Renault handed suspended F1 ban

Renault have been given a two-year suspended ban from Formula 1 for their role in fixing last year's Singapore Grand Prix.

The team were called before governing body the FIA to answer charges they had asked driver Nelson Piquet Jr to crash to help team-mate Fernando Alonso win.

Former team boss Flavio Briatore has been banned from FIA-sanctioned events for an unlimited period.

Ex-engineering director Pat Symonds has also been excluded for five years.

Briatore and Symonds parted company with Renault last week at the same time as the French car giant said they would not contest the charges.

Tour cuts Dubai prize pot by 25%

The European Tour has confirmed there will be a 25% reduction in the prize money awarded at the season-ending Dubai World Championship.

There will be the same reduction - from £6.1m to £4.6m - in the Race to Dubai bonus pool on offer to the season's top 15 money-winners.

The bonus pool winner will get £928,000 compared with £773,000 for winning the tournament on 19-22 November.

Cricket set for Champions Trophy

Cricket's second biggest 50-over event, the biennial Champions Trophy, begins in South Africa on Tuesday, as the sport's top eight teams vie for glory.

The tournament was to have been held in Pakistan last year but was postponed and moved because of security concerns.

Two teams from two groups of four will form the semi-finals, with the final to be staged in Centurion on 5 October.

Man City will not punish Bellamy

Manchester City will not discipline striker Craig Bellamy after an altercation with a fan in Sunday's 4-3 defeat at Manchester United.

The police and the Football Association are both looking at the incident.

Asked if the club would take any action against Bellamy, City's assistant boss Mark Bowen told BBC Radio 5 live: "No. I don't think there is any need to.

Nadal pulls out of Thailand Open

World number two Rafael Nadal has pulled out of next week's Thailand Open as he continues to recover from an abdominal injury.

The Spaniard, 23, suffered a heavy defeat by Juan Martin del Potro in his last outing in the US Open semi-finals.

Australia nominates Melbourne for Super 15

The city of Melbourne has been selected by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) as the country's sole contender for inclusion in the expanded Super 15 rugby competition.

The southern hemisphere's provincial competition expands from 14 teams to 15 in 2011. Australia is competing with South Africa and New Zealand for the right to host the new franchise.

Rogge: 2016 decision will come down to “a couple of votes”

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said he expects the race for the 2016 Olympics to be decided by "a couple of votes" and that Chicago's bid should not hinge on whether Barack Obama goes to Denmark to push his home city's bid.

Sport quotes of the week

"Ha ha! No. I haven't spoken to Sven for a while!"
David Beckham is plotting his next career move - but it won't be with Notts County.

"You can't drive a space shuttle and expect not to have pressures."
Croatia coach Slaven Bilic compares himself to an astronaut ahead of the England game.

"I support West Ham and Arsenal."
There's only two teams in London as far as Dizzee Rascal is concerned.

Federer battles into semi-finals

Defending champion Roger Federer withstands a superb fightback from Robin Soderling to reach the semi-finals of the US Open.

Hansen surges to lead in Germany

Denmark's Soren Hansen finishes his round strongly to secure a one-shot lead at the end of the first round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship at Gut Larchenhof.

Flutey admits England injury fear

Brive centre Riki Flutey fears a shoulder problem may rule him out of England's autumn international series.

White condemns England to defeat

Cameron White hit his first one-day international century as Australia easily beat England at the Rose Bowl to go 3-0 up in the seven-match series.

Brazilians rejoice over victory against Argentina

Partying fans gave Brazil players a hero’s welcome early Sunday as they arrived home from a convincing victory over Argentina in World Cup qualifying.

Brazil couldn’t have asked for more from its trip to Rosario on Saturday—a 3-1 win over their rival and a spot in next year’s World Cup. Argentina had lost only once before at home in 50 World Cup qualifying matches, a 5-0 defeat to Colombia in 1993.

Nearly 1,000 fans made it to Salvador international airport at around 6 a.m. to greet the Brazil team, which next faces Chile in the northeastern city on Wednesday.

For that match, Brazil coach Dunga will be without the services of Kaka, Luis Fabiano, Ramires and Lucio—all suspended after picking up yellow cards. In addition, Robinho and Elano are nursing minor injuries and are listed as doubtful.

“We are moved to see this kind of party for us here,” said Kaka, who made his 70th international appearance against Argentina. “I’m sure that at the stadium against Chile it’s going to be just as nice.”

Goal drought could cost France in WCup qualifying

While Spain and England are scoring freely and coasting toward qualification for next year’s World Cup, France has one of the lowest goal tallies among teams in contention to reach South Africa.

Despite having some of the world’s best forwards—including Barcelona’s Thierry Henry, Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema— France has scored only nine goals in seven qualification matches. Of the top two teams in the nine European qualifying groups, only Scotland with six goals has scored fewer.

“We have a big problem scoring goals, we don’t score enough,” Benzema said after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Romania. “It’s up to the strikers to work harder in front of goal. Given all the chances we had in the first half we should have won.”

Brazil beats Argentina to qualify for World Cup

Brazil can start preparing for its 19th consecutive World Cup. Argentina just hopes to find a way to somehow make it to South Africa.

“It’s going to be tough,” Argentina said after Saturday night’s 3-1 loss to Brazil. “It will be more difficult because of today.”

Luisao put the five-time World Cup champions ahead in the 24th minute, and Luis Fabiano scored in the 30th and 67th. Jesus Datolo got Argentina’s goal in the 65th.

Brazil (8-1-6) leads South American qualifying with 30 points, three ahead of Chile and Paraguay (both 8-4-3) and eight in front of Argentina (6-5-4) with three matches remaining. The top four teams advance to next year’s tournament, while the No. 5 nation goes to a playoff against the No. 4 nation in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Brazil became the seventh nation to join host South Africa in next year’s 32-nation field, following Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, North Korea and South Korea and the Netherlands.

“We’re happy,” Brazil coach Dunga said. “We beat a great team with great champions. (Lionel) Messi might be the best player in the world. We beat Argentina, which had not lost a match at home in qualifying.”

Argentina had not lost a home qualifier since a 5-0 defeat to Colombia in September 1993, and the defeat could cost Maradona his job. The Albiceleste play at Paraguay on Wednesday, then close South American qualifying at home against Peru on Oct. 10 and at Uruguay three or four days later.

Argentina benefited from Colombia’s 2-0 victory over Ecuador on Saturday. Had Ecuador won, it would have moved ahead of Argentina.

“Well, these things happen in football,” Maradona said. “This won’t break me.”

Blast during Colombian soccer celebration kills 1

Police in Colombia say one person was killed and at least 30 injured when a grenade exploded in a crowd celebrating a national soccer team win.

Antioquia state police commander Col. Luis Eduardo Martinez says three of the injured are in serious condition. The blast took place Saturday night in central Medellin, Colombia’s second-largest city, after the national soccer team beat Ecuador 2-0.

Martinez said the cause of the explosion is not yet known, but police think a reveler may have accidentally detonated the grenade by mishandling it.

He said police have ruled out a terrorist attack.

The plaza were the explosion took place—Parque San Antonio—was the site of a 1995 terrorist attack that left 23 people dead.

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