De Rossi banned for 3 ties

Nyon: Uefa has banned AS Roma captain Daniele De Rossi for three matches after he struck Shakhtar Donetsk captain Dario Srna in the face during a Champions League match. Uefa’s disciplinary panel sanctioned De Rossi on Friday after he was charged with improper conduct.

Fifa elections

Kuala Lumpur: Qatari football leader Mohamed bin Hammam on Friday announced that he will challenge Sepp Blatter for the Fifa presidency, on June 1 in Zurich.

The Asian Football Confederation president said: “Today after careful study, consultation and consideration, armed with my love and passion for football, believing that our game is about fair competition, I have decided to contest.”

U-14 cricket

Calcutta: Sonarpur Sports Academy beat Sambaran C.A White by 164 runs in the under-14 Ganga motors cup cricket match.

Brief scores

Sonarpur Sports Academy 339/3 in 35 overs (Subham Das 150) beat Sambaran C.A White 175/5 in 35 overs (Srinjoy Sarkar 60)

Tennis tourney

Calcutta: The $15,000 Calcutta South Club - ITF Men’s F2 Futures Tennis Championship 2011 will be held at the Calcutta South Club from March 21st to 26th with qualifying matches slated to be held on Saturday and Sunday.

There will be 20 direct entries, 4 wild cards and 8 qualifiers. Indian entries into the main draw are Vishnu Vardhan (AP), Yuki Bhambri (Dli), Ranjeet Virali Murugesan (TN), Rohan Gajjar (Mah), Rupesh Roy (WB), N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth (TN), and Vijayant Malik (Har).

Venus pulls out

Miami: Venus Williams has withdrawn from the ATP and WTA Miami tournament with an injury, organisers said, Thursday.

Abidal surgery

Barcelona: Barcelona say Eric Abidal has had a liver tumour successfully removed after a three-hour operation on Thursday. Abidal will remain hospitalised for about one week.