Ginola narrowly escapes tsunami

David Ginola was reported to have had a lucky escape from the Asian tsunami disaster.

The former Newcastle, Tottenham and France winger was on holiday with his wife and three children at a hotel in the Maldives, and a friend of the Frenchman was quoted as saying: "The door of their hotel room exploded under the force of the water which had built up."

There were several other footballers in the region, including Zinedine Zidane. The Real Madrid playmaker was on Réunion Island off Madagascar but was reported to be unharmed, while the Italians Filippo Inzaghi, Paolo Maldini, Gianluca Zambrotta, Alessandro Nesta and Cristian Brocchi were in the Maldives, as was the Bosnian international Hasan Salihamidzic.

Away from football, the former skiing champion Ingemar Stenmark narrowly avoided being swept to sea at Khok Kloi on the Thai coast. The Austrian tennis player Thomas Muster was on holiday in the Maldives but escaped injury.

The Premiership paid its respects before Tuesday's Premiership matches. Yesterday the Wolves manager Glenn Hoddle urged the football world to help raise funds.

"We've started a fund for the victims of the disaster [at Wolves] and I'd like to see the whole of football make a similar effort," Hoddle said.