JOHANNESBURG, August 25, 2008 (AFP) - The Springbok rugby camp, already taking plenty of heat over their disappointing Tri-Nations rugby campaign, were given a few more headaches on Monday when it was revealed a number of star players are carrying injuries ahead of Saturday's Test match here against Australia.

South Africa have suffered a major injury setback on the eve of their Tri-Nations Test with New ...

Tatiana Golovin followed fellow blonde pin-up Maria Sharapova into the Olympics casualty ward on Saturday while the Beijing event then braced itself for the potential withdrawal of world number ...

WELLINGTON, July 27, 2008 (AFP) - The All Blacks have added hooker Hikawera Elliott and scrumhalfs Piri Weepu and Taniela Moa to their squad to provide injury cover after the weekend's Tri-Nations loss to Australia.

SYDNEY, June 29, 2008 (AFP) - Coach Robbie Deans on Sunday rated number eight Wycliffe Palu and winger Lote Tuqiri as 50-50 chances of playing for the Wallabies in next Saturday's second rugby Test against France in Brisbane.

LONDON, June 2, 2008 (AFP) - Centre Dan Hipkiss and wing Paul Sackey were both ruled out of England's upcoming matches in New Zealand on Monday, further depleting what was already an injury-hit squad.

CARDIFF, May 25, 2008 (AFP) - Newport Gwent Dragons scrum-half Andy Williams has pulled out of Wales's tour to South Africa following back problems during training which will keep him out of action for three weeks.

JOHANNESBURG, May 23, 2008 (AFP) - New South Africa coach Peter de Villiers has hardly started preparing his team for a two-Test series against Six Nations champions Wales but he's been interrupted by a long-list of players who're carrying injuries.

SAN DIEGO, California, May 22, 2008 (AFP) - St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols left a trail of destruction in his wake in San Diego.

The Padres placed right handed pitcher Chris Young and catcher Josh Bard on the disabled list on Thursday, the day after each was injured in plays involving Pujols in San Diego's 11-3 loss to the Cardinals.

HOUSTON, Texas, May 9, 2008 (AFP) - Houston Rockets forward Shane Battier and guard Rafer Alston have both had successful ankle operations, the National Basketball Association team said Friday.

Both surgeries were performed by Rockets team doctor Tom Clanton.

NEW YORK, April 30, 2008 (AFP) - Young Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes joined superstar third baseman Alex Rodriguez and catcher Jorge Posada on the disabled list on Wednesday.

The Yankees placed the 21-year-old righthander on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right oblique.

LONDON, March 29, 2008 (AFP) - Manchester United are facing a potential injury crisis ahead of Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final first leg clash against Roma.

GLASGOW, March 24, 2008 (AFP) - Scotland manager George Burley was adamant this coming weekend's Glasgow derby between Rangers and Celtic was not the reason behind the bulk of withdrawals on Monday from his squad to play Croatia.

GLASGOW, March 24, 2008 (AFP) - Goalkeeper Allan McGregor has joined Rangers team-mates Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch and Christian Dailly in withdrawing from the Scotland squad for Wednesday's friendly against Croatia.

Derby midfielder Stephen Pearson also pulled out on Monday.

GLASGOW, March 24, 2008 (AFP) - Goalkeeper Allan McGregor has joined Rangers team-mates Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch and Christian Dailly in withdrawing from the Scotland squad for Wednesday's friendly against Croatia.

Derby midfielder Stephen Pearson also pulled out on Monday.

GLASGOW, March 24, 2008 (AFP) - Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch and Christian Dailly, all of Rangers, have withdrawn from the Scotland squad for Wednesday's friendly against Croatia.

Ferguson saw a specialist in England last week with an ankle problem which has been troubling him for several weeks.

PARIS, March 18, 2008 (AFP) - Amateur rugby players are just as likely as professionals to get injured but are only half as likely to get bad injuries, according to a French study published on Tuesday.

BEIJING, March 14, 2008 (AFP) - At least a dozen people were injured and taken to hospital following protests in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on Friday, a nurse at one hospital there told AFP.

The injuries happened in violence in downtown Lhasa which also saw a number of shops being set on fire at about 2:00 pm (0600 GMT), the official Xinhua news agency reported.

BEIJING, March 14, 2008 (AFP) - An unknown number of people were injured and taken to hospital following protests in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on Friday, China's official Xinhua news agency said.

The injuries happened in violence in downtown Lhasa which also saw a number of shops being set on fire at about 2:00 pm (0600 GMT), according to Xinhua.

DUBLIN, March 6, 2008 (AFP) - Rob Kearney will start at full-back for Ireland in their Six Nations clash with unbeaten Wales on Saturday after both Geordan Murphy and Girvan Dempsey failed fitness tests.

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh, March 3, 2008 (AFP) - South Africa's bowlers are fast earning a bloody reputation of injuring rival batsmen after the latest incident involving Bangladesh's Aftab Ahmed in the second Test here.

BEIJING, Feb 20, 2008 (AFP) - China's Olympic hospital sees little these days of Liu Xiang, the world record 110m hurdler who will carry the aspirations of an entire nation on his shoulders at the Beijing Games.

MADRID, Feb 10, 2008 (AFP) - Barcelona defender Presas Oleguer will be out for six weeks with a broken bone in his hand, the Spanish giants said Sunday.

Oleguer broke the third metacarpal in his left hand during Saturday's 1-1 draw with Sevilla.

