Brazil appeal for Vanderlei

Rio De Janeiro: Brazil has formally asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to award a gold medal to Vanderlei de Lima, who was attacked by a spectator and pushed off the course while leading the Olympic marathon in August.

The Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) said in a statement on Friday that its president, Carlos Arthur Nuzman had presented the documents at the CAS headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, after failing to receive an answer from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

?We?re defending the interests of Brazilian sport and of Vanderlei himself,? Nuzman said. ?We gave the IAAF a chance to review the decision it made after the marathon. In the face of the silence from the organisation, we had no alternative other than to appeal to the tribunal (CAS).?

Reyna?s injury woes

New York: US captain Claudio Reyna, who has been suffering from a thigh injury, was missing from Bruce Arena?s 23-man squad named on Friday for this month?s World Cup soccer qualifiers against El Salvador and Panama.

?The injury that Claudio suffered in training with (English Premier League club) Manchester City is not coming along as we would have hoped,? said a disappointed Arena. ?So, we?ll be without his services for a little while.?

Gonzalez out

Santiago: Chilean midfielder Mark Gonzalez has ruled himself out of this month's World Cup qualifiers because of a leg injury. Gonzalez became Chile's second injury victim in as many days after revealing in a radio interview that he had pulled a muscle in his right leg. As yet, no replacement has been named.

?They've given me three weeks (out of action),? he said in the interview from Spain where he plays for Albacete. ?The first week is complete rest, I can't do anything.?

Standing fourth in the ten-nation South American World Cup qualifying group on 12 points from eight games, Chile continue their campaign to reach Germany 2006 against Ecuador in Quito on October 10 and then Argentina at Santiago's National Stadium three days later.

Injury forces Serena out

Berlin: Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati have pulled out of the Filderstadt tennis tournament starting on Monday.

Williams has a knee injury while fellow American Capriati has influenza, organisers said on Saturday.

Olympic champion Justine Henin-Hardenne withdrew earlier from the $650,000 German event because of a virus.

Win for Gibernau

Doha: Spaniard Sete Gibernau won a controversial inaugural Qatar MotoGP on Saturday which began with multiple world champions Valentino Rossi and Max Biaggi being relegated to the back of the grid.

Gibernau, second in the world championship behind Rossi, closed the gap to just 14 points with three races left as he took the title in sweltering conditions at the newly built Losail circuit.

He clocked 44 minutes 1.741 seconds. American Colin Edwards, on a Honda, was second.

Rossi, after storming through the field and reaching fourth place after four of the 22 laps, made a blunder and spun out to end the day empty handed. He was shunted back from eighth on the grid to 23rd after his Yamaha team were found guilty of laying down rubber on his grid position with a scooter to try and help his start.

Athletics: IAAF World Half Marathon live from 7 am on STAR Sports Tennis: Thailand Open live from 1:00 pm on STAR Sports
Soccer: Premier League live from 7:24 pm on STAR Sports and 8:30 pm on ESPN