Sports shorts: Barcelona agree to sign Suarez from Liverpool

Barcelona have agreed to buy disgraced Uruguay forward Luis Suarez from English Premier League side Liverpool, the two clubs said on Friday.

"The player will travel to Barcelona next week for a medical, sign a contract for the next five seasons and be presented as an FC Barcelona player," the Spanish team said in a statement.

Suarez was expelled from the World Cup in Brazil last month and given a nine-match competitive international ban as well as a four-month suspension from any soccer-related activities for biting Giorgio Chiellini.

After initially denying that he bit the Italy  defender, the 27-year-old later issued a carefully-worded statement admitting his offence, the third time he has bitten an opponent during a match, and vowed there would be no repeat.

Suarez, who has also had stints at Dutch clubs Groningen and Ajax Amsterdam, netted 31 league goals for Liverpool last season.

The deal comes a day after Barca agreed to sell Chile forward Alexis Sanchez to Arsenal.

NEXT: India to send 224-member contingent for Glasgow Commonwealth Games

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India will field a 224-member contingent, its second largest ever, in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, to be held from July 23 to August 3, with athletics forming the biggest squad of 41.

The Sports Ministry has cleared the 224 athletes from 14 sporting disciplines, including seven para-athletes at government cost, along with a contingent of 90 officials, coaches and support staff.

The Glasgow Games will have 17 sports and 261 medal events. India will not field athletes in three disciplines -- netball, rugby sevens and triathlon.

The para-athletes will compete separately in a record 22 events in five different sports (athletics, cycling, lawn bowls, swimming and weightlifting).

The 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games had 21 disciplines and 271 medal events and India had fielded 495 athletes, the country's largest ever participation.

India won a record 101 medals (38 gold, 27 silver, 36 bronze) and finished second behind Australia.

After the track and field athletes, who are expected to win between eight to ten 0 medals, hockey make the second largest contingent with 32 (16 men and 16 women players).

Shooters, who are expected to win a major chunk of medals, form the third largest contingent with 30 marksmen.

Archery and tennis, which contributed a chunk of medals for India in the Delhi Games, have been removed from the Glasgow Games.

In wrestling, Greco-Roman section will no longer be there in Glasgow and shooting medal events are also dropped from 44 in 2010 to 19 in Glasgow.

Despite the reduction in medal events, Indian Olympic Association secretary-gGeneral Rajeev Mehta said he is confident of winning more or less the same number of medals India won in Delhi last time.

"I feel we will win more or less the same number of medals," he said, after signing a sponsorship deal worth Rs one crore with leading dairy product brand Amul.

The programme was attended by Indian hockey team members, including captain Sardar Singh and P R Sreejesh, and Glasgow-bound wrestlers.

IOA treasurer Anil Khanna said the entire amount of Rs one crore will be spent on the Commonwealth Games-bound athletes. 

NEXT: Balotelli courts more controversy with gun photo

Italy striker Mario Balotelli has stoked more controversy by publishing a picture of himself on Instagram pointing a gun at the camera with the message "a big kiss to all the haters".

The AC Milan player quickly removed the photo but his latest gaffe will do him no favours in Italy where he has been a frequent target of racial abuse and has come under huge criticism for his displays in the disappointing World Cup campaign in Brazil.

Balotelli scored the winning goal in the 2-1 victory over England in the opening match but otherwise failed to impress as the Azzurri crashed out in the group stages last month.

The 23-year-old's poor performance in the 1-0 defeat by Uruguay that sent Italy home, during which he was booked after kneeing Alvaro Pereira in the back of the head and substituted at halftime, particularly angered the fans.

After stepping down as Italy coach Cesare Prandelli also criticised Balotelli, saying he was not "a champion".

"If he wants to become a champion he has to live in the real world and not his own virtual reality," Prandelli said on Tuesday.

A string of previous antics, which have included throwing a dart at a youth team player at his former club Manchester City in 2011, have also put Balotelli's position at Milan in question.

NEXT: Former Olympic champion Newbery pleads guilty to drug charge

Australia's former Olympic champion diver Chantelle Newbery has pled guilty to drug charges, local media reported on Friday.

The 37-year-old, who won gold at the 2004 Games in Athens, was placed on a drug diversion programme after pleading guilty to drug possession in the Cleveland magistrates court on Thursday, Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported.

Newbery, who won Australia's first Olympic gold in women's diving, was arrested in March for possession of methylamphetamine, a police spokesperson said in the report.

NEXT: Schumacher's wife believes he's getting better

The wife of Michael Schumacher believes the former Formula One champion is getting better after emerging from his coma and being moved to a Swiss hospital last month, she told a German magazine.

In her first public comments since Schumacher's horrific ski accident on December 29, 2013, Corinna Schumacher told Neue Post that the improvement in the health of her famous husband was encouraging.

"It's getting better, slowly certainly, but in any case it's improving," she told the women's weekly while she was watching a horse-riding tournament.

Michael Schumacher, 45, spent 170 days in hospital in the French city of Grenoble after cracking his skull on a rock while skiing in an Alpine resort. Almost all of that time he was in a coma, and lost a lot of weight.

After finally being coaxed back to consciousness, the seven-time world champion was on June 16 flown to a hospital in the Swiss city of Lausanne that specialises in care for brain injuries.