PARIS: Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki ended the year the women’s world number one, but the consensus is that Serena Williams is the best player on earth. The problem as ever with the American, who will turn 30 next year, is her level of commitment to the sport as she continues to dabble in everything from acting …

ROME: Roma are the only team standing between AC Milan and a winter escape as Serie A gets ready to shut down for the Christmas holiday period. Milan already lead the table by six points with Juventus, Napoli and Lazio all level in the chase to rejoin the leaders. And those teams, as well as …

ABU DHABI: Although several Gulf countries are interested in hosting games during the 2022 World Cup, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said Friday that the decision on expanding the tournament beyond Qatar must come from the desert nation. Blatter, who met with football officials in Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait as well as Qatar during a tour …

CAIRO: Masri appointed Swiss Alain Geiger as their new coach on Wednesday, few days after announcing that Frenchman Herve Renard has taken up the vacant managerial seat. The Port Said-based club did not disclose any reasons behind the collapse of Renard’s deal, swiftly bringing in a replacement. "Chairman Kamel Abou-Ali has today finalized a deal …

CAIRO: Egyptian FA chairman Samir Zaher and his Algerian counterpart Mohamed Raouraoua have finally patched things up, following a meeting organized by Qatari football chiefs on Wednesday. Zaher and Raouraoua were involved in an endless war of words during last year’s World Cup qualifiers, which witnessed some unpleasant events between Egypt and Algeria. An announcement …

By AFP DOHA: A Qatar-led international team has made its first find in its search for planets orbiting distant stars — a huge gas giant 20 percent larger than Jupiter that orbits a star 500 light years away. The planet has been named Qatar-1b and its discovery is to be reported in the journal Monthly …

CAIRO: The number of Egyptian fans will surely exceed that of the home fans when the African champions visit Qatar this week, according to the latter’s assistant coach. The friendly, which is not among FIFA’s international agenda, takes place in Doha on Thursday as part of the Qataris preparations for next month’s Asian Cup of …

CAIRO: Zamalek midfielder Hassan Mostafa has warned his teammates not to pay attention to Ahly’s poor form ahead of this month’s Cairo derby. For the first time in several years, the in-form Whites are favorites to win the top match amid their arch-rivals’ recent stumbling and change of management. However, Hassan, a former long-serving Ahly …

ZURICH: Egypt leads the African nations and climbs one place to No. 9 on the FIFA rankings, as Spain ends the year it won its first World Cup top of the list and finishes No. 1 for the third straight year. The Netherlands, which lost to Spain in July’s final, is second while Germany has …

CAIRO: The United States will visit Cairo for a football friendly against the reigning Africa Cup of Nations champions on Feb. 9, the US Soccer Federation announced Monday. The Americans have beaten the seven-time Africa Cup winners in both of their prior meetings, the most recent of which was their 3–0 triumph over the Pharaohs …

CAIRO: Ahly’s holding midfielder Hossam Ashour is fit to play against Harras Hodoud in a postponed Egyptian Premier League match in Cairo on December 21. The Red Devils said on their official website that Ashour had participated in Monday’s training session after reaching full recovery. The 24-year-old was nursing a nagging back injury that took …

CAIRO: USA coach Bob Bradley is excited over his team’s match with Egypt, describing the Pharaohs as ‘extremely talented and competitive’. Both teams face each other in Cairo in a friendly game scheduled for February 9. It will be USA’s first-ever visit to Cairo. Bradley’s men downed Egypt 3-0 with ease in the 2009 FIFA …

CAIRO: Zamalek’s want-out goalie Essam Al-Hadari urged his club to show leniency while negotiating with Merreikh over a possible summer deal for him. The Sudanese side announced on Monday they are not willing to offer more than $600,000 to sign Al-Hadari on a permanent basis, failing to fulfill the White Knights’ financial demands. The Cairo …

CAIRO: The Palm Aroussy Tennis Academy held its third National Junior Tennis Tournament over the weekend at the Palm Hills Club as well as the Play and Stay Festival as part of the official launch of Tennis 10s. Play and Stay is a fairly new program that was introduced to Egypt last year by Hassan …

CAIRO: The Cairo derby clash between Ahly and Zamalek will be played on Dec. 30 instead of Dec. 31, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) announced on Sunday. The EFA website said that the match has been rescheduled for “security reasons” without specifying details. The highly-anticipated match has been originally scheduled for Nov. 28, but was …

