Sport Briefs

Football – BLACKBURN Rovers announced yesterday they had sacked Paul Ince as their manager, a statement on the Premier League club’s website said.
Rovers are currently second-bottom in the table and on course for relegation from English football’s lucrative top flight.
The former Manchester United and England midfielder was only appointed before the start of the current season after Mark Hughes left to take charge of Premier League rivals Manchester City.

Motor Racing
SUBARU yesterday said it had withdrawn from the world rally championship at the end of the 2008 season because of the global financial crisis and falling car sales.
‘Our business environment has rapidly deteriorated. In order to protect the Subaru brand we were forced to make this decision,’ Ikuo Mori, the president of Fuji Heavy Industries, which makes Subaru cars, told a press conference.
Mori fought back tears as he announced the decision, thanking fans.
The Subaru team won three manufacturer’s championship titles and three driver’s championship titles in its 19-year WRC participation.

Tennis
AUSTRALIA’S former tennis world number one Lleyton Hewitt has become a father for the second time, following the birth of his son Cruz, he said on his website yesterday.
Hewitt said his wife Bec, a former star on the long-running soap opera ‘Home and Away’ with whom he already has a three-year-old daughter named Mia, gave birth to the boy on December 11.
‘All are doing well and are very excited about the new addition to the family,’ he said on his website. The birth comes as 27-year-old Hewitt has reportedly adopted a gruelling training schedule in a bid to return to the world’s top 10 players following hip surgery.

Cricket
THE British press yesterday broadly excused England’s defeat by India in the first Test in Chennai, saying the importance of their presence far outweighed concerns about their performance.
India won a thrilling match by six wickets on Monday after batting star Sachin Tendulkar scored the 41st Test century of his illustrious career.
In Tuesday’s editions, newspapers here praised Tendulkar’s ‘sensational’ and ‘utterly brilliant’ play, and noted the historic impact of his achievement so soon after the attacks in his home city of Mumbai that left 172 people dead.

Football
VETERAN Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar says he is delighted to have signed a new contract and didn’t think twice before putting pen to paper.
The contract extension will see the Dutchman remain at Old Trafford until June 2010, taking him up to what is likely to be the end of his epic playing career.
‘It was not difficult at all,’ van der Sar said. ‘It’s a great club to be at, with a great atmosphere in the dressing room, the boss is fantastic and we have the best stadium in England. – Nampa-AFP

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