Sport Shorts

Al Ittihad make offer for Ronaldo MADRID – Wealthy Saudi Arabia side Al Ittihad have made an offer to sign Real Madrid’s out-of-favour Brazilian striker Ronaldo, the Spanish press reported yesterday.

The AS sports daily said that the club had proffered 20 million euros to acquire the services of the all-time record World Cup scorer who is no longer wanted by Real’s Italian coach Fabio Capello. An official of Al Ittihad in Jeddah confirmed that they were after the 30-year-old Ronaldo and wanted to take him on a three-year deal.”We are waiting at any moment for a reply from the Spanish club,” the official said.He added that Al-Ittihad were offering seven million dollars to Real, with 18 million dollars going to Ronaldo over the three years.Former Asian champions Al Ittihad last week clinched a deal to bring veteran Portuguese midfielder Figo to the Gulf from July on a one-year contract worth 4.5 million euros.Kimi will not change his ways for Ferrari MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO – Kimi Raikkonen has ruled out changing his style after moving to Ferrari from McLaren.Some Formula One insiders have questioned the Finn’s attitude, hinting that he is reluctant to take advice, while Frank Williams suggested last year that the 27-year-old was not taking the sport seriously enough and risked squandering his undeniable talent.But Raikkonen, who replaces retired seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher at Ferrari, said at his first official media event with the Italian team yesterday that he has no plans to alter his approach.”I’m not going to change my way, it works well enough,” he told a news conference at the team’s annual winter retreat in the Dolomites.Laureus awards set for Barcelona PARIS – The prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards are to return to Barcelona in 2007 for the second consecutive year, organisers announced yesterday.They will be held in the Catalan city from April 1-2.Last year’s main winners were Swiss tennis star Roger Federer and Croatian ski champion Janica Kostelic.Nampa-AFPAn official of Al Ittihad in Jeddah confirmed that they were after the 30-year-old Ronaldo and wanted to take him on a three-year deal.”We are waiting at any moment for a reply from the Spanish club,” the official said.He added that Al-Ittihad were offering seven million dollars to Real, with 18 million dollars going to Ronaldo over the three years.Former Asian champions Al Ittihad last week clinched a deal to bring veteran Portuguese midfielder Figo to the Gulf from July on a one-year contract worth 4.5 million euros. Kimi will not change his ways for Ferrari MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO – Kimi Raikkonen has ruled out changing his style after moving to Ferrari from McLaren.Some Formula One insiders have questioned the Finn’s attitude, hinting that he is reluctant to take advice, while Frank Williams suggested last year that the 27-year-old was not taking the sport seriously enough and risked squandering his undeniable talent.But Raikkonen, who replaces retired seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher at Ferrari, said at his first official media event with the Italian team yesterday that he has no plans to alter his approach.”I’m not going to change my way, it works well enough,” he told a news conference at the team’s annual winter retreat in the Dolomites.Laureus awards set for Barcelona PARIS – The prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards are to return to Barcelona in 2007 for the second consecutive year, organisers announced yesterday.They will be held in the Catalan city from April 1-2.Last year’s main winners were Swiss tennis star Roger Federer and Croatian ski champion Janica Kostelic.Nampa-AFP