Just when it looked as if Flintoff might be selected following a fourth operation on his left ankle, a side strain meant he was left out of both the first Test against New Zealand, which starts at Lord's on Thursday, and the second-match of the three-Test series at Old Trafford.

Coe holds talks with Fergie LONDON - Sebastian Coe revealed yesterday that he has held talks with Sir Alex Ferguson to try and persuade the Manchester United manager to coach a British football team at the 2012 London Olympics.

Coe, the chairman of the London organising committee for the Games, declined to reveal if the Scot was interested.

Police hold three for ticket touting BEIJING - Chinese police detained three men in Olympic host city Beijing on suspicion of touting tickets for the Games at huge mark-ups, state media reported yesterday.

Police in the northwest of the city on Monday discovered tickets being sold on the Internet for hugely inflated prices, Xinhua news agency reported.

One 50-yuan (seven-dollar) ticket was offered for 1,500 yuan - 30 times face value.

Nedved out from Euro squad PRAGUE - Czech manager Karel Bruckner yesterday sprung two surprises as he named his 23-strong squad to take part in June's Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.

One notable omission to the Czech squad is former captain and Juventus midfield star Pavel Nedved, whose comeback for the tournament had been the subject of speculation.

However, the Czechs - who face Switzerland in their opening match on June 7.

Harbhajan banned for five ODIs NEW DELHI - India bowler Harbhajan Singh was barred for five one-day internationals yesterday for slapping a team-mate and warned of a life ban if he steps out of line again.

The off-spinner, 27, will miss next month's triangular one-day series in Bangladesh and initial matches of the Asia Cup in Pakistan following the decision by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Austria take a deep breath for Euro VIENNA - Austria's national football team are to install a special oxygen chamber normally used for deep-sea divers at their Euro 2008 training camp.

The hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber - which will exposure players to pure oxygen up to three times stronger than normal - is traditionally used to help divers suffering from decompression sickness, commonly known as the 'bends'.

Safin takes out Berdych HAMBURG - Former world number one Marat Safin continued his comeback with a straight-sets win over ninth-seed Tomas Berdych in the second round of the Hamburg Masters Series yesterday.

Safin has plummeted down the rankings to 89th after suffering a series of injuries and had to qualify for the main draw, but hit four aces on his way to knocking out Berdych, 11th in the world, 7-5, 6-4 in 90 minutes Cech dismisses any move PRAGUE - Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech dismissed speculation over his future insisting yesterday that he was committed to Chelsea.

"I would like to stay at Chelsea, as long as possible," Cech told the Dnes newspaper.

He said he would like to be at the club after his current contract expires in 2010.

"It would not bother me if I stayed for the rest of my career at Chelsea.

Nampa-Reuters and AFP

Sport News Headlines Of The Last 48 Hours