FACTBOX-Soccer-African Nations Cup finalists Ivory Coast

Jan 12 (Reuters) - Factbox on African Nations Cup finalists Ivory Coast ahead of this year's tournament in South Africa from Jan. 19 to Feb. 10:
Previous appearances in African Nations Cup finals: 19
Best performances: Winners in 1992; Runners-up in 2006 and 2012
FIFA world ranking Dec 2012: 14
Coach:
Sabri Lamouchi had no previous coaching experience when the Ivorians surprisingly installed him last May, sacking Francis Zahoui even though he had led them into the finals of the last Nations Cup. The new coach has gone unbeaten in his first six games in charge. Lamouchi is a former France international who played at Euro 96 and was on the books at AJ Auxerre, Monaco, Paris St Germain, Parma and Inter Milan.
Key players:
Didier Drogba (Shanghai Shenhua). Age: 34. Pos: Forward
This is the last chance for Drogba to win the elusive Nations Cup after twice finishing runner-up. He missed a penalty in the 2012 final and the decisive kick in the shootout to decide the 2006 title in Egypt, but he did score from the spot to deliver the Champions League to Chelsea in May. He has 56 goals in 89 appearances for the Ivorians.
Yaya Toure (Manchester City). Age: 29. Pos: Midfielder
Winner of the African Footballer of the Year award for 2011 and 2012, Toure commands a massive physical presence in the centre of midfield. He has had a nomadic career, playing at clubs in seven countries before his move after the 2010 World Cup to England. Part of the Manchester City team that won the Premier League last May.
Gervinho (Arsenal). Age: 25. Pos: Forward
Gervais Yao Kouassi was the big star of the French league in 2011, leading unfashionable Lille to the title and earning himself a lucrative transfer to England, but he has been inconsistent at Arsenal and earned an unwanted reputation for his foibles in front of goal. This will be his fourth appearance at the Nations Cup finals with the highlight being his semi-final goal against Mali last year.
Prospects
The Ivorians will start as favourites again for the title, as they have been for the last four tournaments. Each time they have come up short and the burden of expectation is potentially producing a mental block. Their squad is the strongest at the tournament.

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FACTBOX-Soccer-African Nations Cup finalists Algeria

Jan 12 (Reuters) - Factbox on African Nations Cup finalists Algeria ahead of this year's tournament in South Africa from Jan. 19 to Feb. 10:
Previous appearances in African Nations Cup finals: 14
Best performances: Winners in 1990; Runners-up in 1980
FIFA world ranking Dec 2012: 19
Coach:
Vahid Halilhodzic is a former Yugoslavia international who moved to France during his playing days and stayed for a coaching career at OSC Lille, Stade Rennes and Paris St Germain. The 60-year-old coached the Ivory Coast at the 2010 Nations Cup and lost his job after they were eliminated in the quarter-finals. Sven Goran Eriksson took his place for the World Cup in South Africa.
Key players:
Sofiane Feghouli (Valencia). Age: 23. Pos: Midfielder
Named Algeria's Footballer of the Year for 2012 for his performances at club level in Spain and for Algeria, for whom he debuted in late 2011 after first playing for France at under-21 level. An attacking midfielder whose career started at Grenoble.
Foued Kadir (Olympique Marseille). Age: 29. Pos: Midfielder
Signed by Marseille at the start of the month on a three-and-a-half-year deal from Valenciennes. Was among a wave of French-born players called up by Algeria just before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa where he played all three games for the north Africans.
Djamel Mesbah (AC Milan). Age: 28. Pos: Defender
One of 10 players in the Algerian squad born in the country, although he grew up in France and started his professional career across the border in Switzerland. Joined AC Milan from Lecce last January on a four-year deal but has not been able to command a regular first-team place at the club.
Prospects
Algeria have a sparkling generation of talented individuals but the challenge is moulding them into an effective unit. The side have suffered from inconsistency but are beginning to attain more stability and have resultantly risen up the FIFA standings to become the second-best ranked African country. Few give them a chance, however, of verifying that position in South Africa. (Compiled by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Clare Fallon)

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FACTBOX-Soccer-African Nations Cup finalists Togo

