Melbourne, Dec. 10: Australia’s hopes of hosting the 2018 World Cup have been boosted with the Federal Government announcing 45 million dollars in funding to help with the bid.

The unprecedented financial backing means Football Federation Australia has the resources to mount a serious bid, with governing body FIFA likely to make a decision in two years'' time on who will host the 2018 and possibly 2022 World Cups.

Though Australia faces a huge challenge in seeing off other contenders such as England and the United States, the statement of intent behind the government backing is crucial to a winning strategy, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Melbourne, Dec. 10: Former Australian leg spinner Shane Warne has said that the musical about him, which attracted rave reviews, has left him with a warm and proud feeling.

Revealing his thoughts on the musical for the Herald Sun, which he saw recently, Warne said that at the first instance, he was angry and wondered how anyone could possibly do this.

Melbourne, Dec. 10 : Former South African off-spinner Pat Symcox has criticized the current team's moves to excessively talk about their talent and skills ahead of their cricket series against Australia as pathetic.

Symcox insisted that the Proteas are living in false hope by believing that their recent 2-0 Test series romp over minnows Bangladesh is an adequate form line for tangling with Australia, the current world champions.

Hamburg  - Panathinaikos are one of the surprise top seeds in the knockout stages of this season's Champions League after a 1-0 victory over Anorthosis Famagusta ensured the Greeks of finishing atop Group B.

Inter Milan could have finished top, but Jose's Mourinho's team went down 2-1 to Werder Bremen as a result of second-half goals from Claudio Pizarro and Markus Rosenberg, which earned the German side a UEFA Cup berth. Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted for the Serie A side.

London - The agent of Liverpool winger Ryan Babel claimed on Tuesday that he had had a request to be loaned to another club turned down.

The 21-year-old has started just 17 Premier League games since making the move from Ajax in July 2007, and is keen on a loan back to the Netherlands so he can maintain his match fitness.

"Ryan finds that he sits on the bench too much at Liverpool, he wants to play more and asked me to see if Ajax were interested in a temporary return," his agent Winnie Haatrecht told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

Madrid - Real Madrid are set to dismiss coach Bernd Schuster on Tuesday