London, Apr. 8: Cricket Australia (CA) has recalled Andrew Symonds, Brett Lee and Shane Watson for the six match One Day International series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Announcing the 14 man squad for the series starting April 22, the chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, said: "Andrew Symonds has been cleared by Cricket Australia to resume playing for the Australian cricket team and he has been included in the squad."

Symonds poor form along with a niggling knee injury, and several off-field controversial incidents forced him to sit out through the last summer.

Hilditch hoped that Symonds would grab the opportunity, and prove that he still possesses those match winning qualities.

Rome  - Veteran striker Christian Vieri has left Italy for a tryout with Los Angeles Galaxy days after his abrupt departure from Serie A side Atalanta.

The weekly Chi, in a report made available ahead of Wednesday's publication, reported that the 35-year-old Vieri asked David Beckham to help him to link up with the California club. Beckham is currently at AC Milan, on loan from the Galaxy.

Hamburg  - A decision by Germany's umbrella sports organization and Olympic Committee DOSB to allow five former East German athletics coaches to continue on their jobs despite doping confessions drew harsh reactions from victims and others on Tuesday.

The five coaches - Klaus Baarck, Gerhard Boettcher, Rainer Pottel, Maria Ritschel and Klaus Schneider - on Monday admitted in a statement issued by the DOSB to their involvement in the state-run doping system of the former communist state.

Vienna  - Lisa Huetthaler, a key witness in Austria's ongoing doping scandal, announced Tuesday that she ended her thriathlon career, some five months before her ban would have expired in September.

"My doping past and its emotional and physical consequences have taken an extreme toll on me," 25-year-old Huetthaler said in a statement quoted by Austrian press agency APA.

The 2007 national champion made headlines in late March when she publicly accused the former sports manager Stefan Matschiner of having supplied her with the blood booster EPO.

Ljubljana - Slovenian steeplechase champion Bostjan Buc on Tuesday dismissed media reports which mentioned him in connection doping scheme exposed in Austria.

"I have no idea why I was brought into this context," Buc, 28, sauid in a telephone interview with the German Press Agency dpa in Ljubljana.

On Monday, news reports had alleged that Buc was part of the scheme exposed in Austria around sports manager Stefan Matschiner, with the Delo daily saying: "The wave (of doping) washed over the Alps (into Slovenia)."

Wellington, Apr. 7 : Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today praised his squad for gelling together to effect a series triumph in New Zealand after 41 years, and added that it had set a benchmark for future Indian teams to achieve.

"It''s a fantastic atmosphere [in the dressing room], can''t get better. We have set the benchmark. Next time when we come to New Zealand, people expect you to win. You have achieved something that''s big, but the tough part is to maintain it, to sustain it. It never gets easy for a cricketer," said Dhoni.