Beckham happy to be Olympic spectator

David Beckham insisted Monday he was content to be a spectator at next year's London Olympics if there was no role for him in the controversial Great Britain football team at the Games.
"Football will be a massive part of the Olympics and it will be really exciting to see that," said the former Manchester United star, who now plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy. "This is the first time I will have been to an Olympics and I'll probably be there with my children. "Football has been a part of my life for many years and to be a part of that would be incredible. "We'll see what role I'll play in the build up or at the Olympics, but I'll be there as a fan.
"I want to watch athletes like Jessica Ennis and Tom Daley, young athletes who are going to inspire so many young children around the world.
"For myself to be able to take my sons to an Olympics in our country makes me proud. Hopefully my daughter will be there as well," he added.
Victoria Beckham is due to give birth to the couple's first daughter next month.
Beckham was speaking at a sponsor's event to announce that Gabriella Roseje, an 18 year old from Bermondsey in London, is the first successful nominee for the Olympic torch relay.
The former England captain, one of the world's best known sporting celebrities, helped secure the Games for London at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Singapore in 2007. "When I was asked to be part of the Olympic bid, I was very sceptical at first because I'd never competed in the Olympics, I'm a football player," the 36 year old midfielder explained.

Smith, Poulton ease Australia to win

Australia Women eased to a six wicket win over New Zealand Women with 18.3 overs to spare in the second encounter of the reconvened Rose Bowl series in Brisbane. The eight-match limited-overs series, which was called off mid-way following the Christchurch earthquake in February, now stands at 3-2 in favour of Australia. With just one game left to play New Zealand can, at most, draw the series, meaning Australia who currently hold the trophy have retained the Rose Bowl title.
Choosing to field, Australia rocked the visitors early, with Clea Smith claiming Lucy Doolan and Suzie Bates for ducks. Debutant opener Frances Mackay was patient to the point of being overcautious in her knock of 36 from 77 balls, but turned out to be New Zealand's top scorer, as Australia knocked wickets over at regular wickets. Smith snagged two more, to finish with 4 for 32, while offspinner Lisa Sthalekar troubled the lower middle order with figures of 3 for 37.
Chasing 182, Australia lost Meg Lanning cheaply. A 106-run stand between Player-of-the-Match Shelley Nitschke (she had earlier claimed two wickets at a miserly economy rate of 2.40 in her ten) and Leah Poulton followed, almost sealing the match.
The hosts suffered a hiccup, losing three wickets on 122, but Jess Cameron counterattacked with 37 off 29, to see Australia home comfortably.
Australia captain Jodie Fields her team showed positive intent from the outset. "We wanted to play some smart, positive cricket," she said.
"The plan was to get out on the field early and to get rid of some of those nerves and cobwebs, and I think we showed our intent right from the start. "The wicket was slightly slow but the outfield was probably quicker than we thought it was going to be."The final game is on June 16 at the same venue.

Pakistan ready to host Bangladesh

Pakistani football said Tuesday it was confident next month's home World Cup qualifier against Bangladesh will go ahead, promising tight security for the match.
After the first leg of their Asian zone qualifier for the 2014 World Cup in Dhaka on June 29, the two sides were scheduled to meet in Lahore on July 3.
But arrangements ran into trouble after Bangladesh asked FIFA, the game's ruling body, to relocate the match due to security fears.
FIFA has apparently rejected the request in a move welcomed by Pakistan Football Federation  secretary Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi.
"We hosted Palestine and Malaysia earlier this year and both the teams returned happy, so we have proper security arrangements in place and we are confident that the match will go ahead," Lodhi told.
Pakistan has not hosted any major sporting event since militants attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in March 2009, killing eight people and wounding seven visiting players and their assistant coach.
"FIFA knows of our security arrangements made for the Palestine and Malaysian teams so they have no problems and we assure Bangladesh that they will be well looked after," said Lodhi.
Bangladesh Football Federation chief Kazi Salahuddin told AFP Tuesday that FIFA turned down its request to host both games against Pakistan.
"FIFA rejected our request. So our national team will go to Pakistan play the match on July 3," he said, adding that he had not been told where the game will be played.
Team coach Robert Rubcic did not want to travel to the troubled country, Salahuddin said, but the team's appeal to FIFA fell on deaf ears.
The 2009 attack on Sri Lanka's cricketers forced Pakistan to play their home cricket ties on neutral grounds in England, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates. Only the Afghanistan cricket team has since toured Pakistan.Efforts by the Pakistan Cricket Board to host Sri Lanka later this year were also dashed after militants attacked a naval base last month and carried out other high-profile strikes following the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Sri Lanka Cricket refused to send its team, instead offering their grounds to play the three Tests, five one day and a Twenty20 match series.

