Levante 0-2 Real Madrid

VALENCIA, January 13 (Primera Liga) - Two goals from Ruud van Nistelrooy earned Primera Liga leaders Real Madrid another three points at the expense of basement boys Levante on Sunday.

The Holland striker opened the scoring from the penalty spot with just 15 minutes remaining and sealed the win late on with a neat finish from the edge of the area.

Although Real went into the match without key midfielder Mahamadou Diarra, who is away on African Nations Cup duty, Levante were in far worse shape.

The team from Valencia started the day eight points adrift at the bottom of the table and having lost four players, who recently left the club due to non-payment of wages.

They had also scored just one goal and taken one point from their last five league matches.

The two sides may have been separated by 36 points in the table, but there was little difference between the teams in the first half.

Madrid kicked off with Fernando Gago replacing Diarra in the midfield holding role but the Argentinian struggled to make his mark.

As a result, Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who had been a doubt due to a stomach bug, found himself busier than expected in the opening period.

Pedro Leon, Juanma and Luis Rubiales all caused Madrid problems in the first 15 minutes, while experienced Italian midfielder Damiano Tommasi saw a header and left-footed shot go wide.

The visitors, however, failed to test Levante goalkeeper Vladan Kujovic. Madrid were struggling to put two passes together, although the home side lacked the class to make the table-toppers pay for their uncertainties.

Despite the poor display, Real coach Bernd Schuster resisted the urge to make changes at the interval and Levante continued to have the better chances at the start of the second half with Pedro Leon, Laurent Courtois and Mustafa Riga all threatening the Madrid goal shortly after the interval.

That finally prompted a reaction from Schuster, who replaced Julio Baptista with Guti, and Madrid crept back into the match as the midfielder and Raul both saw shots saved by Kujovic.

Guti was soon joined on the pitch by Gonzalo Higuain, but not before Robinho had rattled the woodwork for the visitors after Van Nistelrooy had done well to set the Brazilian winger up with his chance.

The changes eventually paid off when the league leaders took the lead with 15 minutes remaining.

Higuain's cross looked to hit Jose Serrano's hand and after referee Fernandez Borbalan had awarded the penalty, Van Nistelrooy sent Kujovic the wrong way from the spot.

The former Manchester United man then scored his second of the game with just two minutes left on the clock.

He controlled Guti's pass on the edge of the area before firing an accurate shot into the back of the Levante net.

The win restores Madrid's seven-point lead over Barcelona at the top of the table while Levante are 13 points adrift of fourth-bottom Recreativo Huelva.

Whether how real this season Real can be, but Ruud can show his rudeness free ... just cant love you guys more ....

sports fan? neh.. just bla from jeffayn....

Double amputee begins fight for Beijing

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius hopes that independent tests will show that he does not get an unfair advantage from his prosthetic racing blades.

The IAAF, track and field’s world governing body, ruled Monday that the South African is ineligible to compete at the Beijing Olympics — or any other sanctioned able-bodied competition — because his “Cheetah” prosthetics give him a clear competitive advantage.

“I was pretty surprised by the outcome,” Pistorius said Tuesday in an interview with Associated Press Television News. “Because some of the details had come out we were anticipating it, but it was still a big shock and I was pretty disappointed.”

The IAAF ruling was based on studies it commissioned by German professor Gert-Peter Brueggemann, who conducted tests on the prosthetic limbs and said they gave Pistorius a mechanical edge.

Pistorius again disputed that claim Tuesday.

“My goal was to qualify for the Beijing Olympics and I was 0.8 seconds off for the South African qualification time,” he said. “The company that makes my prosthetics is pretty confident they don’t give me an advantage.”

“We have given the results to some university professors of biokinetics in the U.S. and they strongly believe I do not have an advantage,” Pistorius said. “We are hoping to redo the tests at an independent level.”

Pistorius said the IAAF tests were done “very professionally” but added that other experts had told him the tests were not comprehensive enough.

“I am sure the whole thing will be sorted out in the next few months,” he said.

His manager, Peet van Zyl, said they were getting legal advice before lodging an appeal.

“The onus is on us to prove that Oscar does not receive an advantage from his blades,” Van Zyl said. “We will have to do our own independent tests. We don’t believe this is the end of the road for us.”

Pistorius was due to leave for a training camp for the Beijing Paralympics in Cape Town.

Pistorius, nicknamed the “Blade Runner,” had announced last week that he planned to appeal any adverse decision, including taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Pistorius has set world records in the 100, 200 and 400 meters in Paralympic events.

Pistorius finished second in the 400 meters at the South African national championships last year against able-bodied runners.

Even if the IAAF decision was overturned, he would still need to qualify for the South African team to race at the Beijing Olympics. The athlete said his schedule would be seriously affected by the ruling because about 80 percent of his races are able-bodied events.

Pistorius was born without fibulas — the long, thin outer bone between the knee and ankle — and was 11 months old when his legs were amputated below the knee.

He began running competitively four years ago to treat a rugby injury, and nine months later won the 200 meters at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens.