Luis Figo apologises

Madrid: Real Madrid midfielder Luis Figo has apologised for a challenge on Real Zaragoza defender Cesar Jimenez that will leave the player on the sidelines for between six and eight months.

Jimenez will undergo surgery on Thursday after tearing his cruciate ligament and suffering muscle and cartilage damage when Figo slid into him with his studs up during Sunday?s league match, which Real Madrid won 3-1.

?I?m really sad about it,? Figo told the Real Madrid website on Tuesday. ?At no time did I want to hurt him. We were both going for the ball as hard as we could. I went in with my eyes closed and he got there first. I don?t feel good about it. I hope he can get back to full fitness as soon as possible.?

Cesar himself excused the Real Madrid player for his actions. ?I don?t feel any resentment towards him,? he told sports daily Marca. ?He apologised to me and clearly felt very bad about it. I don?t think any players deliberately set out to injure their opponents.?

4-in-row for Henry

London: Arsenal and France striker Thierry Henry has been selected in the uefa.com users? team of the year for the fourth time in succession.

Henry has now been selected every year since the award?s 2001 inception and was the only ever-present named in the 2004 team chosen by more than 1.2 million votes cast on Uefa?s official website and revealed on Wednesday.

Schwarzer extension

Newcastle: Australian international goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer has signed a three-year contract extension with Premier League Middlesbrough.

?There has been a lot of speculation recently about whether I would stay on Teesside with the possibility that I could transfer or sign a pre-contract with another club,? the 32-year-old said on his personal website. ?I can confirm that I will be staying in the North East beyond this summer.?

The deal will last until the close season of 2008.

Canada effort to keep meet

Toronto: The Aquatics Federation of Canada (AFC) has offered $500,000 of its own money in an effort to keep international swimming officials from moving or postponing this summer?s championships from Montreal.

With a sponsorship shortfall of over $8 million and poor ticket sales, the sum put forward on Tuesday will likely be seen as more of a gesture than a solution to world swimming?s governing body Fina.

According to a newspaper report in Canada, Fina will meet in Frankfurt on Wednesday to decide whether to allow the championships to go ahead in Montreal or move them to another location.

?The $500,000 is not significant in the big picture in terms of what is needed,? AFC president Linda Cuthbert said. ?But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have the championships in our own country, before our own fans. We recognise it?s a crisis but we wanted to take the initiative and step up to the plate.

Canada?s IOC member Dick Pound sid that the odds of removing the championships scheduled for July 17-31 had increased.

Dog delays game

Orlando (US): Who didn?t let the dog out? A stink was raised during halftime of the Detroit Pistons-Orlando Magic NBA game on Tuesday when the start of the second half was delayed after seeing a dog relieved itself on the court.

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