Ronaldo banned for Lazio visit

Ronaldo was handed a one-game suspension by Italy's Serie A disciplinary panel yesterday, which will force him to sit out Internazionale's home game against the league leaders, Lazio, on Saturday.

Ronaldo was handed a one-game suspension by Italy's Serie A disciplinary panel yesterday, which will force him to sit out Internazionale's home game against the league leaders, Lazio, on Saturday.

The Brazilian striker was shown the red card during the first half of Internazionale's 2-1 defeat by their local rivals Milan on Saturday, when a linesman told the referee that Ronaldo had elbowed the Argentine defender Fabian Ayala. Television replays showed that Ronaldo's elbow struck a glancing blow to Ayala as the players jumped for a high ball.

Ayala, who was also sent off later in the match, was given a one-game suspension and will miss Milan's game at Verona on Sunday.

The veteran Russian striker Igor Shalimov said in Moscow yesterday that he can prove his innocence on doping charges. Earlier this month, Shalimov was barred from playing professional football in Italy for two years because he tested positive for a nandrolone metabolite.

Shalimov told the Russian Sport Express daily newspaper that he had been treated with the drug at a military hospital last winter, and that he had written records from the hospital to prove it.

He had originally argued that the banned steroid may have shown up in his system because he ate contaminated meat.

Shalimov has played for several clubs in Italy's Serie A since 1991, when he joined Foggia. He has also been with Internazionale, Udinese, Bologna and Napoli.

Nearly 100 people arrested in a football-linked riot in Port Said were being questioned for a third day yesterday in the northern Egyptian town, where security concerns have been heightened because of an attack on the president last month.

Security officials, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said the prosecutor extended the detentions of 99 people for further investigation. Among the detainees were 18 juveniles who were being held in a social rehabilitation house.

A car and shop windows were damaged on Sunday in a rampage by fans following the local team's loss to Tunisian visitors. The fans also destroyed the Port Said headquarters of President Hosni Mubarak's National Party, which is near the football stadium.

The attack on party headquarters did not appear to have a political motive but may have led to the rioters being questioned for an unusually long period.

President Hosni Mubarak was attacked and slightly wounded by a knife-wielding man in Port Said in September. The man was killed by Mubarak's bodyguards during the attack. Security officials later said the man was mentally disturbed.