight MLB clubs and all 12 Japanese domestic teams, the 18-year-old pitcher said he was flummoxed about what to do.
“I can’t decide if I should stay or go, Kikuchi said after talks with officials from the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, Mets and Cleveland Indians.
Kikuchi, whose fastball has been clocked at 155kph, spoke to representatives from MLB and Japanese clubs over four days at his high school in northern Japan.
Phillips to miss Wales' autumn internationals
RUGBY: Wales' autumn Test plans have been dealt a huge blow with the loss of their Lions scrumhalf Mike Phillips.
Phillips, a star performer during the Lions’ gripping Test series against world champions South Africa this summer, faces at least 12 weeks out because of ligament damage.
He limped off before half-time in the Ospreys’ 25-24 Heineken Cup victory over Clermont Auvergne last weekend, and is set to undergo further tests this week.
Wales coach Warren Gatland is already without Phillips’ fellow Lions Lee Byrne (foot) and Adam Jones (shoulder) for the autumn Tests that start against New Zealand on November 7th.
Ospreys physiotherapist Chris Towers said: “Mike had a scan yesterday, which was then reviewed with the specialist, who confirmed ligament damage to the distal tib/fib joint.
“It is fair to say that Mike has suffered considerable ligament damage, and the best-case scenario would probably see him sidelined in the region of 10/12 weeks.”
Wales’ hopes of toppling New Zealand for the first time since 1953 will decrease in Phillips’ absence.
Cardiff prop John Yapp (biceps) is also out of autumn contention, but his club-mate, Lions loosehead Gethin Jenkins, has started his comeback from injury and flanker Martyn Williams could be available before the New Zealand fixture following a post-Lions tour shoulder operation.
Russian star killed in crash
GYMNASTICS: Russia's Yury Ryazanov was killed in a car crash yesterday, five days after winning a bronze medal at the World Championships.
Ryazanov (22) was driving to his home city of Vladimir, 200km east of Moscow, when his car collided head-on with another. He died at the scene.
He had just returned home from the World Championships in London where he finished third in the all-round competition to claim Russia’s first medal in the top individual event in a decade.
Jankovic moves on in Moscow
TENNIS:Serbia's Jelena Jankovic overcame a determined challenge from Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan before taking her place in the second round of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.
Former world number one Jankovic lost the second set before her class shone through in the third as she claimed a 6-4 5-7 6-1 victory.
Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak’s progress was easier, as Italy’s Sara Errani was forced to retire due to a shoulder injury after losing the first set 6-1.
In the men’s event, sixth seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia was a 6-4 6-3 winner over Austria’s Daniel Koellerer.
Fabrice Santoro, the French seventh seed, came from a set down before clinching a 4-6 6-2 6-2 win over Russian wildcard Andrey Kuznetsov.
Argentina’s Martin Vassallo Arguello, the eighth seed, was defeated 7-5 6-3 by Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev.
Qualifiers Sergiy Stakhovsky and Mikhail Kukushkin also got through.
Valuev puts Haye in perspective
BOXING: WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev has shrugged off David Haye's latest promotional stunt and dismissed the Englishman as just "another idiot".
Outspoken trash-talker Haye took part in a farcical press conference last week which saw a man turn up dressed in a Halloween outfit apparently pretending to be 7ft Valuev.
After goading Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko earlier this year with a graphic T-shirt depicting the severed head of one of the brothers, the 29-year-old has attempted to wind up the Russian giant by constantly mocking his size and personal hygiene.
Valuev, however, remains distinctly unimpressed. Ahead of their clash in Nuremberg, Germany, on November 7th, he said: “I don’t really care about what he says or does. I cannot take him seriously. When I first heard about the T-shirts where he chopped the Klitschkos, I thought ‘Oh my God, another idiot in our world’. He can say whatever he likes – it will not get him my title.”
Promoter Kalle Sauerland seems mildly amused by Haye’s antics. “I think one German phrase sums it up well: ‘1,000 volts, but no light’.”
