SuperShorts: Brotherly shove

There may be an icy glare or two over the Boateng family dining table this Christmas. Berlin-born Kevin-Prince will turn out for Ghana at the World Cup, while his younger brother Jerome plays in German colours. The pair are likely to meet in the final Group-H encounter in Johannesburg on June 24.

Confused? Kevin-Prince isn't, as he merrily demonstrated by walloping his boot through the ankle of German captain Michael Ballack in the FA Cup final. Sehr gut!

Fatherly fixer

We suspect there would always be icy glares over the Terry family dining table at Christmas. As England flew out for South Africa, ex-captain John's family were back in the press. This time it was his dad, Edward, getting off a charge of supplying cocaine.

Ted Terry, 56, admitted supplying 3.5g of charlie to a journalist from the News of the World. Judge Christopher Mitchell didn't see the funny side: "It is a very, very clear case of entrapment solely to create a newspaper story."

Parachutes payment

If you thought listening to a Coldplay album was rather like watching five days of incredibly dreary cricket, we may have stumbled upon the reason why. The insipid middle-of-the-road balladiers have come to the rescue of a village cricket team from the charmingly named Lower Slaughter. "Yeah, I'm sure very few cricket clubs are sponsored by a world-famous band," says team manager Paul Heming. "Coldplay was a bit of a coup for us."

Hemming wrote to the band after hearing that they'd donated cash to a local junior rugby team. A £750 ($1609) cheque to keep the cricketers in kit followed.

Shortcut on long haul

The marathon is a tough slog, so much so that it's first champion, Pheidippides, dropped dead. No such risk for Anthony Gaskell - the 69-year-old was due to receive a plaque for setting a record time for pensioners in the London marathon. The old devil had to politely wave away the honour and admit he'd cut 10 miles (16km) off the course with a judicious shortcut at Tower Bridge. He claims it was all a misunderstanding: "I simply walked through a short cut to the end of the course where my belongings were. I had no idea that anyone thought I'd won."

He's in good company. In January, almost a third of the top 100 finishers in the Xiamen marathon in China were disqualified for elaborate cheating that involved car rides and hiring imposters to run different sections. Back in 1980, a beaming, sweatless Rosie Ruiz gave a triumphant television interview after becoming the first woman across the line at the Boston marathon. Her secret? Catching the subway and only running the last mile.

Sergio Motsoeneng dashed to ninth place in South Africa's gruelling 90km Comrades marathon back in 1999. He and his doppelganger brother had swapped places during toilet breaks, the other speeding ahead by car to tag back in when nature called. (And they only managed ninth? Was it a slow car?)

Dear Leader

North Korean television has a plan for the World Cup. The Dear Leader, Kim Jong-Il, has reportedly ordered that no live matches will be shown - only highlights edited in North Korea's favour. It's been done before, Iran televised the 1994 World Cup after judicious editing in 1995.

Good week for...

Eri Yoshida

The Japanese chucker became the first woman to pitch professionally in the US in a decade, hurling sidearm knuckleballs for the Chico Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League.

Bad week for...

The Fed

The Swiss ace made an early exit from Roland Garros courtesy of French Open upset specialist Robin Soderling. Defeat ended Federer's record streak of reaching the semifinals in 23 consecutive major events.

The number

108

The number of Premier League players at the World Cup. Italy's Serie A contributes the second highest number with 75 and Spain's La Liga chips in with 57.