Australians arrive

MUMBAI: Australia flew into India on Tuesday to play a seven-match one-day series against the hosts. Ricky Ponting’s men go into the series fresh from a 6-1 drubbing of England in September and victory in the Champions Trophy in South Africa earlier this month. Ponting and coach Tim Nielsen will hold a pre-series media conference here on Wednesday. The first one-dayer will be played in Vadodara on Sunday. — AFP

Robben ruled out

MUNICH: Bayern Munich coach Louis van Gaal has decided against risking Dutch winger Arjen Robben for Wednesday’s Champions League clash at Bordeaux. The 25-year-old injured his right knee in the 0-0 draw at home to Juventus on October 1 which required surgery. Bayern beat Freiburg 2-1 in the Bundesliga on Saturday and are fifth in the table while the German giants are joint leaders at the top of Group A in the Champions League alongside Bordeaux who also have four points. — AFP

Match rescheduled

BERLIN: Germany will play Ivory Coast in a friendly on November 18, replacing a match previously planned against Egypt. The German football federation said on Tuesday that Joachim Loew’s team will face Ivory Coast, who like Germany already have qualified for the World Cup, in Gelsenkirchen. The federation said the switch was necessary because Egypt’s qualifying campaign may still be ongoing on the date the match was scheduled. — AP

Davies recovering

WASHINGTON: The US forward Charlie Davies has left intensive care as he continues to recover in hospital from serious injuries suffered in a road accident last week. Davies suffered two broken bones in his right leg, a broken left elbow, a lascerated bladder and facial fractures in a fatal one-car crash last Tuesday. Davies, who helped the United States seal a World Cup spot in a 3-2 victory at Honduras on October 10, was to

have surgery early next week to

repair a broken left elbow and

may require operations to repair the facial fractures. — AFP