The club's French striker Thierry Henry limped off in the 58th minute of the same game after suffering a bruised leg.

CHAMONIX, France, Jan 26, 2008 (AFP) - The dangers of alpine skiing are known to most, but they became even more apparent here Saturday as the podium finishers shared injury horror stories after the men's downhill.

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, Jan 13, 2008 (AFP) - The San Diego Chargers advanced in the National Football League playoffs on Sunday, but saw key offensive players Philip Rivers and LaDainian Tomlinson hurt.

DETROIT, Michigan, Dec 23, 2007 (AFP) - Houston's Tracy McGrady aggravated his ailing left knee and Yao Ming needed four stitches to close a cut over his eye Sunday as the Rockets fell 94-82 to the Detroit Pistons.

McGrady left in the third quarter of the National Basketball Association contest and didn't return. He totaled 14 points.

ASPEN, Colorado, Dec 8, 2007 (AFP) - Austria's Alexandra Meissnitzer and France's Anne-Sophie Barthet were injured Saturday in falls at the women's World Cup downhill.

Meissniztzer, a triple Olympic medallist and two-time world champion, crashed 40 seconds into her run, and preliminary indications were that she had injured her left knee.

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 13, 2007 (AFP) - South Africa's World Cup winning Springboks have been hit hard by injuries ahead of their season-ending tour to the United Kingdom this month.

Already without retired veterans Os du Randt and Bob Skinstad, who've both retired from the game, the World Cup winners will tour to Europe at the end of this week without a number of other star players.

PARIS, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Striker Nicolas Anelka and defender Julien Escude will both miss France's Euro 2008 qualifier against Lithuania in Nantes on Wednesday because of injuries, team officials announced on Monday.

Anelka sustained a thigh injury in Saturday's 6-0 win over the Faroe Islands and he will head back to his English Premier league side Bolton for treatment.

Escude, who was injured before the game against the Faroes, has failed to recover and will play no part in the squad to take on the Lithuanians.

PARIS, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Argentina have been hit by a number of injury concerns ahead of their World Cup semi-final against South Africa at the Stade de France on Sunday.

Three key backs are struggling to be fit in time for the match, the biggest in the history of Argentine rugby.

Playmaker and fly-half Juan Martin Hernandez is nursing a knock to his leg while full-back Ignacio Miguel Corleto has a slight inflammation of the knee. Both trained on their own on Thursday.

CARDIFF, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - French flanker Serge Betsen will likely be available for next Saturday's World Cup semi-final against England despite being badly concussed in the win over New Zealand.

The veteran forward was knocked out early in the 20-18 win over the All Blacks and lay prone for several minutes before getting to his feet and being helped off.

'Serge has had medical checks and the results are all normal,' said French team doctor Thierry Hermerel. 'He is recuperating well.'

MARSEILLE, France, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Scott Staniforth has failed to recover in time from a shoulder injury and will not be considered for selection in the Wallabies' squad for the World Cup quarter-final against England here on Saturday.

Coach John Connolly said a decision on the 29-year-old utility back's future in the tournament will be made this weekend.

Meanwhile, senior fly-half Stephen Larkham took his first tentative steps towards a hopeful comeback for a potential semi-final appearance with a run at the Australian team's training.

YANGON, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - At least 17 Buddhist monks were injured when Myanmar security forces violently dispersed their peaceful anti-junta protest Wednesday, witnesses said.

All 17 were injured around midday when police baton-charged a group of monks and mainly young protesters near the Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's holiest shrine, the witnesses said.

CARDIFF, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - Gareth Thomas is set to miss the rest of the group stages of the World Cup after damaging rib cartilage in the defeat to Australia.

Wales captain Thomas will undergo a scan on Tuesday to assess the full extent of the damage that cut short his part in Saturday's tie in Cardiff, won 32-20 by Australia.

Immediately after the game, the 33-year-old feared his World Cup was over having previously been ruled out for six weeks with a similar injury.

TOULOUSE, France, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - Former France captain Fabien Pelous and back row forward Imanol Harinordoquy are injury doubts for the crunch World Cup Group D clash with Six Nations Triple Crown winners Ireland next Friday.

Pelous is suffering from a knee problem which forced him off before the end of the 89-10 hammering of Namibia here on Sunday, after coming on as a replacement in the second-half.

Harinordoquy - or 'very ordinary' as some pundits have labelled his recent performances - has a thumb injury.

CHICAGO, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Chicago's season-opening loss to the San Diego Chargers looked even worse the day after when the Bears learned they had lost Mike Brown and Dusty Dvoracek for the rest of the National Football League season.

The Bears on Monday placed free safety Brown and defensive tackle Dvoracek on injured reserve.

Both suffered ruptured knee ligaments in Sunday's 14-3 defeat in San Diego.

Brown, who is the Bears' all-time leader with seven career defensive touchdowns, suffered his third season-ending injury in four seasons.

VERSAILLES, France, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - Jonny Wilkinson's injuries since the 2003 World Cup final:

Nov 22 - kicks winning drop goal in 20-17 extra-time win over Australia in World Cup final in Sydney

Dec - Suffers shoulder injury. Later that month suffers a recurrence of the same injury.

Feb - Sees a specialist who says he needs an operation on his shoulder.

Oct - Ruled out with a haematoma in the upper right arm.

Jan - Left knee ligament damage.

Mar - Medial ligament damage to his left knee.