Germany's Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker said Tuesday he is confident of being fit to play at this June's European Championships despite having an operation to repair torn ankle ligaments.

The 27-year-old center back damaged his ankle in the Gunners' Premier League match against Sunderland on February 11, which left Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger saying he would be out for a 'long time'.

Samir Nasri is confident he is starting to prove that Manchester City did not make a mistake when they signed him for £24 million from Arsenal last summer.

The Frenchman, 24, has taken time to settle at Eastlands and has made just 15 Premier League starts since his move.

Mercedes on Tuesday unveiled their new WO3 car which they hope will allow them to claw their way back to the level of the top trio, Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari, after a bitterly disappointing 2011.

The German team had to settle for fourth place in the constructors' championship last year with drivers Nico Rosberg and Formula One great Michael Schumacher slumping to seventh and eighth.

Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki has moved into the top 20 on the NBA career scoring list.

Nowitzki moved into 20th on the list Monday with seven points in the first quarter in a game against Boston.

Warsaw's mayor says all security concerns have been addressed and the stadium that will host the opening match of this year's European Championship is ready to stage its first game.

Poland will play Portugal in a friendly at the National Stadium in Warsaw on February 29.

Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki hit back at Martina Navratilova on Monday for claiming that the Dane had never deserved to be top of the world rankings.

Wozniacki also suggested she has lost respect for Navratilova, regarded by many as the greatest woman player ever, implying that her TV commentating sought to stir things up and that it would be better to "think a little bit."

Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas and Inter Milan coach Claudio Ranieri, himself a former Stamford Bridge manager, will be looking to the Champions League this week to boost their chances of keeping their jobs.

Villas-Boas has been described as a 'dead man walking' by Ranieri and he should know -- he was one of several high-profile managers to fall victim to the whims of Chelsea's billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.

A day after Kobe Bryant's impassioned tirade about the importance of keeping the Los Angeles Lakers together, they gave a performance that amplified his every point.

Bryant scored 28 points, Andrew Bynum had 14 points and 19 rebounds, and the Lakers roared to a 30-point lead early in the second quarter before holding on for a 103-92 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night.

American ski superstar Lindsey Vonn won her second World Cup globe in two days in Sochi on Sunday after she was crowned super-combined champion when the event was cancelled because of fog.

The 27-year-old Vonn, who on Saturday won her fifth successive downhill globe, was winning her third successive title in the discipline which disappears from the women's calendar next season.

AC Milan stormed back to the top of Serie A with a 3-0 win at lowly Cesena on Sunday as they made light of the absence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

In two games since the big Swede has been suspended for slapping Napoli's Salvatore Aronica, Milan have won.