‘Becks contract worth $27.5m’

New York: David Beckham’s playing contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy is worth about $ 27.5m in base salary over five seasons, according to a person familiar with Major League Soccer agreements.

Beckham’s average base salary of about $5.5m was disclosed on Friday by a person who had been briefed on the deal the English star agreed to last month and who spoke on condition of anonymity because those details had not been announced.

Simon Oliveira, Beckham’s spokesman, would not confirm the figure but didn’t dispute it.

Eto’o back in squad

Madrid: Striker Samuel Eto’o returned to the Barcelona squad on Saturday after missing out on the team’s back-to-back defeats against Valencia and Liverpool.

The Cameroon international, who is returning to fitness after a four-month absence following knee surgery, was named in an 18-man squad for Sunday’s match at home to Athletic Bilbao.

Saurav in main draw

Chennai: India’s Saurav Ghosal, ranked 46 in the world, has entered the main draw of the prestigious Bear Sterns Tournament of Champions, registering emphatic wins over his opponents.

Ghosal defeated David Barnett of England 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 in the first round. The national champion reached the main draw by defeating another Englishman, Chris Simpson, 11-4, 11-8, 11-8 in the final round.

Landis cries foul again

Denver: Tour de France champion Floyd Landis claims more mistakes were made in his doping case, this time involving technicians who handled his two positive urine samples.

Landis’ attorneys say the cyclist’s positive doping tests could be invalidated because the same technicians were allowed to work on both samples. Lab rules prohibit technicians from participating in both tests to prevent them from validating their own findings.

The lawyers want the technicians from the French lab to be questioned for his arbitration case against the US Anti-Doping Agency, scheduled for May 14.

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