IN BRIEF (Page 22)

Heat's Wade to miss rest of NBA season with sore left knee

MIAMI: Dwyane Wade will miss the remainder of Miami's miserable National Basketball Association season to have more treatment on his surgically repaired left knee, coach Pat Riley said after a Monday workout.

Wade, who played for only a few minutes Saturday against Atlanta and missed Friday's game against Golden State, will miss the final month for the Heat, who are an NBA-worst 11-50 and have lost nine of 10 games this season without Wade.

"I think it's time," Riley said. "We've been walking around on eggshells with this thing."

The Heat superstar guard will have a follow-up shockwave stimulation treatment on Tuesday that requires a month of rehabilitation therapy.

Despite the sore knee and his team's woeful record, Wade has shined this season, averaging 24.6 points and 6.9 assists in 51 games. The 26-year-old playmaker missed the Heat's first seven games after knee and shoulder surgery.

Wade said he still plans to play for the United States at the Beijing Olympics.

United assistant Queiroz apologizes for Taylor remark

LONDON: Manchester United's assistant manager Carlos Queiroz has apologized to Birmingham City defender Martin Taylor for comments he made on Saturday.

Queiroz was angered by the treatment of Cristiano Ronaldo during United's FA Cup loss to Portsmouth and said referees were not doing anything to stop "the Taylors of this game" using rough treatment to stop the flair players.

Taylor was sent off for the tackle that broke Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva's leg last month.

The Portuguese could still find himself in trouble with the FA, however, after other remarks about referee Martin Atkinson, including calling him a "robber".

"I am deeply sorry if my comments, made when emotions were running high after the Portsmouth game, were misconstrued," Queiroz told United's website (www.manutd.com) on Monday.

"Everyone at Manchester United knows that Martin Taylor is not that type of player."

Luxemburgo fined for sending off, escapes ban

RIO DE JANEIRO: Palmeiras coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo was fined 50,000 real ($29,239) on Monday after being sent off in a match two weeks ago and said he was prepared to pay it out of his own pocket.

The former Brazil and Real Madrid coach, who had been facing a possible touchline ban of up to one year, appeared relieved at the decision and suggested that fines rather than bans were a better method of disciplining players and managers.

"If the club wants me to pay this, I will do so without any problem," Luxemburgo told reporters.

"A financial fine is an idea worth considering, maybe it could also be used for players when they are given a red card."

Luxemburgo, in his fifth stint at Palmeiras, was sent off in the 1-1 draw with Rio Preto in the Paulista championship on Feb 23.

He later accused the Paulista federation's refereeing committee of behaving like a dictatorship and curbing his right to free speech.

Tired Els withdraws from Palmer's event

MIAMI: World No 3 Ernie Els has pulled out of this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando because of fatigue, PGA Tour officials said on Monday.

According to his management company, the South African wanted a break to help prepare for next month's US Masters.

The three-time major champion has played the last two events on the PGA Tour, missing the cut at last week's Tampa Bay Championship five days after winning the Honda Classic.

Els, 38, had hinted he might be taking time off after battling to successive rounds of 2-over-par 73 in strong gusts at Tampa Bay.

"For some reason last week I could deal with it," Els said of the winds he had shrugged off in the final round of the Honda Classic where he won his first title on US soil in nearly four years.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational starts on Thursday when Fijian Vijay Singh will defend the title .

(China Daily 03/12/2008 page22)