Top shot
Figo and Ranieri both silent on futures
MILAN: Inter Milan midfielder Luis Figo and Parma coach Claudio Ranieri refused to talk about their futures on Sunday following the conclusion of the Italian top-flight season.
Figo, 34, had looked set to move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad but champions Inter have been lobbying hard to keep him at the San Siro for one more season.
"It is diffcult to say that I will go away given the affection I get from the people here," he told reporters. "We will see, it is not pleasant to talk now because we are celebrating an important year. Inter will always be in my heart."
Ranieri's Parma survived relegation on the last day thanks to a 3-1 win over Empoli and afterwards the former Chelsea manager refused to talk about speculation he was in-line for the vacant manager's job at Manchester City.
"Now I want to relax for three days and then we will see," he told SKY. "I haven't signed anything (with any other club)."
Flintoff to make another step towards test comeback
LEEDS, England: England coach Peter Moores said on Sunday that he hopes Andrew Flintoff will take another step towards a return to test cricket by resuming bowling again in a county match this week.
Flintoff, 29, will bowl for Lancashire against Sussex at Hove in a county match from Wednesday. The amount of overs he bowls will depend on any pain felt in the ankle, Moores said.
"To be fair to Lancashire, they know their supporters want to watch Andrew play but they also know their responsibility to try and get him fit for England," Moores said.
Flintoff, England's only world-class all-rounder, has suffered intermittently for the last two years with a chronic ankle injury.
Silent Ullrich urged to answer doping allegations
BERLIN: Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich was urged to break his silence after fresh allegations emerged he was injected with banned blood-booster EPO.
Ullrich was injected with EPO (erythropoietin) according to Jef d'Hont, who worked with the retired German cyclist's Telekom team between 1992 and 1996 and revealed he injected Ullrich with EPO during the Tour.
D'Hont's startling admissions in his recently-published book have led to a string of confessions from senior figures in the sport which have tarnished cycling's image.
And Ullrich remains silent despite being suspected of using EPO since he was implicated in the Spanish doping investigation 'Operation Puerto' which first engulfed the sport in May 2006.
(China Daily 05/29/2007 page23)
