Rio in nightclub punch-up

Stockholm: Rio Ferdinand was involved in a fight at a Stockholm nightclub on Friday night, a Swedish daily reported on Sunday.

The England and Manchester United defender is reported to have been punched in the face after an argument with a man who wanted to take his photograph at club Cafe Opera in central Stockholm, according to eyewitnesses.

?It was unpleasant,? Ferdinand, on a holiday in the Swedish capital, told the paper. ?I?m not a troublemaker, but sometimes these things happen.?

On Wednesday, Ferdinand was banned from driving for 28 days after he was caught overtaking a police car at 106 miles per hour on the M6 near Stafford.

United deal in trouble

London: Global sportswear giant Nike could back out of its sponsorship deal with English football giants Manchester United if the side fails to return to its winning ways, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

Nike has a ?303 million ($553 million) sponsorship deal with united, but since the 13-year deal was signed in 2000 ? the year after the team won the European Champions League ? the club?s fortunes have waned.

This past season United ? taken over earlier this month by US sports tycoon Malcolm Glazer ? has won no major honours, and finished a distant third in the Premiership.

Nike is due to meet Glazer next month to discuss his strategic vision for the world?s most famous football club.

Player?s mum freed

Sao Paulo: The mother of Corinthians defender Marinho was released by her kidnappers on Saturday, 25 days after she was abducted, the club said.

Alice Custodio Nazare, 62, was released unharmed in the coastal city of Sao Vicente, about 80 km south-east of Sao Paulo, after the family reportedly paid a ransom, Corinthians spokesman Luciano Signorini said.

Nazare was taken captive on May 3 by two gunmen who pretended to be delivering flowers at her home in Santos, a city near Sao Vicente. Nazare was the fifth mother of a Brazilian soccer player to be abducted since December.

Drug tests under cloud

London: Tests for steroid nandrolone could have been inaccurate in the past because of a recently-discovered phenomenon known as ?unstable urine?, The Sunday Telegraph reported, quoting a WADA directive.

The newspaper, which says it has access to a confidential directive sent by WADA to their accredited testing laboratories, says it is claiming unstable urine could invalidate a positive test for the often-detected drug.

Colin issue

Virginia Water: European Tour executive director George O?Grady has demanded a full apology from Briton Gary Evans after he made newspaper accusations against Colin Montgomerie over his actions at the Indonesia Open in March.

The controversy began after Montgomerie placed his ball in the wrong spot the day after play had been stopped because of a thunderstorm. A tournament committee decided to take no further action. Evans tried to take the matter further at a meeting on Wednesday and then spoke to reporters on Saturday, calling for Montgomerie to be brought to book.

Hole-in-one

Virginia Water: Britain?s Steve Webster recorded a hole-in-one at the par-three fifth in the final round of the BMW Championship on Sunday.This was his first ace on the European Tour.

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