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Lippi rejects Juve's advances in favor of continuing break
MILAN: Marcello Lippi said on Monday he wanted to continue his break from football management despite reported interest from former club Juventus.
Disagreements over transfer policy led Didier Deschamps to quit as Juve coach on Saturday despite their promotion back to Serie A following last season's demotion for match-fixing.
"I have already said that I am taking a break for some more months, therefore none of this (link with Juventus) is true," Lippi told Rai television.
"Juventus for me signifies eight stupendous years of great success and satisfaction, therefore it is a word that stays in my heart."
Lippi, who has been out of football since coaching Italy to World Cup glory last year, won five league titles and the 1996 Champions League in two spells with the Turin club.
Gascoigne has emergency stomach surgery
LONDON: Former England soccer player Paul Gascoigne has undergone emergency surgery for a perforated stomach ulcer, British media reported on Monday.
Gascoigne's agent, Jane Morgan, said in a statement on the BBC that he was admitted to hospital on Sunday with "severe stomach pains".
"He underwent emergency surgery for a perforated stomach ulcer and will remain in hospital for a few days," the statement said. "He's recovering well from the surgery."
Gascoigne, who has a well-documented history of alcohol-related problems, became ill while he was celebrating his 40th birthday with family and friends in his home town of Gateshead, north east England, according to local media.
Keane signs new Spurs deal to stay at club until 2012
LONDON: Ireland captain Robbie Keane has signed a new five-year contract at English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur, committing his future to the club until 2012.
"I've felt really settled and happy at Spurs and that's probably one of the reasons I've played the best football of my career here," Keane told the club website (www.spurs.co.uk).
Ireland's record scorer, who turns 27 in July, netted a career-best 22 goals last season bringing his Tottenham total to 84 since joining from Leeds United in August 2002.
He made his 200th appearance for Spurs in the final game of the season against Manchester City at White Hart Lane.
Missing NFL defender Hill believed dead after accident
NEW ORLEANS, Louisian: New England Patriots defensive end Marquise Hill, who went missing after a Sunday jet-ski mishap, was believed to be the victim of a drowning after a boday was recovered here Monday.
Hill and a woman were jet skiing on nearby Lake Pontchartrain when both went into the water. The woman swam to a pylon and clung there until being rescued while Hill, 24, was seen floating away.
Searchers found the body about a quarter-mile from the site of the incident.
Hill, from New Orleans, was selected in the second round of the 2004 National Football League Draft by the Patriots and was a member of their Super Bowl championship team in 2005.
(China Daily 05/30/2007 page23)
