Sports Shorts: Bhupathi-Anderson knocked out of Miami Open

Mahesh Bhupathi and his South African doubles partner Kevin Anderson went down fighting in a thrilling three-setter against the pair of Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil to crash out of the men's doubles in the Sony Open tennis tournament in Miami.

The unseeded Indo-South African pair lost to their second seeded opponents 4-6, 6-4, 6-10 in a gruelling one hour and 28 minute first round contest of the hard court event.

The two pairs refused to give an inch to each other but the Indo-South African pair lost the plot in the deciding set.

Peya-Soares took home the first set after winning two service breaks.

Bhupathi and Anderson fought their way back into the match by winning the lone service break of the second set, which they won 6-4.

In the decider, Peya and Soares served better and won more return points to run away 10-6 winners to wrap up the match.

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Rohan Bopanna remained the only Indian in men's doubles after he and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan won their second round match against Italian duo of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-2 in a 55-minute first round match.

The seventh seeded 'Indo-Pak Express' play the Colombian pair of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the second round.

The third Indian in the men's doubles, Leander Paes, and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek had also lost in the first round.

In the women's tournament, being held simultaneously, Sania Mirza and her Zimbabwean partner Cara Black, seeded fifth in the tournament, have advanced to the second round after defeating Taipei pair of Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan.

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Former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro will undergo a second wrist operation in four years on Monday and miss the rest of the season, Argentine media reported.

Del Potro, who pulled out of the Miami tournament this week, will have surgery on his left wrist which he uses for his backhand, having had an operation on his right wrist in May 2010.

The big Argentine, who won the Sydney tournament in January before a disappointing Australian Open, has dropped down the ranking from world number four to eighth and last played at Dubai nearly a month ago.

The 25-year-old tried to overcome his problem with physiotherapy but has now decided to resort to American surgeon Richard Berger, the wrist specialist who operated on his right wrist in 2010, the daily La Nacion reported on Saturday.

"I have the experience of how the rehabilitation is, the time it takes," La Nacion quoted Del Potro as having said when he pulled out of Indian Wells two weeks ago and foresaw the possibility of surgery.

"This time, a good thing is I won't lose so much time seeking a diagnosis. In 2010, it took me two to three months to find the right diagnosis and the right doctor. This time, luckily, I know."

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Manchester United striker Robin van Persie has reportedly flown to Holland for urgent treatment amid fears that the striker may miss the World Cup as well if his knee ligament injury is serious.

Van Persie, who is most likely to miss the rest of his club's Premier League campaign, is reportedly eyeing the FIFA World Cup in Brazil for his come back from the knee injury and he may face disappointment if the injury is series.

According to the Mirror, a minimum eight-week rest is now being mentioned for Van Persie, as he is under treatment from one of Europe's top surgeons Rien Heijboer.

Holland boss Louis van Gall has reportedly urged the striker to rest well and take time for his recovery as he rates Van Persie as the most important player in his World Cup squad.

Van Persie was taken on a stretcher due to a knee injury following United's match against Olympiakos during which the striker scored a hat trick taking his club to a 3-0 win.

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The referee who sent off Arsenal defender Kieran Gibbs by mistake during the club's 6-0 shock defeat by Premier League leaders Chelsea has reportedly apologised for 'making the error'.

Although Arsenal winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain tipped Eden Hazard 's shot around a post with his hand, referee Andre Marriner awarded a penalty by showing Gibbs a red card, a decision which stood even though Oxlade-Chamberlain seemed to tell Marriner that he was the culprit.

According to the BBC, left-back Gibbs seemed confused at receiving the red card, protesting his innocence, along with his teammates, before leaving the field.

Following the incident, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the official body of referees, stated that Marriner is disappointed that he failed to identify the correct player and expressed his disappointment to Arsenal when he was made aware of the issue.

The statement further said that incidents of mistaken identity are very rare and are often the result of a number of different technical factors.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said the referee had not seen the incident while Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said that it is the kind of a situation which needed a TV review to confirm the decision.

The Football Association tweeted clubs 'can appeal mistaken identity, although the FA can pro-actively review also'.

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FIFA President Sepp Blatter is reportedly coming under intense pressure to change the venue of the 2018 World Cup as US politicians have said that Russia should be banned from hosting the event as a punishment for its takeover of Crimea.

Republican Senator from Indiana Dan Coats said that a more deserving World Cup 2018 bid should be reconsidered instead of Russia, because if they allow the country to keep the tournament it would remind them of what happened with Hitler in the early 1920s and ’30s.

According to the Daily Express, Senator Coats and fellow Republican Senator Mark Kirk from Illinois have written a joint letter to Blatter, saying that the game's governing world body has a precedent for banning Russia from even playing in the tournament.

Senator Coats said that since Russia has similarly displayed a brazen disrespect for fundamental principles of FIFA and international law, he feels that Blatter will agree that it does not deserve the honour of either hosting the World Cup or participating in one.

However Prime Minister David Cameron said that he would leave the talks about stripping the finals from Russia for the football authorities.

Russia is spending 12 billion-pounds on preparing to host the World Cup in 2018 and 4 billion-pounds on developing the game at grassroots level and any question mark over Russia's future FIFA membership could harm the private investment it needs, the report added.

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Barcelona fullback Martin Montoya has agreed a four-year contract extension until the end of the 2017-18 season, the Spanish champions said on Saturday.

A product of Barca's academy who has featured in the Spain squad without making his international debut, Montoya has been second choice at right back this season after the club's Brazilian international Daniel Alves.

The 22-year-old made his La Liga debut in February 2011 and has played 53 matches, scoring two goals.

Montoya's new deal has a buyout clause of 20 million euros and he will sign the contract in coming weeks, Barca said on their website (www.fcbarcelona.es).