Blatter holds referee responsible

Paris: Fifa president Sepp Blatter says it wasn’t Thierry Henry’s responsibility to tell the referee he handled the ball in the build-up to France’s goal against Ireland in the World Cup playoff. Blatter was quoted as saying in Sunday’s edition of L’Equipe newspaper that it wasn’t Henry’s “responsibility to tell the referee (Martin Hansson)” and that “the referee should have taken the time to reflect rather than immediately awarding the goal.”

Pruned down

Paris: The 30-player shortlist for the 2009 Ballon d’Or award was pruned down to 10 men on Sunday, with Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi the overwhelming favourite. Last year’s winner Cristiano Ronaldo, too, is in the running.

Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o, Steven Gerrard, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Andres Iniesta, Kaka, Wayne Rooney and Xavi are the other players still in contention. The result will be announced on Tuesday.

FA Cup draw

London: Manchester United will face old rivals Leeds United or minor league hopefuls Kettering in the FA Cup third round, while holders Chelsea can look forward to a home tie with Championship (second division) side Watford after Sunday’s draw.

Three all-Premier League for the third round were West Ham United vs Arsenal, Aston Villa vs Blackburn Rovers and Wigan Athletic vs Hull City.

Coupet out

Paris: Paris St Germain goalkeeper Gregory Coupet will be out of action for at least three months after fracturing his left ankle in a Ligue 1 match, his club said on Sunday.

Pune meet

Pune: Hosts India take on the Philippines in the first FIBA Asia U-16 girls’ tournament that gets under way at the Balewadi Sports Complex Monday.

ICC camp

Calcutta: Eighteen batsmen from the six top associate and affiliate ODI sides took part in the first of four Gatorade ICC High Performance Programme (HPP) batting camps that concluded in Pretoria on Friday.

The camp was about assessment, basic skill development and the setting up of an ongoing programme for each player, to be monitored throughout 2010.