LONDON-- Manchester City made ground in the battle for fourth place in the Premier League on Tuesday but looked a long way from Champions League material as they struggled to an forgettable 2-0 home win over Bolton Wanderers.
City were second best for long periods against the relegation-threatened visitors but took the points with a first-half Carlos Tevez penalty and a smart finish by Emmanuel Adebayor after 73 minutes.
The win takes City to 44 points and into fifth place, behind Liverpool on goal difference but with a game in hand on them and fellow challengers Tottenham Hotspur (43).
In other games Fulham beat Burnley 3-0, bottom club Portsmouth grabbed a stoppage-time equaliser for a 1-1 home draw with Sunderland in a game featuring three red cards while Wigan Athletic drew 1-1 with Stoke City.
There are six more games on Wednesday, highlighted by Arsenal against Liverpool, with Manchester United and leaders Chelsea also in action away to Aston Villa and Everton respectively.
City, who had lost two of their last three league games, struggled to impose themselves at Eastlands although new signing Adam Johnson had a lively home debut.
His tricky running led to the opening goal when he was tripped by Paul Robinson and, though Tevez's penalty was hit straight at Jussi Jaaskelainen, it had just enough power to creep over the line.
Tevez clipped the bar with a free kick but City rarely threatened another until Patrick Vieira delivered a pinpoint pass into the path of the previously anonymous Adebayor and the Togo striker chested it down and smashed in an excellent goal.
Battling Portsmouth, whose owners are desperately trying to stave off a High Court winding-up order on Wednesday, finally had something to cheer when Aruna Dindane snatched a point six minutes into stoppage time.
Sunderland led with a Darren Bent penalty after 12 minutes, Ricardo Rocha being sent off for the foul and manager Avram Grant following him into the stands at halftime for complaining.
Sunderland were also reduced to 10 when Lee Cattermole collected a second booking eight minutes into the second half and their substitute David Meyler followed him three minutes from time after a straight red.
Sunderland had been on course for their first away win of the season but Burnley are even more hopeless on their travels. Tuesday's defeat in London left them with only one point from 13 away games and still without an away win in the top flight for 34 years.
Danny Murphy, David Elm and Bobby Zamora were on target for Fulham, who were well worth the victory.
NAGPUR, India-- India found their number one ranking under threat after South Africa orchestrated their first defeat on home soil in almost two years on Tuesday.
Clinical South Africa won the first test by an innings and six runs to move into a strong position to wrest back the top ranking, taking a 1-0 lead into the final match of the two-test series starting in Kolkata on Sunday.
Fast bowler Dale Steyn returned a match haul of 10-108 and left-arm spinner Paul Harris bowled a marathon 38 overs including 17 maidens for his three wickets in the second innings to frustrate India.
India were bowled out for 319, despite Sachin Tendulkar (100) scoring his 46th test century, to give the tourists the advantage in an intriguing series between the top-ranked teams.
"We know how tough it is to play (in India), how satisfying it is to get a victory; we got one in 2008 and we had to work just as hard for it and played terrific cricket," South Africa captain Graeme Smith said.
Steyn, the world's top-ranked bowler, had taken five wickets to set up South Africa's win in Ahmedabad two years ago, the last time India lost a test at home. India drew that series 1-1 by winning the third and final test on an unpredictable Kanpur pitch.
Tuesday's crushing defeat with a day to spare ended India's undefeated 14-test streak that allowed them to climb to the top of the official rankings in December.
It was also Mahendra Singh Dhoni's first defeat in his 12-match career as skipper, putting pressure on the charismatic wicketkeeper-batsman who needs to win the final test to draw the series if India are to hold on to their top ranking.
"This is the one thing that we really want to tick off as a team you know, to win here in India," said Smith.
"In a two-match series we have taken that first step to win the series; a massive call for all of us."
South Africa's preparations for the highly-anticipated tour were disrupted when long-serving coach Mickey Arthur resigned and the entire selection committee were sacked following the drawn test series against England at home last month.
"It is hard work to win here. You need to be really clinical in terms of the game plan," Smith said.
"It is important that we play our kind of cricket, we can't come here and expect to play like India. They play a different variety of game to us.
"We have really got to try and adapt our style of play to these conditions. We did that very well throughout the game. We used our bowlers in short spells and made sure that they made an impact each time they had the ball in hand."
Harris's three wickets included the prized catch of Tendulkar after he frustrated the master batsman by bowling a defensive leg-side line.
Steyn, who is approaching the 200-wicket mark in tests, fired out debutant Wriddhiman Saha (36) and Amit Mishra (0) in his final spell in a display similar to his career-best seven for 51 in the first innings.
"Obviously it was on the back of a terrific first innings score which we know is crucial in India," said Smith.
Man of the match Hashim Amla hit a double century and Kallis struck 173 to put South Africa in control.
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands-- Former Netherlands captain Ruud Gullit has been appointed president of the joint Netherlands-Belgium bid to co-host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup finals, the Dutch FA said on Tuesday.
"With his reputation and exposure Ruud Gullit will mean a lot for our candidacy," Harry Been, CEO of the HollandBelgium Bid, was quoted as saying on the Dutch FA's official website (www.knvb.nl).
"Gullit has an enormous football background and knowledge of matters to which we can use.
"During the presentation in Cape Town in December Gullit proved himself as a tremendous ambassador, who has faith in our chances and is committed."
