Podolski: Germany striker Lukas Podolski has been ruled out of Wednesday's 2010 World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan after picking up a minor injury in training. Podolski had also missed Cologne's season opener, a 1-0 defeat by Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, after feeling some pain in his leg muscle during training throughout the week.

Traesch: Stuttgart defender Christian Traesch broke his wrist in their 2-0 defeat by champions Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga opener, the club said. The 21-year-old Germany international landed on his wrist inside the area 12 minutes from time and was taken off. "It is not yet clear how long he will be out," the club said.

Pato: Milan denied reports in the UK tabloids yesterday which said Chelsea had agreed to pay £45 million for the transfer of Alexandre Pato. "Regarding rumours concerning Pato, Milan points out and underlines that there are no existing negotiations involving our player, who is not for sale," read a note from the club published in their official website. The statement was expected to calm the Rossoneri fans who had to endure a poor pre-season prompting coach Leonardo to ask for reinforcements.

Real Mallorca: Real Mallorca president Mateu Alemany has sold his 93 per cent shareholding to an investment group headed by the Marti Mingarro brothers who run financial services company Grupo Safin. They have paid around four million euros. The deal ends a year of uncertainty at Mallorca after failed bids to buy the financially-troubled club from British businessman Paul Davidson and Spanish businessman Carlos Gonzalez.

Keane: Ipswich manager Roy Keane slammed his side for sloppy defending after they lost their Championship opener 2-1 at Coventry yesterday. Clinton Morrison bagged a brace for the Sky Blues but although Jon Walters sparked a mini-recovery, Ipswich could not pinch an equaliser. Keane was furious as his side ensured that he will spend his 38th birthday today brooding. "We gave two very poor goals away and lacked sharpness in the final third," Keane lamented.

Miccoli: Palermo striker Fabrizio Miccoli could be facing a long lay-off after sustaining an injury in a friendly against Real Mallorca last weekend. Palermo were beaten 2-0 in a three-team tournament that also saw the participation of Sevilla. Miccoli was carried off the pitch with a badly hurt knee.

Tennis: Andy Roddick was playing Juan Martin Del Potro in the final of the Washington Classic last night after overcoming a 20-ace barrage to oust John Isner 6-7 6-2 7-5. Del Potro earned a shot at winning his second title of the year by wearing down Fernando Gonzalez 7-6 6-3 in the other semi-final. Roddick, bidding for his fourth Washington title, managed only nine aces but never lost his serve during the two-and-a-half hour match against the 80th-ranked Isner.

Hockey: The 2010 hockey World Cup in New Delhi has been brought forward by a week to avoid the event being upstaged by cricket. Hockey authorities have been forced to act to avoid clash of dates with the Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL), due to kick-off in mid-March next year. The World Cup, originally scheduled from March 7-20 will now be held from Feb. 28 to March 13, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) said. The 12-nation event will be played in a stadium being rebuilt for the Commonwealth Games, to be staged in October, 2010.

Athletics: Italian long jumper Andrew Howe will miss this month's world athletics championships in Berlin after failing to recover from an Achilles injury. "Today I was working harder on not thinking about the pain than on the jump itself," Howe, silver medallist at the 2007 championships in Osaka, said. Howe jumped a modest 7.83 metres at a meeting on Saturday. "I'm not going to Berlin. My season ends here. All I can do is have surgery."

Tennis: Italy's Flavia Pennetta stunned former world number one Maria Sharapova 6-2 4-6 6-3 in the semi-finals of the LA Championships on Saturday. Pennetta, the 10th seed, was playing Samantha Stosur in the final late yesterday after the Australian used her big serve to overwhelm Romanian teenager Sorana Cirstea 6-3 6-2. Playing her eighth match in 12 days, three-times grand slam champion Sharapova clearly lacked energy as the match wore on and squandered a 3-1 lead in the third set thanks to a litany of double faults and sloppy errors.