The Italian club Virtus Bologna says “unexpected engagements” have made it impossible to sign Kobe Bryant(notes) this month, but both sides will keep working toward a deal in November.

Bologna President Claudio Sabatini told The Associated Press this month he had reached a tentative deal with Bryant’s agent or a 10-game contract worth more than $3 million.

Bundesliga giants Schalke 04 will be without goalkeeper Ralf Faehrmann for the rest of the year after he suffered a major knee injury which is expected to keep him out for up to three months.

The 23-year-old, who replaced Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the Schalke goal after his departure to Bayern Munich, badly damaged knee ligaments in the 2-1 home defeat to Kaiserslautern last Saturday.

Korean Grand Prix organizers have warned that the loss-making event is under threat of closure unless Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone gives them a cheaper contract, a report said.

Promoter Park Won-Hwa said the grand prix, held at Yeongam in rural South Jeolla, had made a "big financial loss" and was unpopular with the local community since joining the glitzy Formula One circuit last year.

NBA owners and locked-out players met with a federal mediator for more than 16 hours before the longest contract negotiating session of the bitter money dispute ended Wednesday with no public comments.

The first two weeks of the 2011-2012 NBA season have already been wiped out and NBA commissioner David Stern said that more games could be lost if the two sides, widely split on how to divide revenues, could not make progress Tuesday.

Tennis chiefs have played down fears that the Asian swing will become the perennial victim of player pull-outs at the end of the grueling season after high-profile absentees at the Shanghai Masters.

The question of burnout was bubbling away again in Shanghai, missing a clutch of top 20 players including marquee names Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, taking some of the shine off the high-profile tournament which finished Sunday.

Both the Manchester clubs finally got their first wins of the Champions League campaign on Tuesday with United beating Romania minnows Otelul Galati 2-0 and City edging Villarreal 2-1.

However, both were not pretty affairs, United relying on two Wayne Rooney second-half penalties - making him the highest ever scoring Englishman in the competition with 26 goals - in a match where both sides ended with 10 men.

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas will give a clear indication of Fernando Torres's place in his long-term plans when he names his team for Wednesday's Champions League clash against Genk.

Torres has been sidelined for Chelsea's last two Premier League games as a result of his reckless red card against Swansea on September 24, but the ban doesn't affect European ties so the Spanish striker is available for Genk's visit to Stamford Bridge.

Football superstar David Beckham looks set to visit Singapore and Indonesia on a promotional tour in the coming weeks, organisers said on Tuesday.

Beckham and his LA Galaxy team are "80 percent" confirmed to stop off in Southeast Asia en route to their friendly game in Melbourne in early December, a promoter told Agence France Presse.

Despite their perfect qualification campaign, only one in five Germans believe their football team will win the European Championships for the fourth time and claim victory in the Euro 2012 final.

According to a survey conducted by SID, an Agence France Presse subsidiary, just 19.5 per cent of those polled here think Germany will win the Euro 2012 final on July 1 in Kiev, with the tournament to be hosted by Poland and the Ukraine.

Ex-Germany captain Michael Ballack is eager to see his Bayer Leverkusen beat Spanish side Valencia on Wednesday in the Champions League to keep up the pressure on Group E leaders Chelsea.

After Leverkusen were beaten 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in their opening game, Ballack scored the final goal in a 2-0 win over Genk in the last round which puts the Germans second in the table and just a point behind his ex-club Chelsea.