Vikersund, Norway - Anssi Koivuranta of Finland all but assured himself of the World Cup title in Nordic combined skiing on Saturday when he won the penultimate competition of the season.

Koivuranta dominated the ski-jumping round and then cruised to his seventh season victory in 26 minutes 3.9 seconds for the 10- kilometres cross-country pursuit.

World champion Bill Demong of the United States came second 6.5 points behind the winner and Norway's Magnus Moan was third, 13.2 seconds off the pace.

Cologne, Germany - Cologne captain Umit Ozat an Saturday announced the end of his footballing career due to heart problems.

Ozat, 32, has not played since collapsing on the pitch during a Bundesliga match with SC Karlsruhe on August 29, 2008.

Medical examinations revealed myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. He overcame the illness, but doctors in the United States and Germany advised him to quit high-performance sport because he could suffer more heart problems in the future if he continued.

Dubai, UAE - Swimming's ruling body FINA has agreed new standards for technical swimsuits that will be in place for this August's world championships in Rome.

The new guidelines for suit manufacturers announced in Dubai Saturday include that suits not be more than 1 millimetre in thickness or extend past the shoulders or ankles.

There is also a ban on individually tailored suits or swimmers wearing more than one technical suit at a time to take advantage of, for example, the sleekness of one suit and the buoyancy of another.

The new guidelines come as 108 world records were set in the last 12 months, leaving critics to say that swimming was becoming a technological rather than a sporting battle.

Madrid - Josep Guardiola is raising eyebrows across Spain with his innovative travel plans for leaders Barcelona.

Teams in Spain normally travel either one or two days before away matches, then have a good rest in a local hotel.

Guardiola, however, is an original thinker, and has radically changed Barca's travel plans.

His idea is to allow his players as much time at home with their families between games, even if this means flying out actually on match day.

Trondheim, Norway - World Cup leader Petra Majdic of Slovenia put in an awesome finish on Saturday to win a women's 30-kilometres cross-country ski race.

Majdic trailed by more than 30 seconds after two thirds of the race, but caught up with the leaders in the closing stages and then skied away from the discipline's world champion Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland to win the classic style event in 1 hour 25 minutes 22.2 seconds.

Melbourne, Mar 14 : Out of reckoning pacer Brett Lee has said that the short spells he will bowl in the Indian Premier League will be ideal preparation for what he hopes will be his third Ashes cricket tour of England.

Lee returns to action next month in a stint with IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab, with whom he played four matches in the inaugural season, and is intent on making the tour after surgery sidelined him from Australia's current campaign in South Africa.