Eric Abidal is angry at how his Barcelona career came to an end and claims he was not even paid by the club when he was seriously ill.

The 34-year-old Abidal had a liver transplant last April, ruling him out of the 2012 European Championship and keeping him away from football for one year. He returned to make a few appearances for Barcelona before leaving to join Monaco in the offseason.

Andy Murray's first attempt to defend a Grand Slam title ended on Thursday as he bowed out quickly, if not quietly, in the U.S. Open quarterfinals, losing 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 to Stanislas Wawrinka.

Two months on from his drought-breaking victory for British men at Wimbledon, the Scot was no match for the Swiss in a surprisingly one-sided encounter.

England captain Steven Gerrard insists boss Roy Hodgson is right not to be drawn into the debate about his country's chances of winning the World Cup.

New English Football Association chairman Greg Dyke's claim this week that nobody expects England to win the 2014 World Cup in Brazil triggered a storm of complaints on the eve of two crucial qualifiers for Hodgson's team against Moldova and Ukraine.

Nine-time major champion Monica Seles will be inducted into the U.S. Open Court of Champions before the women's final on Sunday.

Seles, who won the U.S. Open in 1991 and 1992, spent more than 175 weeks ranked first and was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009.

Tokyo has welcomed its reported lead at the bookies in the bid for the 2020 Olympics, despite the "jinx" that has derailed such favorites in recent races.

The Japanese capital remained ahead of rivals Madrid and Istanbul midday Friday in odds offered by major betting companies, despite an upsurge of worrying reports about radioactive leaks from the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Osasuna has hired Javi Gracia as coach to replace the fired Jose Mendilibar.

The 43-year-old Gracia helped Almeria earn promotion to Spain's first division last season.

A year after skipping the U.S. Open because of a bad knee, Rafael Nadal powered his way back to the semifinals at Flushing Meadows by overwhelming Spanish compatriot Tommy Robredo 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday.

"Great to be able to play your best match in the quarterfinals," Nadal said. "Playing a little better every day is a great feeling."

For all its success at the World Cup, four-time winner Italy has never qualified with two matches to spare.

Yet that's just what the Azzurri can do if they win their next two qualifiers — both at home — against Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.

Richard Gasquet's career record against Rafael Nadal shows an embarrassing 10 defeats in 10 matches, but the Frenchman can at least boast one victory over the Spaniard -- when he was 13.

Gasquet reached his first US Open semi-final on Wednesday with a rollercoaster 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3 win over David Ferrer, the Spanish fourth seed.

A taekwondo champion from Syria's national team was killed Wednesday and seven other people were injured when a mortar bomb fell on a sports center in Damascus, the official SANA news agency said.

"The sportsman Mohammad Nehme was killed today by a mortar bomb fired by terrorists on the al-Fayhaa sports center" in the center of the city, the agency said, using the government's terminology for rebels fighting the regime of Bashar Assad.