Spain upsets China

　　NANJING, Jiangsu: Rosaura Sanchez scored 32 points to lift Spain to a 91-72 victory over China for 5th place at the 14th Women’s World Basketball Championships yesterday. Brazil beat France 74-65 for 7th place.

　　FIFA reorganization

　　ZURICH: In May, newly re-elected FIFA President Sepp Blatter said he needed 100 days to solve the problems facing the world soccer governing body. But Blatter said Tuesday he wanted extra time — 10 more weeks — to implement the changes he promised.

　　“The real problems weren’t inside FIFA,” Blatter said. “They were on the outside.”

　　Soccer surplus

　　PARIS: FIFA chief Sepp Blatter says a soccer surplus threatens to outstrip fans’ appetite for the sport and undermine its economic future.

　　“There’s too much soccer!” Blatter told Tuesday’s edition of French magazine France Football. “Soccer is subject to the law of supply and demand. At the moment, the supply is too big.”

　　Falling TV revenue has already hurt European clubs, and Blatter said the slump could worsen if club calendars — and TV schedules — aren’t streamlined.

　　Auction

　　LONDON: The vice president and managing director of the Torino soccer club has paid 47,000 pounds (US$ 72,850) for a trophy the side won in 1943 — six years before the team was killed in a plane crash.

　　Francesco Cimminelli bought the Coppa Italia by telephone in a sale by the auction house Christie’s and will donate it to the club.

　　Meanwhile, the ball used in the 1888 English F.A. Cup final between West Bromwich Albion and Preston North End was bought at Christie’s by an anonymous buyer with a record price of 32,900 pounds (US$51,210). The leather ball is gilded and inscribed with details of the game. West Brom won the match at the Oval in London 2-1.

　　Suit dismissed

　　NEW YORK: A Manhattan judge has dismissed a US$40 million lawsuit that Swiss tennis star Martina Hingis filed against an Italian sportswear maker whose shoes allegedly injured her feet, saying that New York is the wrong place to try the case since similar litigation between Hingis and the company, Sergio Tacchini, is pending in Milan, Italy.

　　Kidd wants to stay

　　NEW YORK: New Jersey Nets point guard Jason Kidd, runner-up in the MVP voting last season, wants to remain with the team for the rest of his career.

　　Kidd will be a free agent after next season and cannot sign a contract until then. But he said Tuesday that the Nets remain his No. 1 choice.

　　Asked if he would sign immediately if league rules permitted, Kidd said: “No. That’s too easy. You’ve got to make them sweat.”