Sports News

Confusion reigns over the Czech Republic's squad for the Olympic Games after the national federation missed the Friday deadline for naming the 18 players that will travel to Sydney. Czech Football Association officials requested an extension to the deadline, declaring that some of the possible team may get injured over the weekend.

A more realistic explanation, according to the Sport newspaper is that the CFA have dithered over deciding which players may be released for the tournament and failing to reach agreements with the teams most affected.

A Czech Olympic Football official, Petr Fousek, told the paper that the Sydney Games committee had accepted the reasons behind the delay, although the scandal had originally threatened the team's very presence in Australia.

The on-off transfer of the Czech international Milan Fukal from Sparta Prague to Hamburg now seems to be definitely on again. Officials from both clubs met to iron out the details of the move during the Champions League draw in Monaco on Friday, and the fullback now looks set to sign for the Bundesliga club for a fee of 2,000,000 pounds.

A number of factors had been threatening the deal, not least the attitude of the player himself. Fukal told the Sport newspaper recently "I believe that this Sparta team are about to achieve something great--I want to be a part of that. Money is not the priority here."

Fukal has also become a father recently and is reportedly unhappy about unsettling his new family. Of more concern to Hamburg, though, was Fukal's appearance for Sparta in the Champions League qualifying tie against Zimbru Kishinyev. The Czech will now be inelegible to play for Hamburg in the remainder of the competition.

In domestic competition, Sparta still lead the way with maximum points from their five matches. Their 5-1 home drubbing of Ceske Budejovice leaves the champions four points clear of new-boys Synod at the top of table.

Click here for all the Gambrinus League results, plus the league table.

Finally to tennis, and it could well be a short US Open for Martin Damm. Yes, the luck of the draw has pitted the Czech against the number four seed, Pete Sampras. Some people just don't get the breaks, do they?