Muneera al-Shatti has loved playing basketball since she was a child but it wasn't until Thursday that she had chance to show off her skills at a public arena in Kuwait.

As part of a new initiative launching sports leagues for women, al-Shatti and her teammates from Salwa Al-Sabah club downed Qadsiya club 63-13 in a game that attracted several hundred men and female fans. The initiative to launch basketball, table tennis and athletic leagues for the first time in Kuwait illustrates how the landscape for women athletes is improving across the Persian Gulf where hard-liners have long opposed women playing sports.

As a theater and film producer, Bill Kenwright knows a story when he sees it.

In his other life, as chairman of English Premier League club Everton, he has experienced a pretty special one close up.

Formula One returns home this weekend for the first European race of the 2013 season with a familiar scenario unfolding amid hopes of an upset to match last year's unexpected dramas at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Defending triple world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, who was victorious at the Circuit de Catalunya in 2011, leads the title race again, this time with 77 points and a 10-point margin ahead of second-placed rival Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus and a 27-point advantage on

Asian fans from Singapore to Shanghai on Thursday praised Alex Ferguson's role in bringing Premier League football to the region's masses, after his shock retirement as Manchester United manager.

As the club's millions of Asian fans absorbed the news, splashed on front and back pages across the continent, they applauded Ferguson's regular visits and his signings of Park Ji-Sung and Shinji Kagawa.

Manchester United reacted to rumors about Wayne Rooney's future at the club by insisting on Thursday that the England striker is "not for sale".

After Alex Ferguson announced his shock retirement as United manager on Wednesday, reports emerged that Rooney had informed the Scot of his desire to leave the club in an informal conversation two weeks ago.

Aston Villa captain Stilyian Petrov, who is battling acute leukaemia, announced on Thursday he was retiring from football.

The 33-year-old Bulgaria international was diagnosed with the illness in March last year, forcing him to abruptly suspend his playing career.

Alex Ferguson is retiring at the end of the season, bringing a close to a trophy-filled career of more than 26 years at Manchester United that established him as the most successful coach in British football history.

"The decision to retire is one that I have thought a great deal about and one that I have not taken lightly," the 71-year-old Scotsman said in a statement on Wednesday. "It is the right time."

New York's Carmelo Anthony scored 32 points — 16 during a 30-2 onslaught in the second half — to lead the Knicks to a 105-79 win over the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday, squaring their NHL Eastern Conference semifinal series at 1-1.

In the day's other game, Memphis used a late run to beat Oklahoma City and also level their Western Conference series at a game apiece.

Grigor Dimitrov stunned Novak Djokovic in the second round of the Madrid Open on Tuesday, beating the top-ranked Serb 7-6 (6), 6-7 (8), 6-3 for the biggest win of his career.

The 28th-ranked Bulgarian saved three set points in the first before taking the lead, and Djokovic then appeared to hurt his right ankle when trailing 4-2 in the second. The Serbian player slipped on the baseline and winced in pain, then immediately called for a trainer and took a lengthy break to get treatment.

Manchester City guaranteed itself a spot in next season's Champions League on Tuesday after Edin Dzeko's first-half goal was enough for a 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League.

Second-place City is now assured of finishing in the top three, which means a direct spot into the group stage of Europe's premier club competition.