World Sports Briefs

Rugby
 Former England captain Martin Corry will bid farewell to professional rugby by captaining the Barbarians for their upcoming matches against England, at Twickenham on May 30, and Australia, in Sydney on June 6.

Rugby
Former England captain Martin Corry will bid farewell to professional rugby by captaining the Barbarians for their upcoming matches against England, at Twickenham on May 30, and Australia, in Sydney on June 6.
The matches will represent Corry’s last top-level outings as a professional with the 35-year-old Leicester forward having announced that he will retire at the end of the season.
Barbarians’ president Micky Steele-Bodger said Corry had been a popular choice by the invitational team’s selection committee.
Motor Rally
The World Rally Championship reaches the midway point of the season this weekend with Sebastien Loeb hot favourite to make it six out of six for 2009 in bone dry conditions in Sardinia. Citroen’s defending champion has won the Rally of Italy in three of the past four years and signalled his intentions by emerging quickest in Thursday’s practice.
But the Frenchman was in cautious mood on the eve of battle, warning that setting out first for Friday’s opening six stages could seriously limit his speed.
Marathon
Ethiopian long distance great Haile Gebrselassie said yesterday he was gunning for his own world record in September’s Berlin Marathon.
The 36-year-old became the first athlete to go under the two hours four minute mark on the notoriously fast Berlin course last year and confirmed he will take part in this year’s race on September 20. But having twice won the Olympic 10,000m title, Gebrselassie has said he will not run the marathon at the world championships at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium from August 15-23.
Cricket
Pakistan pulled fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar out of next month’s World Twenty20 tournament in England due to injury, the Pakistan Cricket Board said yesterday.
‘We have pulled him out of the World Twenty20 on the basis of a medical report on his groin injury,’ the PCB said. Fitness concerns have continued to plague the 33-year-old bowler, who skipped the squad’s conditioning camp for the World Twenty20 and was not featuring in any of the three practice matches.
Tennis
Tennis legends Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi will renew their epic rivalry later this year for the first time since the US Open final in 2002.
The two Americans, who played each other 34 times, have not faced off since Sampras won that classic match and then retired. But they will be back on court in front of 15 000 fans at the Venetian Macau Showdown on October 25 for an exhibition.
Football
Florentino Perez, favourite to win the race to become Real Madrid’s next president, is reportedly keen to lure Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho to the Bernabeu stadium next season. Perez has singled out the former Chlesea boss as his number one target to take over from Juande Ramos next season should he succeed in winning the June 14 presidential election, according to Thursday’s Gazzetta dello Sport.
Mourinho, who has repeatedly stated his intention to remain at Inter next season, has already been contacted by Perez’s advisors and has notified Inter president Massimo Moratti of the interest from Spain. – Nampa-AFP