Bolt is fit, says Jamaica doctor

Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake are both “fit and raring to go” at the Olympics, says Jamaica track team doctor Winston Dawes.

He has shrugged off suggestions Bolt will miss the Games with injury and promised “something fantastic” from the sprint pair.

Reigning 100m and 200m champion Bolt is understood to have been suffering with niggling leg and back problems.

But Dawes said: “Both of them are at the top of their game.”

He told BBC Sport’s Leon Mann: “If the conditions are ideal, then we are going to see something fantastic. We may see records go.”

Bolt holds the 100m record of 9.58secs and 200m world best of 19.19 but Blake beat him at the Jamaican trials in both distances less than four weeks ago.

Bolt, who suffers from

scoliosis,
a condition in which the spine is curved from side to side, will be in full health when the 100m preliminaries commence on 4 August.

“He’s back fully,” said the doctor. “He has been training very, very hard and his performance is on track. We expect he’ll be fully fit by the time the Olympics come around.

“He had some slight cramps [in his legs]. He had had an accident before, so that might have shaken him up a little.”

Bolt and Blake will be up against compatriot and former world record holder Asafa Powell along with American pair Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin in the showpiece 100m event.

But Dawes is confident that friends and training partners Bolt and Blake will produce something special.

“They are 100% fit and 100% raring to go. They are mentally fit and they are going to be going all out.”

Toronto FC Vs. Liverpool FC 07/21/12 Kamal’s Free World Football Challenge Preview

The friendly matches from the World Football Challenge continues with another Major League Soccer vs. English Premier League encounter, as Liverpool FC travel to Canada to take on Toronto FC at Rogers Centre.

Toronto FC comes into this match having improved their league form, coming off a 2-1 win over Colorado Rapids and extending their winning streak to 3 games. Given the fact that the club has played 10 games in just over a month it is expected that Coach Paul Mariner would rest a few of the regular players and give majority of the minutes to the squad players and young academy prospects, this is even more of a possibility due to the season ending injury to team leading scorer Danny Koevermans. A few players that may be expected to get the night off are goalkeeper Milos Kocic and midfielder/captain Torsten Frings, the former has had a heavy workload all season while the latter is injury prone and needs to be saved for meaningful matches. This will be a big game for some of the younger players in the team as well as some of the academy players, as it will give them a platform to show off their skills against top players on a top club.

Liverpool are beginning life under new manager Brendan Rodgers and have named roster of players including midfielder and captain Steven Gerrard, new signing forward Fabio Borini and defender Jamie Carragher amongst others, the two names the club will be without are Uruguayans Luis Suarez and Sebastian Coates who will be representing their nation at the Olympics. Liverpool have one of the strongest fan bases in Canada and will be packing the Rogers Centre on a rare occasion to see their team in person, it will be interesting to see how long some of the star players will play as they are just starting to get into playing shape.

BLUNTLY TOLD: Buffon says England's failures due to clubs' liking for foreigners

BLUNTLY TOLD: Buffon says England's failures due to clubs' liking for foreigners

 ITALY captain Gianluigi Buffon has stuck the knife into English football by claiming the Premier League harms the national side.

Ahead of the Euro 2012 final against Spain (late yesterday), the World Cup-winning goalkeeper believes that the number of foreigners in the Premier League is stifling young English talent.
Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal in particular have been accused of favouring foreign stars over English youngsters and Buffon, 34, says the Premier League's standing as the best in the world is a major factor in the country's 46-year trophy drought.
"Having a competitive league doesn't necessarily mean having competitive players," he said.
"For a number of years now, the English league has had the best football and is the best league in terms of quality.



"The money that's in the game means they can go and buy anyone from all over Europe or the world.
"This can happen in Spain and Italy as well as England but the league in England is no longer very faithful to what the national side need.
"With this footballing globalisation, it's very difficult. You struggle to have players from your own country playing in the top league."



Yet Buffon admits England have been unlucky, particularly with shootouts. He added: "The England national side have their own strengths and they're a lot more physical than other sides," said Buffon.
"But England aren't very lucky. They've lost on penalties in the last five or six times, so the margins between winning and losing are very thin indeed.:" Mail on Sunda