Sporting briefs

Derbyshire: Blackburn Rovers striker Matt Derbyshire has agreed to join Greek champions Olympiakos on a six-month loan, the Greek Super League club said. "Matt is expected in Athens tomorrow for his medical and to sign the contract but the deal has been agreed, he will be joining us for six months," a club spokesman told Reuters.

Villa: Valencia's top scorer David Villa has been left out of the squad to visit Sevilla for their King's Cup quarter-final second leg today, the club said. The Spain striker has been struggling with a thigh problem and missed their 3-1 defeat at Real Mallorca on Sunday. Holders Valencia have a 3-2 first-leg lead.

Pavlyuchenko: Russia coach Guus Hiddink has left Tottenham Hotspur striker Roman Pavlyuchenko out of a 20-man squad for next month's training camp in Turkey. Spurs did not want Pavlyuchenko to attend the four-day camp because it clashes with an important Premier League match against local rivals Arsenal on February 8.

Stevens: Huub Stevens has resigned as coach of PSV Eindhoven, the Dutch club said. PSV, Dutch league champions for the last four years, are struggling down in fifth place, 15 points behind leaders AZ Alkmaar. They were also eliminated from the Champions League during the group phase. Stevens joined PSV ahead of the current season after a spell at Bundesliga team Hamburg SV.

Eduardo: Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva was named in the Croatia squad for a friendly against Romania in Bucharest on Feb. 11. Eduardo has recovered from a broken leg and dislocated ankle suffered last February.

South Africa: A majority of South Africans are concerned about the potential negative impact of the 2010 World Cup, a FIFA survey has found. FIFA said in a summary of the survey that 58 percent of respondents were worried about the World Cup producing inflated prices for residents, and 53 percent were concerned about increased traffic congestion and an escalation of crime during the event.

Federation Cup: Flavia Pennetta, Francesca Schiavone, Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani have been named in the Italy team to face France in their Fed. Cup World Group first-round match on Feb. 7 and 8 in Orleans, the Italian tennis federation said. Italy won the Fed. Cup in 2006 and were runners-up in 2007 before losing to Spain in the first round last year.

Basketball, NBA: The San Antonio Spurs used a fourth-quarter surge to overcome a faltering Utah Jazz 106-100 on Tuesday, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker leading the way with 24 points apiece for the visitors. The Spurs went on a 10-0 run early in the final session and never looked back as they won for the first time in five visits to the Energy Solutions Arena. Utah (25-21) advanced to the Western Conference semi-finals last year but are struggling through injuries and inconsistency this campaign, putting them in danger of missing the play-offs.

Rugby: Mauro Bergamasco could be a long-term solution to Italy's scrumhalf headaches after coach Nick Mallett switched the flanker in training this week. The position has been a problem since the Azzurri's most capped player Alessandro Troncon, now part of Mallett's coaching team, retired after the 2007 World Cup. The situation is now desperate because Simon Picone and Pietro Travagli are injured and Pablo Canavosio also has a knock, although he should be fit for Italy's Six Nations opener in England on February 7.

Motor racing: The Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix on April 5 will follow the lead of the Australian season-opener and start later to attract European television audiences. The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) posted details on their website confirming 17.00 local starts for the first two races in Melbourne (March 29) and Sepang.