Kazakhstan

Japan and Saudi Arabia will host the round-robin, quarter-final stages of the Asian Club Championship, the Asian Football Confederation announced.

Confusion over scheduling, disputes over judges' decisions, rumours of food poisoning and an upside down flag are some of the problems faced by organisers of this week's Asian Winter Games in South Korea.

Kazakhstan would be welcomed as the 52nd member association of UEFA if they went ahead with plans to quit the Asian confederation, officials said on Wednesday.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has settled its dispute with Iraq over the venue for World Cup preliminary matches by offering another location for some of the games.

Fifteen days after its official launch, the new sports information channel, Eurosportnews, has reached a distribution agreement with two leading CATV operators, Kosmos TV in Moscow, Russia and Alma TV in Kazakhstan.

Thousands of Australians and foreigners, setting aside cynicism about corrupt officials, doped athletes and bungled busing, poured into central Sydney on Thursday to glimpse the torch that heralds the opening of the biggest Olympic Games.

Russia's individual Olympic gold medal-winners at the Sydney Games in September can expect a $100,000 bonus, the country's leading sports official have said.

The English Football Association and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have put the finishing touches to a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will lead to long-term technical co-operation between the two governing bodies.

NHL International, in conjunction with ESPN International, will distribute the 2000 NHL