Jan 12 (Reuters) - Factbox on African Nations Cup finalists Togo ahead of this year's tournament in South Africa from Jan. 19 to Feb. 10:
Previous appearances African Nations Cup finals: 7
Best performance: Never got past the first round
FIFA world ranking Dec 2012: 71
Coach:
Didier Six has had a tempestuous tenure in charge of Togo, having to deal with player strikes and his own battle to get wages paid by his employers. It has been a heady first year in his first major coaching job but he did help Togo to secure qualification by edging out Gabon. The 58-year-old was in the French squad that won the 1984 European championship and played club soccer in England, Germany and Turkey.
Key players:
Emmanuel Adebayor (Tottenham Hotspur). Age: 28 Pos: Forward
The gangly forward is the country's most recognisable name whose talent has carried the small west African nation to achievements way beyond their potential. Born to immigrant parents from Nigeria, Adebayor went to France aged 17 but his career was floundering at Monaco before he moved to England at the start of 2006.
Serge Gakpe (Nantes). Age: 25. Pos: Forward
Gakpe held out hopes of playing for France but finally agreed to overtures from Togo, where his parents hail from, and debuted for the west Africans in 2009. He started at Monaco and had a loan spell at Standard Liege in Belgium last season.
Alaixys Romao (Lorient). Age: 28. Pos: Midfielder
A former French youth international who is the busy engine room of the Togo side. He was a member of the squad that went to the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany but threatened to pull out of the upcoming tournament in South Africa in solidarity with Adebayor over unpaid bonuses.
Prospects
Togo have been in turmoil in the build-up to the tournament, over the availability of the talismanic Adebayor. He was finally persuaded to play by the Togo president but did not participate in the pre-tournament preparations. Drawn in a tough group with Ivory Coast, Algeria and Tunisia, Togo look likely to keep up their record of never having got to knockout stages of the tournament. (Compiled by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing By Alison Wildey)

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Paul keeps Clippers on top in Los Angeles battle

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Chris Paul and the Clippers maintained a grip on top billing in Los Angeles with a tense 107-102 victory over the Lakers on Friday to cement their status as the city's best team.
Paul withstood a fierce challenge from Kobe Bryant, recording 30 points and 13 assists to Bryant's 38 points, and the Clippers moved further ahead in both the standings and the crosstown rivalry.
"It's a big win because it's a division game," Paul told reporters, after he carried the scoring load in the absence of injured reserve Jamal Crawford (sore foot).
"That was ugly down the stretch and it was all my fault. We had some terrible possessions (late) and made it interesting for the fans."
The Lakers did their best to tear up the script late on by climbing out of a 19-point deficit in the fourth quarter and closing to 99-97 with two minutes remaining.
However, Paul shut the door on the Lakers, scoring the final eight points for his team, including a tough step-back jumper over the outstretched Bryant in the waning moments.
Blake Griffin added 24 points in the winning effort while Dwight Howard put up 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers (15-17), who have lost three of their last four.
FAST BREAK
Despite sharing the Staples Center, the teams have had little else in common this season as the Clippers (26-8) have raced toward the top of the West while the Lakers are struggling to find an identity under new coach Mike D'Antoni.
The team is just 10-12 since D'Antoni took over.
"It's going to take time and we don't have a lot of it," said Lakers point guard Steve Nash, who finished with 12 points and 10 assists. "You just stick with it."
The Clippers ran off a franchise-record 17 straight wins before losing their previous two games but they quickly regained their form and grabbed a 10-point halftime lead on the Lakers.
The athletic Clippers used their defense to ignite their fast break and push the game's energy with crowd-pleasing dunks.
After their lead swelled to 19 early in the fourth, the Lakers chipped away behind Bryant, who delivered 16 points in the final quarter, to raise the stakes in his duel with Paul.
The two All Stars traded shots all night, with Bryant throwing down a ferocious dunk over Paul in the first quarter, but the Clippers point guard got the final say with a critical jumper and six free throws over the last minute.
"Chris made some amazing shots. It was a great matchup of two of the best in the game," D'Antoni said. "We had a shot at the end and we just didn't do it."

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NBA: Timberwolves top scorer Love has broken hand

(Reuters) - Minnesota Timberwolves leading scorer Kevin Love has refractured his right hand, the National Basketball Association (NBA) team said on Saturday.
The injury to Love, who missed the first three weeks of the 2012-13 season with a broken right hand, is a severe blow to the Timberwolves (15-14), who are battling to stay in playoff contention in the NBA's Western Conference.
Love, 24, suffered the latest injury in the third quarter of Thursday's game at Denver. An update to Love's status will be provided after he is examined by a hand specialist later this week, the team said in a statement.
The two-time All-Star forward, who was on the gold-medal winning U.S. team at last summer's London Olympics, leads the Timberwolves with an average of 18.3 points and 14 rebounds per game.

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NBA-D'Antoni says Lakers need better starts, tighter defense

