Barcelona has staunchly defended Lionel Messi over claims he racially abused a black Real Madrid player several seasons ago, calling such claims "well wide of the mark."

Dutch midfielder Royston Drenthe, who is currently on loan at Everton, was quoted in a Dutch magazine as saying he was taunted by the Argentina forward and three-time world player of the year during several of their Spanish league encounters.

Seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is hopeful the Spanish Grand Prix may yield the first podium finish since his comeback, while rival Kimi Raikkonen is similarly optimistic about a first victory since his return.

Schumacher, in his third season since coming out of retirement, has a pair of 10th-place finishes to go with two DNFs this season, while Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg won in China.

The American University of Beirut will honor two of its athletes, Andrea Paoli and Tivine Mounjoghlian who will be representing Lebanon in tae kwon do and table tennis respectively at the 2012 Olympics in London, which will kick off in July.

Organized by University Sports and the Office of Student Affairs at AUB, the announcement and ceremony will take place on May 16, 2012 at 6:30 pm in the Charles W. Hostler Student Center Auditorium on campus.

The Olympic flame was lit in Ancient Olympia in Greece on Thursday, in a solemn ceremony filled with mystery and tradition that signals the final countdown to the start of this year's summer Games in London.

Actors in ancient Greek costume invoked the god Apollo in the ruins of the 2,600-year-old Temple of Hera, using a concave mirror to harness the sun's rays and kindle a flame on the torch for a relay that will take it around Greece and Britain.

The Memphis Grizzlies defeated Los Angeles to stave off elimination as they posted a 92-80 win over the Clippers who were given a scare when star Blake Griffin appeared to hurt his knee.

The tightly contested first round Western Conference series now goes back to Los Angeles for game six on Friday where the Grizzlies will try to send it to a game seven.

A double by Colombian striker Radamel Falcao inspired Atletico Madrid to a 3-0 win over fellow Spaniards Athletic Bilbao and their second Europa League trophy in three seasons.

Falcao, who also became the first player to win successive Europa League/UEFA Cups with different sides having scored the winning goal for Porto last term, scored a brilliant first-half double to take his tally for this season's competition to 12.

LeBron James scored 29 points and Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh had 19 each as the Miami Heat eliminated the under-manned New York Knicks with a 106-94 win in game five of their Eastern Conference series.

"We came out with a lot of intensity," James said after Wednesday's win. "We tried to get as many stops as possible and we were able to do that."

Spanish clay powerhouses Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer got on and off the controversial blue clay courts at the Madrid Masters as quickly as possible on Wednesday with the Iberian pair racing into the third round.

Second seed Nadal spent 80 minutes in winning his first match against Nikolay Davydenko since 2009, earning a 6-2, 6-2 victory. Fifth seed Ferrer dismissed Czech Radek Stepanek 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 in almost the same match time.

The Olympic flame for this summer's London Games will be lit Thursday in Ancient Olympia, the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) announced on Tuesday.

The Flame will be lit "with every solemnity, according to the traditional way," the HOC said in a statement.

Danny Granger scored 25 points as the Indiana Pacers punched their ticket to the second round of the NBA playoffs by beating Orlando 105-87 in game five of their Eastern Conference series.

The Pacers advanced past the first round for the first time since 2005, winning the best of seven series 4-1.