TIME OUT

Alice fails to qualify

KATHMANDU: Swimmer Alice Shrestha failed to qualify for the XIth World FINA Swimming Championships in Montreal today. Shrestha finished 86th in the 50m men’s breaststroke heats in 34.61 seconds. He even failed to complete the distance in the 100m heats. — HNS

Ballack voted PoY

FRANKFURT: Michael Ballack has been voted Germany’s player of the year for the 2004-05 season by a poll of sports writers. It is the third time in four years that Ballack has won the poll conducted by Kicker magazine. Striker Lukas Podolski of FC Cologne finished second and Brazilian midfielder Marcelinho of Hertha Berlin was third. Coach of the year was Felix Magath of Bayern and Birgit Prinz was female player of the year for the fifth straight year. — AP

Figo deal delayed

MILAN: Inter Milan’s signing of Luis Figo may have to wait, but Real Madrid teammate Walter Samuel appears closer to joining the club. “For Samuel there is an agreement betw-een the clubs, it’s just missing a few details,” Ernesto Bronzetti, a FIFA representative involved in the propo-sed transfer, said. He said that with Figo “it’s more complicated and it will have to wait until the player returns from Real Madrid’s Asian tour.” — AP