Raul breaks record

MADRID: Raul became Real Madrid’s record appearance holder in all competitions when he played in his 709th game for the club on Wednesday night in the Champions League. Los Merengues’ captain has overtaken Manuel Sanchis at the top. Raul has now turned out more than anyone for the club in overall terms. With Real, the 32-year-old has won the Champions League on three occasions and six league titles. Raul is the Champions League all-time leading scorer with 65 goals and he tops Spain’s scoring charts with 44, also having scored the most league goals for Real Madrid (216) and the most ever for the club (315). — Agencies

Murray pulls out

TOKYO: British No 1 Andy Murray has pulled out of next week’s Japan Open with an ongoing wrist injury. Murray had hoped to return for the event after scans revealed “no long-term damage” to his left wrist. But Murray, who has been plagued by the problem over the last six weeks, is focussed on playing at the end-of-season ATP World Tour Finals in London. Defending champion Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro have also qualified for the tournament. — Agencies

Four Indians in race

JOHANNESBURG: Four Indian cricketers — Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh — are frontrunners at the ICC awards ceremony. Dhoni and Gambhir have got twin nominations, while Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag have been shortlisted for the ODI Player of the Year category of the annual awards. Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan have been nominated for three International Cricket Council (ICC) awards. Dilshan has also been nominated for the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year Award. The nominations were made by a five-member selection panel headed by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd. The panel also included Anil Kumble of India, Mudassar Nazar of Pakistan, Bob Taylor of England and New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming. — Agencies

Querrey hurts arm

NEW YORK: Sam Querrey cut his right forearm in a freak accident after practicing for the Thailand Open in Bangkok and will be out at least four to six weeks, the US Tennis Association said. USTA spokesman Tim Curry said the 21-year-old Querrey sat on a glass table after practice on Monday and fell through, hurting his arm. The injury required emergency surgery. A right-hander from California, Querrey is No 25 in the ATP rankings. — AP

Ronaldo doubtful

MADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo may miss Real Madrid’s trip to in-form Sevilla in La Liga on Sunday after the Portuguese winger damaged his right ankle in Wednesday’s 3-0 Champions League win over Olympique Marseille. Real’s record signing scored twice against the French club but was felled by Souleymane Diawara in winning a second-half penalty and had to be replaced by Gonzalo Higuain. “Cristiano has some swelling and we’ll have to wait and see,” coach Manuel Pellegrini said. “The state of the ankle shows that he took a hefty knock in the penalty incident,” added the Chilean. “It’s still early to say whether he can play against Sevilla on Sunday.” — Agencies

Soderling beats Evans

KUALA LUMPUR: Robin Soderling cruised past Brendan Evans 6-1, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open. Soderling never lost a point on his booming first serve and broke the American five times to wrap up the win in less than an hour. Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko also reached the quarters beating American Taylor Dent 6-3, 7-6, while fellow Russian Mikhail Youzhny ousted Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-2, 6-3. In first-round action, Gael Monfils of France defeated Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2). — AP