Other sports stories in brief.
Collingwood faces surgery
CRICKET:Paul Collingwood faces the prospect of shoulder surgery this summer, although England's one-day captain hopes to avert such a course.
Collingwood, 32 in two weeks, plays in the first Test against New Zealand at Lord's this week after having a third and final cortisone injection in a torn muscle in the right shoulder.
Having undergone jabs prior to the Test series in Sri Lanka and the two-month tour of New Zealand, successful day-to-day rehabilitation is now the only way to avoid an operation.
The problem flared up again for Collingwood - whose medium pace supplements the four-man attack - in early-season outings with Durham.
"After the last couple of cortisones I have had, a few days later I have come in to bowl at 100 per cent," Collingwood said. "So I have got no worries about doing that on Thursday."
Federer's Olympic dream
TENNIS:Roger Federer hopes to celebrate his 27th birthday on August 8th by carrying the flag again for Switzerland at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
"It's my birthday on the day of the opening ceremony," Federer told reporters yesterday at the Hamburg Masters. "Maybe I will carry the flag again for Switzerland. I'd be very honoured.
"The Olympics is a dream for all sportspeople," added Federer, who was beaten by Tomas Berdych four years ago in Athens and lost the bronze medal match in 2000.
Britain's Andy Murray had a dig at his critics after cruising into the second round in Hamburg with a 6-4 6-1 victory over Dmitry Tursunov.
The win was only his fourth on clay this season following his second-round defeat by Stanislas Wawrinka in Rome last week.
The 20-year-old said: "I haven't played that many matches on clay so to expect me to play well every single week (is too much). I'm playing better on clay this year and I'm feeling a bit more confident."
Wada may chase Landis for costs
CYCLING:The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) have said they may seek $1.3 million (€800,000) in court costs from disgraced Tour de France winner Floyd Landis if the cyclist fails to win his appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).
New chairman of Wada John Fahey discussed the possibility of recovering court costs after chairing his first major meetings at the doping agency's Montreal headquarters last weekend.
Fahey's predecessor, Dick Pound, has been critical of the International Cycling Union's unwillingness to contribute financially to the court costs.
Landis, who has denied using performance-enhancing drugs, is awaiting the results of his final appeal against a positive doping test that stripped him of his Tour de France title. The American tested positive for elevated testosterone to epitestosterone levels after his stunning victory on stage 17 of the 2006 Tour.
Bennati best in sprint to take his first Giro stage win
CYCLING:Italy's Daniele Bennati of the Liquigas team won the third stage of the Giro d'Italia from Catania to Milazzo as team-mate Franco Pellizotti retained the overall race lead.
Bennati beat the German pair of Erik Zabel and Danilo Hondo in a sprint finish to take his first stage victory in the race.
Compatriot Pellizotti finished 42nd in the same time and leads Christian Vande Velde of the US by one second.
"It's great to finally win a stage at the Giro d'Italia and a great day for Liquigas because we've also kept the race lead," Bennati said.
Bennati stayed near the front of the peloton in the final kilometres, avoiding several crashes.
Australia's Bradley McGee of the CSC team was forced to retire after breaking his collarbone in a crash.
Stage two winner Riccardo Ricco of Italy has a suspected broken finger after another crash that brought down 20 riders, though he battled on to be 18th overall.
Venus returns after a month out
TENNIS:Venus Williams will face Samantha Stosur when she returns this week after more than a month out of action after the Australian beat Michaella Krajicek 6-3 6-2 yesterday to set up a second-round encounter at the Italian Open.
The American six-time grand slam champion, seeded seventh for this tournament, has been sidelined with an unspecified medical problem.
Fifth seed Serena Williams, who like her sister is a former Italian Open champion, will start her campaign against Alona Bondarenko after the Ukrainian blew away Italian wildcard Mara Santangelo 6-2 6-2 in the first round.
Russian 10th seed Vera Zvonareva stayed on course to meet Venus Williams in the third round by beating Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-3 6-3.
Zvonareva lost her serve four times in the match but was able to break the Japanese player almost at will to ease through.
Finn Harps plan big move
SOCCER:Finn Harps hope to move into a new, 6,800 all-seater stadium in 2010 - and they will be the envy of nearly every club in Ireland.
That was the message from Donegal yesterday as FAI chief executive John Delaney painted a bright picture regarding the future of soccer in Donegal.
Harps have done a deal with the trustees of their ground, a local developer and Donegal County Council. The club will move less than a mile from Finn Park in Ballybofey to Stranorlar.
Work on the €9m project, which will also receive financial backing from the FAI and the Government, is expected to begin next month.
This is a fantastic development for the club, Delaney stated on a trip to Stranorlar, adding that the new ground would also act as a regional centre for the development of the game.
