Ever since eliminating pizza from his diet, Novak Djokovic has been on a roll.

Djokovic has been boasting all season about how he has more energy on the tennis court since starting a gluten-free diet, cutting out pizza and bread from his daily life. But the top-ranked Serb has been reluctant to discuss his new regimen in any detail, preferring to let his game do the talking.

Diego Maradona enjoyed his first victory as coach of UAE side Al Wasl on Thursday, a day after telling fans to stay at home and watch a DVD if they found it too stressful to follow his team.

Al Wasl's goals against promoted Emirates in the second round of matches in the Etisalat Cup came from Argentina's Mariano Donda with Captain Essa Ali scoring twice in the last five minutes.

Lewis Hamilton admits that he "shut himself up" after his close encounter with Michael Schumacher at Monza -- to avoid a war of words in the media.

The 26-year-old Englishman, who was locked in a thrilling and sometimes dangerous battle with the seven-time world champion in Italy earlier this month, said he wanted to have a peaceful life and to avoid controversy.

Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa believe they can both finish on the podium in the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend and delay Sebastian Vettel's double world title celebrations.

Two-times world and Singapore winner Alonso is aiming for a hat-trick of Marina Bay victories as Massa is bidding to return to the podium for the first time this year.

New Inter Milan coach Claudio Ranieri has vowed to get the team back to playing their best again following their disastrous start under Gian Piero Gasperini.

Ranieri was speaking on a TV program in the early hours of Thursday morning before being official unveiled as Inter's new coach in the afternoon.

A clinical Cesc Fabregas strike rescued a point for champions Barcelona in a 2-2 draw away to top of the table Valencia on Wednesday.

After the first weekend of fixtures there had been complaints that La Liga was already a two-horse race as both Barca and Real Madrid won by large margins.

Austrian first division club Wiener Neustadt announced Thursday they have suspended a gifted young footballer from their team for racism.

English-born Nikon 'El Maestro', whose parents are from Serbia, was suspended for using video-sharing site YouTube to post racist songs and texts written by the 18-year-old himself.

Valencia's French center-back Adil Rami says the only way to stop Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi is to try a spot of man-to-man marking.

"I think you'd have to put a quick and gifted player on Messi who would follow him wherever he goes. We'd lose a player -- but then so would they," Rami told Wednesday's El Pais daily.

Iran's charismatic point guard Mahdi Kamrany scored 15 points and dished out five assists as the defending champions remained undefeated at the Asian Basketball Championships Wednesday, beating South Korea 79-62 in a fast-paced match.

Kamrany hit three three pointers as he directed Iran's offence, while Memphis Grizzlies centre Hamed Haddadi had 17 points and 11 rebounds and guard Aren Davoudichegani scored 10.

Inter Milan on Wednesday sacked Gian Piero Gasperini from his coaching role following the previous day's 3-1 Serie A defeat at newly-promoted Novara.

The club has been put in the temporary charge of assistants Giuseppe Baresi and Daniele Bernazzani.