October 31 2009
Sports Bites

The benign growth in LeBron James' jaw made for a few nervous days earlier this year for the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar. James said on Monday he had to wait for biopsy results in January after doctors at the Cleveland Clinic found a growth in the right side of his jaw. James, whose cancer concerns were first reported by The Plain Dealer, said he trusted his doctors when they told him they didn't believe the growth was malignant. "It wasn't that much of a concern," James acknowledged. "But when it can be cancerous, anything that can be a health hazard should be a concern. But the doctors gave me assurances that they didn't think it was and I listened to the professionals."

West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan is keen to get back into the international fold, now that the impassé between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) seems to be coming to an end. Sarwan along with several other prominent names like Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul had boycotted the Bangladesh series at home over pay and contractual disputes and were overlooked for the subsequent ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa. While they were walloped in the Test and ODI series at home under Floyd Reifer's captaincy, a first-round exit followed in the Champions Trophy.

If the Court of Arbitration for Sport grants Chelsea's interim request in the coming weeks, the club could be allowed to sign players during the January transfer market. The CAS said Wednesday it has received appeals filed by Chelsea and its teenage player Gael Kakuta against FIFA and Kakuta's former club Lens. No hearing date has been set. FIFA ruled last month that Chelsea lured Kakuta to break his Lens contract as a 16-year-old in 2007. It banned Chelsea from signing players for two transfer windows - cutting the London club out of the market until January 2011.

Former No. 1 Martina Hingis won't make a comeback to competitive tennis. The 29-year old Hingis, who retired after getting a two-year ban in 2007 for testing positive for cocaine, said Tuesday in an interview with L'Equipe that she is happy with her new life."I've got a nice house, my four horses," Hingis said. "On the tour, I had no life."Hingis received a two-year ban in 2007 after testing positive for cocaine. Hingis added that even without being tested positive, she would likely have retired. "If I had won the four Grand Slam tournaments, maybe I would have continued," she said. "But I was on downslope. And I was suspended for two years, and that was it." Hingis, who spent 209 weeks at No. 1 in the women's rankings and won five Grand Slam singles titles, said she went through hard times during her suspension.