Jan 5 (Reuters) - Faster starts and a much improved defense are sorely needed by the Los Angeles Lakers if the 16-time NBA champions are to resurrect a bitterly disappointing campaign, according to their head coach Mike D'Antoni.
Lakers fans had lofty expectations for 2012-13 after Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol were joined by fellow All-Stars Dwight Howard and Steve Nash during the off-season but the once mighty franchise has failed to gel, slipping to a 15-17 record.
An ageing line-up has not been helped by a spate of injuries and three different head coaches, though the return of veteran point guard Nash from a leg fracture for the last six games certainly gave the team a much needed lift.
"We just have to get better starts," D'Antoni told reporters after Lakers team practice at their El Segundo training facility on Saturday. "Whatever we're doing isn't working right now.
"And defensively, we need to work harder. We lose our energy on defense sometimes because the offense sputters."
The Lakers lost a tense battle with their city rival Clippers 107-102 on Friday after clawing back from a 19-point deficit early in the fourth quarter at the Staples Center.
FALLING SHORT
In their previous game they also fell short, going down 103-99 on their home court against the struggling Philadelphia 76ers on New Year's Day after trailing by 11 points in the first quarter.
"We competed," D'Antoni said of his team's spirited revival against the Clippers when Bryant finished with a game-high 38 points. "We came back and we had a shot at the end to win.
"We're always shooting under pressure, down eight or 10, and the ball has to go in. Then you're down 15 or 17, and it's 'Oh man'. We're struggling with that a little bit.
"So there are spots where we're really good and there are spots where we seem to dissolve a little bit as a team. We have to find guys that can make shots and we have to get back to that."
The Lakers have very little time to get back as they host the Denver Nuggets on Sunday and their three-time defensive player of the year Howard has billed himself a "game-day decision".
Center Howard put up 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers against the Clippers on Friday but hurt his shoulder in a tangle with Caron Butler and woke up on Saturday in some pain.
Howard skipped team practice on Saturday and received treatment from the Lakers' training staff but D'Antoni was not too worried, saying the center's chances of playing on Sunday were "good."
Bench player Jordan Hill, who sprained his right ankle against the Clippers, was listed as "probable" for Sunday's game against the Nuggets.

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Golf: Brunei Prince among Asian Tour qualifying school entries

 Prince Abdul Hakeem Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei is one of a record 761 golfers who will compete in the Asian Tour's qualifying school in Thailand this month.
The 39-year-old, who was his country's first Olympian when he took part in skeet shooting at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, will need to finish tied 40th or better to become the first Brunei golfer on tour.
The Prince, who took up golf having watched his grandfather - the former Sultan of Brunei - play, only turned professional last year after getting his handicap down to zero.
He is one of 156 golfers confirmed for the final stage (January 23-26) with more to come from the first stage which features 605 players split into two sections (January 9-12 and January 16-19).
Also taking part at the key final stage played at the Imperial Lakeview and Springfield Royal course is Germany's Alex Cejka, who has four European Tour wins, and Australia's Jake Higginbottom, the 2012 New Zealand Open winner as an amateur.
"The record numbers is another strong testament towards the Asian Tour's stature in world golf and shows that global players view the Asian Tour as the destination to build their careers," tour executive chairman Kyi Hla Han said in a statement.

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Golf-McIlroy may turn down chance to play in 2016 Olympics

LONDON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - World number one Rory McIlroy may reject the opportunity to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro to avoid any controversy over which country to represent.
Twice major winner McIlroy, 23, said he was mulling whether to play for Britain or Ireland and he told the BBC that he might opt out of playing altogether.
"I just think being from where we're from, we're placed in a very difficult position. I feel Northern Irish and obviously being from Northern Ireland you have a connection to Ireland and a connection to the UK," McIlroy said.
"If I could and there was a Northern Irish team I'd play for Northern Ireland.
"Play for one side or the other - or not play at all because I may upset too many people Those are my three options I'm considering very carefully."
Golf will return to the Olympics for the first time since 1904 and McIlroy said in 2009 he would "probably play for Great Britain".
He echoed those feelings in an interview with the Daily Mail newspaper last year but regrets saying so.
"It was a moment, I don't want to say of weakness, but a moment of frustration with it all," he said.
"People tune in to watch me play on TV and feel like they are connected to me in some way. I don't want to repay them for their support with something they don't want me to do."
Last year McIlroy became the second player after Luke Donald in 2011 to win both order of merit titles either side of the Atlantic and he has a sizeable advantage in the world rankings over second-placed Donald going into the 2013 season.

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Golf-Valderrama course creator Ortiz-Patino dies aged 82

MADRID, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Jaime Ortiz-Patino, a Spain-based golf promoter who created the famous Valderrama course and who was one one of the driving forces behind the growth of the sport in the Iberian nation, has died at the age of 82.
"Jaime Ortiz-Patino...passed away this morning in the Costa del Sol hospital in Marbella," the Spanish golf federation (RFEG) said in a statement on their website (www.rfeg.es) on Thursday.
Born to Bolivian parents in Paris in June 1930, Ortiz-Patino created the Valderrama course, designed by Robert Trent Jones, in the mid 1980s and was able to lure the Ryder Cup there in 1997, the first time the competition has been held outside the British Isles.
The course was the home of the Volvo Masters between 1988 and 1996 and from 2002 to 2008 and has also hosted the Amex World Championships and the Andalucia Masters.
Known as "Jimmy" to his friends, Ortiz-Patino, whose grandfather was a fabulously wealthy Bolivian tin magnate, amassed a collection of golfing memorabilia that captured the history of the game over 500 years.
It included clubs, balls, prints, books and manuscripts, ceramics, photographs and paintings and was auctioned at Christie's in London last year.

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