Beaver Creek, Colorado - Aksel Lund Svindal let out a sigh of relief after conquering the Golden Eagle Jump in training a year after suffering severe injuries at the same spot.

"My heart was racing and I was more than glad once I got past the spot," the Norwegian ski star said on Wednesday after a first downhill practice session for the World Cup races in Beaver Creek due to start with a super-combined later Thursday.

Svindal was the reigning World Cup champion and season leader 12 months ago when he crashed terribly during training at the demanding section of the Birds of Prey piste.

London - Roy Keane stood down as Sunderland manager on Thursday after just over two years in charge.

The Irishman took over in 2006 and led the club back to the Premier League, keeping them in the top flight last term, but six defeats in seven matches have dropped Sunderland into the relegation zone.

In a statement, Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn confirmed that Keane had left the club.

"First of all on behalf of everyone here I would like pay thanks to Roy Keane for all his hard work in progressing this club, lifting its status and growing its worldwide profile," Quinn said.

Nyon, Switzerland - UEFA announced Thursday that it has finalised the
financial calculations regarding payments to Europe's national football
federations for them to pass on to their clubs for their contribution
to Euro 2008.

The payments are part of the agreement signed between UEFA and the
European Club Association (ECA) in January of this year which allowed
for the distribution of 43.5 million euros (55.1 million dollars) of
Euro 2008 revenue to the national federations.

A total of 180 clubs are set to benefit from the scheme with the clubs
providing the greatest number players for the tournament in Austria and

London - It may take until mid-century for American men to ever dominate like they did in the 1990s, the leader of that extraordinary generation, Pete Sampras, has predicted.

The seven-time Wimbledon winner and holder of the all-time record 14 Grand Slam titles said at the BlackRock Masters in London that the glory days are done for US tennis after the explosion of talent during the last decade.

Los Angeles - Rajon Rondo recorded his first career triple-double, and the Boston Celtics extracted a measure of revenge.

Rondo had 16 points, 13 rebounds and a personal-best 17 assists, as the Celtics rolled to their 10th consecutive victory, 114-96 over the visiting Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night.

"It's not easy to do," Rondo said. "I've been so close a lot of games, and to finally get one, I'm excited about it. And most important, we got the win."

Madrid - The big football game in Spain this weekend sees runaway leaders Barcelona at home to rugged Valencia on Saturday.

Barca are four points above second-placed Villarreal in La Liga, with Valencia five points behind them in third place.

Valencia will make the trip to the Camp Nou - where they were thrashed 6-0 last season - without captain Carlos Marchena who was sent off in last Sunday's 3-2 defeat of Betis.

In addition, Brazilian midfielder Edu and Spain striker David Silva are injured.

"It's going to be a difficult game for us," said old Valencia warhorse Ruben Baraja.

"But we have got fairly good results there in the past few years, and I think we can do this again on Saturday."