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TENNIS: NEW YORK: Andre Agassi will join Pete Sampras as an investor in The Tennis Channel, a 24-hour US cable network launching this year. Agassi, a seven-time Grand Slam tournament champion, will be a spokesman for the channel, which will help promote the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation. The Tennis Channel hasn't said when in 2002 it will launch, but it currently has deals that would put it in 38 per cent of the United States' cable households. The network now has rights to more than 1,400 hours of tournament tennis, including five WTA Tour events and seven ATP Tour events.

NEW YORK: Jennifer Capriati, (in picture) seeded No. 3 at the U.S. Open behind Serena and Venus Williams, bristled over remarks about her on-court behaviour attributed to the sisters' father, Richard. When mentioned that he had said in a magazine article that Capriati should stop cursing on the court and listen to her father, Capriati became angry. ``You can see how ignorant that sounds and how disrespectful that sounds,'' she said. ``I mean he should just concentrate on his daughters — and he's doing a good job. I don't need his advice.'' After first refusing to comment, Capriati continued to respond. ``He gets away with it,'' she said. ``It's too bad. It's no class. I've never taken personal remarks. I've never said anything personal, just about the game itself. I could say things about them, but I'm not going to because I'm not going to lower myself to that.''

BELGRADE: Teenage Yugoslav tennis star Jelena Dokic has weighed into Serbia's presidential election debate with a strong expression of support for ultra-nationalist candidate Vojislav Seselj, reports said. In a letter to Mr. Seselj published by the independent Beta news agency here, the 19-year-old Dokic said the leader of the Serbian Radical Party was the ``only hope for the Serbian people'' at the September 29 poll. Dokic joins alleged war criminal and former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic in voicing public support for Mr. Seselj, whose election platform includes vehement opposition to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. ``You will win in the first round, I'm sure, because you are the last hope of the Serbian people,'' she wrote in the letter.

FOOTBALL: BUENOS AIRES: Diego Maradona has presented a new album he recorded to benefit a troubled Argentine children's hospital, singing a couple of verses on national television and mocking his lack of musical talent. ``It doesn't matter how I sing, whether it's bad or good, I'm just doing it for the kids,'' the former Argentine captain joked at a news conference, surrounded by patients at the hospital. ``I really hope the song can help cure a child.'' Maradona, who has been undergoing drug rehabilitation in Cuba, sings on the album backed up by a local pop band. Proceeds will benefit the Buenos Aires hospital, which like many others in Argentina is short on the most basic of supplies as the country suffers its worst economic crisis.

MILAN: World Cup star Ronaldo will definitely stay with Inter Milan next season, club president Massimo Moratti said following a Champions league qualifying match that the Brazilian player missed because of his questionable form and confusion about his much rumoured transfer. ``It's quite clear by now that Ronaldo will be part of Inter next season. At last he will be happy with this solution,'' Moratti said after Inter defeated Sporting Lisbon 2-0 in their second-leg, third round qualifying match at San Siro stadium. Inter advanced into the round-robin phase of the most titled European competition for clubs on first-half goals by Luigi di Biagio and Alvaro Recoba. ``At this point we can say we are going to keep him,'' Moratti told the private television network Telelombardia.

WRESTLING: LAGOS: Nigerian wrestler Victor Kodei failed a drug test and will lose the silver medal he won last month at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, officials said. The eight-time African champion faces a two-year ban from international competition that will most likely mean the end of his 15-year career, Nigeria Olympic Committee spokesman Tony Nezianya said. ``He tested positive, but we don't know for what drug,'' Nezianya said. ``Now that he's out of international competition, I don't think he has a place at home (competing in Nigeria),'' he added. Anil Kumar of India, who placed third in the 96-kg class in Manchester behind Kodei, will now receive the silver medal.

CRICKET: KARACHI: Cricket star Yousuf Youhana (in picture below) had a very unhappy 28th birthday after he was expelled from Pakistan's cricket squad in Kenya on disciplinary grounds. "I will not comment on the issue until I meet the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman and tell him my side of the story,'' Youhana said. ``I would term it as my bad luck and don't want to say anything more.'' The stylish right-hand batsman was sent home overnight from Kenya only three days before the start of a triangular series. Youhana's expulsion could be a body blow for a Pakistani team facing Australia after losing three of its four matches in the inaugural Morocco Cup earlier this month.

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