Soccer's world governing body FIFA is due to announce the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments in December 2010.
NEW YORK-- Seventeen years after losing an unanimous decision to Roy Jones Jr., Bernard Hopkins will finally get his chance for revenge and redemption.
Hopkins, 45, with a 50-5-1 record including 32 knockouts, called the rematch historic, personal and important to his legacy as a boxer during a mock debate on Tuesday to promote their non-title fight set for April 3 in Las Vegas.
"Whether it's justified or unjustified, this fight, to me, is redemption in a lot of ways, personally, athletically, in history...and I know what this would do in a final chapter in Bernard Hopkins' legacy to get Roy Jones back in the ring once and for all and finish it," Hopkins said.
The two Americans have not met since May 22, 1993, in an IBF middleweight title bout in Washington.
Jones, 41, with a record of 54-6 and 40 knockouts, remained aloof during on Tuesday, referring to Hopkins as "big head".
"The one thing about it is, the facts don't change, I still can beat him," Jones said. "I've never dodged big head and I never will. My statement is simple: He didn't win the first time and he won't win again."
Although there has long been speculation about a rematch, Jones's first round knockout loss to Australian Danny Green in December prompted fears it would not take place.
Depending on how many viewers pay to watch, each fighter could take between $6-$10 million, said Richard Schaefer, a promoter at Golden Boy Enterprises.
Both fighters weigh 175 pounds (79 kg) now but a weight class for the fight has yet to be determined.
LONDON-- From smashing windows to breaking world records, soccer freestyler Dan Magness has enjoyed a bizarre career which has offered him the chance to travel and rub shoulders with big names.
The Englishman's latest exploit was to kick-start a ball relay that will end at the World Cup in South Africa in June.
After he was released at the age of 16 by ex-English league side and 1988 FA Cup winners Wimbledon, Magness's soccer career looked as doomed as his old club, who were dissolved in 2004.
"I was always the player in the team where the ball would come to me and no one else would get it back," he conceded rather proudly.
However, the ball-hogging skills that no doubt contributed to his Wimbledon downfall soon became an ally when he began performing soccer tricks to busk around Australia in 2001.
"I put my hat out, started busking and before I knew it I was making some good cash. I've been doing it ever since," Magness told Reuters.
Now 26, the bubbly man from the central town of Milton Keynes has a list of keepy-uppy world records and tales of kickabouts with England international Joe Cole and FIFA world player of 2009 Lionel Messi of Barcelona.
"I'm glad Messi is playing football as opposed to freestyling, otherwise I wouldn't have a job," said Magness, who filmed a commercial with the Argentine forward in Spain.
Among other world records, Magness has notched up the longest time controlling a ball (24 hours), set last year in London's Covent Garden, and the most consecutive touches on his shoulders.
His skills now provide a living, which he makes through corporate events that have taken him across Europe and beyond, including to Dubai and South Africa.
"My career has been amazing. I can't believe I am lucky enough to visit all these countries, meet so many people and do all these things," he said.
Training involves lots of running and walking and an apparent die-hard habit of practising risky kick-ups around the house.
"I have broken my mum and dad's window when I was little, I also broke the patio chair and blamed it on the dog," he said.
Last month, he walked 58 kms around London's Premier League soccer grounds to record the longest journey while continuously kicking or heading a ball.
His unusual journey was the first leg of "The Ball" -- soccer's equivalent to the Olympic torch, a relay set up by a not-for-profit company called Spirit of Football which invites organisations to promote their causes on a journey to South Africa's World Cup opening ceremony on June 11.
The relay involves one soccer ball being played with by as many people, as many times as possible, on a four-and-a-half-month trip through Europe and 17 African countries to the finals.
Thought up by three friends, the relay started in 2002. This year it is being used to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in Africa.
"Football's such a universal language, it breaks barriers and that can help build on raising awareness of AIDS in Africa," Magness said.
The ball used in the relay is made by another non-profit organisation, Alive and Kicking (A&K), which employs 150 people in Kenya and Namibia to hand-stitch footballs which are then distributed to children's projects across Africa and used as visual aids for HIV/AIDS education.
The relay also promotes the Special Olympics (SO) which is involved in sports training and events for mentally disabled people in more than 180 countries.
After touring Europe, The Ball will head overland to West Africa, down the coast and through the Sahara before rejoining the coast in Ghana. From Cameroon it will cross to the east of the continent and head south to eventually arrive in Johannesburg on June 6.
During the trip, anywhere from big stadiums to backstreets will be used for kickabouts with everyone invited -- an ethos which provided a memorable experience in 2002.
On The Ball's journey that year to the South Korea and Japan World Cup, organisers were taken by minibus to a pitch in the mountains of China's Gansu province for an impromptu soccer match with Tibetan monks.
"Football had broken the barriers of distance and language, but we had yet to find a way to nutmeg a monk," The Ball co-founder Christian Wach told Reuters.
A&K want to distribute 100,000 balls to African children by the start of the World Cup and will also supply balls for the Special Olympics' 'Unified Sports', which pairs athletes without disabilities with SO athletes in training and competitions.
"Africa is unlikely to have the privilege of hosting the World Cup again in the near future so it is incumbent on Special Olympics Africa to ensure that we capitalise on this opportunity," SO soccer initiatives manager Ancilla Smith told Reuters.
