London Games and U.S. Open champion ANDY MURRAY was given a "hero's welcome when he made a triumphant return" to his home town of Dunblane, Scotland. Crowds packed into the "bunting-lined streets with Scottish flags and homemade placards congratulating the town's favourite son" (Scottish DAILY RECORD, 9/16). ... FIFA revealed Juventus Coach Antonio Conte's 10-month Italian ban for not reporting match-fixing has been extended globally. Therefore, he will not be on the bench for Wednesday's Champions League opener at holders Chelsea (REUTERS, 9/15). ... Shanghai Shenhua Head Coach SERGIO BATISTA revealed DIDIER DROGBA and NICOLAS ANELKA are back in China, and the boardroom row that threatened their futures at the club has been "basically resolved" (AFP, 9/14). ... JOHN DUNLOP is to "hand in his licence at the end of the Flat season in November marks the close of one of the most successful training careers in British racing." In his career, Dunlop has sent out more than 3,500 winners over 46 years and trained the winners of 10 Classics including two Derby winners (London TELEGRAPH, 9/13). ... British F1 Driver LEWIS HAMILTON dismissed reports of his leaving team McLaren and joining some other team for the next season as “rubbish” and said he was currently focused on regaining his world championship title after five years. Hamilton: “I have not signed up with anyone. I don’t have a timeline (to sign a new contract). I have to get that (contract) sorted out" (PTI, 9/16).
CAT'S OUT OF THE BAG: A film showing NBA player JEREMY LIN “wearing a giant Hello Kitty head to evade paparazzi in Taiwan has gone viral,” with more than 360,000 hits on YouTube and thousands of shares on Facebook. Within 23 hours of Lin posting the YouTube link on his Facebook page, it had drawn more than 20,000 "likes" and had been shared more than 4,000 times (WANTCHINATIMES.com, 9/8). … The committee in charge of the preparatory procedures for the Oman Football Association board elections ‘12-16 "announced the closure of nominations for the board." The committee approved the nomination request of SAYYID KHALID BIN HAMAD AL BUSAIDI from Al Suwaiq club for the seat of OFA chairman. It also approved the requests of five nominations for the position of deputy chairman of OFA. They are SALEH BIN ABDULLAH AL FARSI from Al Misanah club, SHEIKH SALEM BIN HAMAD AL ALAWI from Al Taliah club, MOHAMED BIN RASHID AL ALAWI from Bakha club, HE SHEIKH ABDULLAH BIN SALEM AL MUKHAINI from Al Arouba club, and SHEIKH NAIF BIN SALEM AL MARHOUN from Al Itihad club (OMAN TRIBUNE, 9/16). ... USAIN BOLT "will warm up with" National Basketball League team NZ Breakers as part of his visit to New Zealand on Oct. 8. Bolt will be in Auckland next month "to promote Gatorade sports drink," which has also teamed up with the Breakers (NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 9/14). ... Morocco Head Coach ERIC GERETS was fired on Saturday, less than a week after a 2-0 defeat in Mozambique left their hopes of African Nations Cup qualification in the balance. His contract was terminated after a meeting of the Morocco Football Federation. The former Belgian player is the second coach in three days to lose a high-profile African job following Cameroon’s decision to suspend DENIS LAVAGNE until the end of his contract next month (REUTERS, 9/16).