Jamaica top group, Guatemala advance

Jamaica finished the first round of the Gold Cup on top of Group B after a 1-0 victory over Honduras on Monday, with both teams advancing to the quarter-finals along with Guatemala.
Guatemala booked their berth with a 4-0 victory over Grenada, which was enough to put them through as one of the best two third-placed teams in group play.
Ryan Johnson got the goal for Jamaica with some help from Honduran keeper Noel Valladares.
Johnson's powerful shot hit the crossbar and then Valladares' back before landing in the net.
"It's one of the strangest goals, but it's a goal," said Johnson, who plays for the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer. "The best thing was getting the clean sheet. We haven't been scored on so far and I'm really happy about that."
"I dove for the ball and I could not get it," Valladares said. "It hit me in the back and went in." Johnson had a chance to double the score from the penalty spot in the 71st, but Valladares saved his attempt.
The victory gave Jamaica the maximum nine points from their three group matches.
In the quarter-finals of the regional championship for North and Central America and the Caribbean they'll face the second-place team from Group C, which will be decided when the group stage concludes on Tuesday.
Honduras finished second in Group B-ahead of Guatemala on goal difference-and will face Costa Rica, runners-up to Mexico in Group A.
Guatemala needed to win by three goals to be assured of advancing.
In the end they had one to spare after goals from Jose Del Aguila, Marco Pappa, Carlos Ruiz and Carlos Gallardo."More than anything, this was a psychological and mental game," Guatemala manager Ever Hugo Almeida said. "We had to score a specific number of goals. We needed three goals, but we had to take it goal by goal. We were able to manage the game and get the result we wanted."
Del Aguila opened the scoring in the 15th with a shot that bounced off the inside of the right post and past keeper Shemel Louison.
Pappa doubled the lead in the 21st minute with a hard-struck shot that Louison couldn't deflect.
In the 53rd minute, Ruiz volleyed in a rebound of Jairo Arreola's attempt off the crossbar and Gallardo completed the scoring five minutes later.

Queen's champ Murray in mood for Wimbledon glory

Andy Murray has set his sights on Wimbledon glory after winning his second Queen's title with a 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 victory over Jo Wilfried Tsonga. Murray became the first Briton for 97 years to win the Wimbledon warm up event twice thanks to a gutsy comeback against Tsonga and the world number four will be among the favourites when the All England Club tournament gets underway next week.

The 24 year old has endured three painful defeats in Grand Slam finals, including the Australian Open this year, but he believes he is in the perfect form to finally end his long wait to win a major. "I'm going to Wimbledon with the feeling I'm going to win the tournament. I don't think you can go in with any other attitude," Murray said. "I feel like I am playing good tennis but I will need to improve in the next week because I have to play my best throughout the tournament to win it."I will be switched on from my first match. I'll really look forward to the challenge because Wimbledon is one of the most important tournaments of the year, if not the most important." Murray underlined his sky high confidence in the third set of the final against Tsonga when he hit a remarkable between the legs forehand winner from an acute angle near the net. The British number one admitted it was the kind of spectacular shot he loves to play and he refused to apologise for a piece of show-boating some saw as a sign of arrogance. "I enjoyed hitting them, it was good fun," Murray said. "You don't get a chance to do that very often and it just came off.