AL KHOBAR: Squash legend Amr Shabana lost his World Open title after being beaten by Nick Matthew in the semi-finals on Thursday, ensuring that an Englishman would win the title for the first time. Shabana, whose four world titles have only been exceeded by the two Pakistani greats, Jansher and Jahangir Khan, could not match …

DUBAI: Lydia Hall of Wales shot a 5-under 67 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead over Anna Nordqvist of Sweden in the second round of the Dubai Ladies Masters. Michelle Wie limped around the back nine of the Emirates Golf Club because of a bad back and finished with a 72, six shots behind the …

COOLUM: Bobby Gates shot a 3-under 69 on Friday to take the second-round lead in the Australian PGA, while fellow American John Daly had an 83 to miss the cut on the Coolum layout where he had one of his most famous career meltdowns. Gates, who earned a 2011 PGA Tour card with a 16th-place …

ANTWERP: Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin are considering playing doubles together at the 2012 London Olympics. The Belgian stars said at a joint press conference on Thursday they are open to the idea but need to overcome scheduling difficulties. “Obviously for the Olympics, it would be beautiful,” US Open champion Clijsters said, adding 2012 also …

LONDON/ LOS ANGELES: The president of the International Tennis Federation has offered Pete Sampras a replica trophy from his two Davis Cup wins following the theft of much of his tennis memorabilia. Sampras, who won 14 Grand Slam titles, says most of his trophies and other memorabilia were stolen last month from a public storage …

ACCRA: FIFA gave Ghana three days to end government interference in soccer or its national federation will be referred to its emergency committee and possibly banned from international competition. FIFA said Thursday in a statement to The Associated Press that it was informed by the Ghana Football Association of a raid on the GFA headquarters …

LONDON: Fabio Capello reckons Sam Allardyce and Harry Redknapp are the current leading two candidates to replace him when he steps down as England manager in 2012. The Football Association (FA) have indicated they would like to replace Capello with an Englishman when the Italian’s contract ends after the European Championships. Tottenham Hotspur manager Redknapp …

LONDON: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger vowed his team had nothing to fear after they advanced to the knockout phase of the Champions League and a likely showdown with one of European football’s heavyweights. A below-par Arsenal were made to work hard for a 3-1 victory over Partizan Belgrade on Wednesday, with Theo Walcott and Samir …

CAIRO: Ahly will be without influential midfielder Mohamed Barakat when they face Ittihad in Alexandria on Friday, while three key players are fit again after injury. Manager Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Shafi ‘Zizo’ named 18 players for the league clash, making a number of changes to the squad that travelled to Smouha last week. Veteran Barakat, who hardly …

CAIRO: Bani Obeid players have been promised multiplied bonuses if they beat Zamalek in the Egyptian Cup round of 32 tie on Friday. The second-tier side visit the Premier League leaders in Cairo hoping to repeat their earth-shattering 1-0 victory two years ago. “Every player will get a total of LE 55,000 if we win …

AL KHOBAR: Titleholder Amr Shabana came back from the brink of likely quarter-final defeat in the World Open as Gregory Gaultier’s hopes ended in pain, tears, noisy controversy, and a damaged hamstring here on Wednesday. The great Egyptian was three times within one blow of going two games down against the gifted Frenchman before Gaultier, …

AL KHOBAR: World champion Amr Shabana has hit out at promoters on the Pro Squash Tour, claiming they have contributed to the spate of injuries at this week’s World Open. The Egyptian believes tough playing schedules around the world circuit are partly responsible for the premature exit of his two best known compatriots, world number …

CAIRO: Ahly’s U-20s grabbed a morale-boosting 1-0 victory over bitter rivals Zamalek in crowd-less youth league match on Tuesday. Striker Abdul-Rahman Ahmed scored the only goal of the game after 30 minutes at Helmi Zamora Stadium. The match featured a number of first-team players at both ends, with Osama Hosni starting for Ahly before being …

CAIRO: Essam Al-Hadari claims that newly-hired Merreikh manager Hossam Al-Badri is keen to sign him from Zamalek, who are more than willing to listen to the offer from Sudan. Despite playing down the Merreikh link last week, Al-Hadari said on his personal website on Tuesday that officials from Sudan have arrived in Cairo to talk …

CAIRO: Zamalek striker Amr Zaki could be forced to go under the knife in order to treat a nagging knee injury, club doctor Mostafa Al-Monayeri revealed. The Egypt striker is currently in Germany for a rehabilitation program that could last for up to three weeks. However, should he remain struggling after the rehab, the 27-year-old …