TENNIS:World number two Rafael Nadal denied yesterday a claim from his coach and uncle Toni Nadal he had a potentially career-threatening foot injury.
"This injury hasn't stopped me competing at the top level for over two years. The story that has come out is totally false," Nadal, flanked by Toni Nadal, told Spanish state television.
In an interview published in yesterday's Diario de Mallorca, Toni Nadal said the injury dating back to 2005 was a serious problem that could have long-term consequences.
"Rafael's career is not in danger. You can see that from the fact that he has just had his best year yet," Rafael Nadal's media manager Benito Perez-Barbadillo said.
"This year he has played the second highest number of matches of anyone on the tour and achieved his highest ever points total. It isn't career-threatening."
McLaren not out of woods
MOTOR SPORT:Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone has raised the possibility of McLaren starting the 2008 season with a points penalty if the team's new car design is based on information from Ferrari. "I hope not, but it could happen," Ecclestone said in German magazine Auto Motor und Sport. A transcript was also published on the official Formula One website (www.formula1.com) yesterday.
McLaren were stripped of their constructors' points this season and fined €67.5 million for possessing technical information from Ferrari. A fresh spying row erupted this month when Renault were charged with unauthorised possession of McLaren information.
Representatives of Renault have been summoned to a hearing of the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA)'s World Motor Sport Council in Monaco on December 6th.
England tour to proceed
CRICKET:England have confirmed their Test tour will proceed as planned following two bombings in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo.
England's 16-man playing squad and support staff left their Colombo hotel yesterday morning at 8.30am, less than one hour before the first explosion in the southern suburbs of the city.
An elderly disabled woman detonated a device outside the residence of Sri Lanka's welfare minister Douglas Devananda, killing the minister's personal secretary and injuring two security personnel.
A second bomb was set off by remote control at around 6pm local time - approximately eight kilometres from where England had been staying before leaving for Kandy today - and there were believed to be multiple casualties.
The first of three Tests between England and Sri Lanka begins on Saturday at Asgiriya, Kandy.
Hungary chief under pressure
OLYMPICS:Hungary's Olympic committee will not accredit the head of the country's athletics team for the 2008 Olympics unless two athletes convicted of doping settle legal costs, the federation said yesterday. Adrian Annus (hammer) and Robert Fazekas (discus) won gold at the 2004 Games but were disqualified for doping and still owe €14,315 to the International Olympic Committee for legal costs stemming from a suit over the disqualifications.
The IOC has asked its Hungarian committee to recover the money, which in turn upped pressure on the athletics federation's head. "There's just no way for us to get this money back," Gusztav Rabold, chairman of the Hungarian Athletics Association, said. "We're not in a contractual relationship with the athletes." Rabold added they had suspended the competition rights of the pair but could do little else.
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