Sporting briefs...

Bulgaria blow: Bulgaria coach Hristo Stoichkov suffered another blow ahead of World Cup qualifiers against Sweden and Hungary this month as CSKA Sofia midfielder Emil Gargorov broke his arm in a Bulgarian Cup match yesterday. Bulgaria are second in Group Eight two points behind leaders Sweden but with a game in hand and face the Scandinavians at home on March 26 before visiting Hungary four days later. Stoichkov has to make changes to his team because captain Stilian Petrov and forward Martin Petrov are suspended for the Sweden match. Injured striker Valeri Bojinov is also missing along with midfielder Marian Hristov who has had another knee operation.

Hierro Criticism: Former Real Madrid captain Fernando Hierro believes Vicente Del Bosque should never have been fired as coach at the Spanish club. Del Bosque, who steered Real to two European Cups, two league titles and the World Club Cup, was released by the Primera Liga side after the 2002-2003 season. "It was hard to find someone better," the Bolton defender told sports daily L'Equipe on Tuesday. "As a person, Vicente had great qualities. As a coach, he knew how to deal with the players, he was very tactful. He did not need to be authoritarian. His 38 years at Real Madrid would do the talking."

Ukraine Coach: Oleg Blokhin resigned as Ukraine's national team coach yesterday, saying he is unable to combine coaching duties with his other job as a member of the Ukrainian parliament. The 52-year-old, the European Player of the Year in 1975, told his fellow MPs that he decided to quit his coaching job in order to keep his parliamentary mandate. Blokhin, a Communist Party MP, was named Ukraine coach in September 2003, replacing fellow ex-Soviet international Leonid Buryak, who had been sacked following a string of poor results.

Swiss Probe: The former president of bankrupt Swiss football club Servette Geneva has been arrested on charges of bankruptcy fraud, improper management and breach of trust, police said in a statement yesterday. Frenchman Marc Roger, a former players' agent who took over at Servette in February 2004, was arrested by regional police officers on Tuesday. Servette were declared bankrupt last month after running up debts of more than 11 million Swiss francs ($9.54 million).

In France: Ligue 1 - St Etienne vs Ajaccio 3-0; Strasbourg vs Monaco 0-0; Sochaux vs Metz 2-1. French Cup third round - Boulogne vs Nantes 3-2.

In Spain: Primera Liga - A. Bilbao vs Getafe 1-2.

Billiards: World Championship final - P. Advani (India) bt D. Joshi (India) 6-2.