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Crosby tops All-Star votes, Detroit has three starters
NEW YORK: Reigning NHL MVP Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins led the voting for the All-Star Game for the second successive year on Tuesday.
Crosby, 20, who tops the NHL with 40 assists, garnered over half a million votes in fan balloting for the Jan 27 game at Philips Arena in Atlanta.
Detroit's record-setting start to the season was rewarded with Western Conference starting berths for defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and forwards Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.
The Red Wings (32-8-3) hold a commanding 15-point lead in the Western Conference and became the first club ever to post 30 wins in the first half of the season.
Crosby's Eastern Conference linemates will be NHL scoring leader Vincent Lecavalier of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators right wing Daniel Alfredsson.
Voted to the Eastern Conference blueline are defensemen Andrei Markov of the Montreal Canadiens and Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins, with Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils minding the net.
Marseille chairman Diouf says Cisse not for sale
MARSEILLE: French international Djibril Cisse is not for sale in the January transfer window, Olympique Marseille chairman Pape Diouf said on Tuesday.
"Djibril Cisse will not leave. He will stay with Olympique Marseille until the end of the season," Diouf told a press conference.
"Djibril has been approached, it's true. I have myself been approached by Manchester City and my answer was a point-blank no," he added.
"We talked about it and he accepted my position. He understood I would not let him go and didn't make an issue of it."
According to French media, four Premier League clubs - Manchester City, West Ham, Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers - have declared an interest in Cisse, 26, who joined Marseille in 2006 after a two-year spell at Liverpool.
Real defender Heinze out for up to five weeks with leg injury
MADRID: Real Madrid defender Gabriel Heinze will be out of action for up to five weeks with a torn muscle in his left leg, the Primera Liga leaders said on Tuesday.
The Argentina international picked up the injury during the 2-0 home win over Real Zaragoza in the Primera Liga on Sunday and had to be substituted after 16 minutes.
Heinze has suffered a string of muscle problems since joining from Manchester United for 12 million euros in August, and has only made six starts in the league.
His absense could leave coach Bernd Schuster with problems in defence for Thursday's King's Cup last-16 first leg against Real Mallorca with Fabio Cannavaro and Christoph Metzelder undergoing treatment for ankle and foot injuries, respectively.
Australia's Hogg faces charge for offensive remark
MUMBAI, India: Australia spinner Brad Hogg has been charged with making an offensive remark to India captain Anil Kumble and vice-captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on the final day of the ill-tempered second test in Sydney on Sunday.
The 36-year-old was summoned to a hearing, chaired by match referee Mike Procter, after he was charged by India team-manager Chetan Chauhan, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said in a statement on Tuesday.
Hosts Australia won the match by 122 runs to equal their own record of 16 consecutive Test victories.
The win was overshadowed by poor umpiring and a ban on India spinner Harbhajan Singh for racially abusing Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds.
Hogg's alleged offense falls under the same category as Harbhajan's - 3.3 of the ICC code of conduct - which refers to players or team officials "using language or gestures that offends, insults, humiliates, intimidates, threatens, disparages or vilifies another person on the basis of that person's race, religion, gender, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin".
(China Daily 01/10/2008 page22)
