Beckham valued at £35m

MANCHESTER United have put a £35 million price tag on England captain David Beckham. United chief executive Peter Kenyon told the BBC he would seriously consider any offer of that magnitude.

"It would be remiss of us not to," Kenyon said. "That is the case for David Beckham and anyone else in the squad. David is a critical part of the team but things change. Ultimately players retire, so for any key figure in the team there is a life-span. Even if David sees out the rest of his career at United there will be a time when we have to replace him."

Beckham has long been the subject of speculation regarding his future at Old Trafford, with United's Champions' League conquerors Real Madrid thought to be heading the list of potential buyers. However, earlier this week Kenyon had appeared to end such speculation by saying: "You don't spend 12 months negotiating a new contract to give up on it 12 months later.

"We re-signed David because we saw him as part of our squad for the next three years. It's all about continuity and David is one player we want to form that continuity round."

Canada champions

CANADA won the 22nd world ice hockey championship after battling back to beat Sweden 3-2 on Sunday. Anson Carter swept in the winning goal 13 minutes into overtime to end Canada's six-year wait for the trophy.

Sweden had raced into a 2-0 lead after Mathias Tjarnqvist and Per-Johan Axelsson fired past Canada goalkeeper Roberto Luongo.

But Shawn Horcoff reduced the deficit at the end of the first period when he was allowed space to pick his spot. Canada had been guilty of some scrappy play but they upped the tempo in the third period and Shane Doan levelled the match at 2-2.

Both sides started overtime tentatively with four players apiece under new International Ice Hockey Federation rules. New York Rangers winger Carter settled the match as he raced down the ice and lashed a low shot at Mikael Tellqvist which went in off his glove.

Czech referee Vladimir Sindler reviewed whether the goal should stand as it was not clear whether the puck had completely crossed the line. And after 10 minutes he gave the thumbs-up to spark the celebrations from the Canadian bench.

Defending champions Slovakia settled for bronze after beating the Czech Republic 4-2 on Saturday.

Castroneves claims Indy pole

BRAZIL's Helio Castroneves, seeking a record third straight win in the Indy 500, claimed pole position on Sunday. The Brazilian drove his Dallara/Toyota to a four- lap average speed of 231.725mph, with a fastest lap of 232.215mph, on a cold and windy day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Tony Kanaan, another Brazilian, was second fastest at 231.006mph in a Dallara/Honda with his American team- mate Robby Gordon third best at 230.205mph. Scott Dixon of New Zealand, driving in a G-Force/Toyota, was next with British rookie Dan Wheldon fifth in his Dallara/ Honda.

Castroneves, who drives for Team Penske, benefited from some last-minute adjustments before qualifying around two hours later than Kanaan, who had taken provisional pole.

"I tell you, Tony was really strong and basically I knew he'd be very hard to beat," said the Castroneves. "That's why I said 'well let's take a chance and see how the car's going to be' all of a sudden."

The 87th Indianapolis 500 takes place on 25 May.

Baldato denies McEwen

FABIO Baldato was awarded the 177km second stage of the Giro d'Italia from Copertino to Matera on Sunday despite crossing the line behind Robbie McEwen. Race officials relegated McEwen down the standings after he was judged to have blocked the Italian rider's path during an exciting sprint finish.

Video replays showed the Australian had swerved from the centre of the road towards the right side, almost pushing Baldato into the barriers. "I was going past him (McEwen) but he closed the door on me," Baldato said. "He started the sprint by jumping hard down the middle of the road but when he saw me start to go past him he moved across the road and almost put me into the barriers." McEwen said: "I've watched the sprint on television several times and I think I was hard done by."

Italian Gabriele Colombo celebrated his 31st birthday by taking second spot ahead of compatriot Giuliano Figueras. Alessandro Petacchi, another Italian, retained the overall race lead by finishing in the same time as Baldato. Petacchi holds a four-second lead over Baldato and is 19 seconds clear of Colombo. World champion Mario Cipollini struggled with the hilly terrain and slid down the standings although he did pick up some bonus points.

Gronholm grinds out win

WORLD champion Marcus Gronholm came through three chaotic days to win the Rally of Argentina on Sunday.

The Finn finished the final stage 26.6 seconds ahead of Citroen's Carlos Sainz while championship leader Richard Burns settled for third. Gronholm knows what bad luck is in Argentina; he won the event last year only to be disqualified for technical infringements along with Burns. And he had to battle back from an accident on Friday and was not able to make up time after Saturday's special 14th and 15th stages were cancelled for safety reasons.

The Finn started the day 15 seconds adrift of overnight leader Markko Martin and he admitted he thought his chance had gone for another year. "When I went off on the first day and lost a wheel I really didn't expect to win this rally," he said. "Of course you always try to fight back and, thanks to some bad luck for other drivers, I was able to get back into the lead and win. But I won't rest until the scrutineers have checked my car and confirmed everything is okay."

Luck was on Gronholm's side as Martin pulled out of the final day when his Ford Focus ground to a halt after suffering an oil pressure problem. Four-times world champion Tommi Makinen also withdrew from the event after he had failed to get his Subaru into a challenging position.

Jerez joy for Rossi

MOTOGP world champion Valentino Rossi bounced back from a terrible start to win Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix. Fellow Italian Max Biaggi edged his way through to take second and Troy Bayliss of Australia picked up his first podium finish in third.

Rossi, who has now taken an astonishing 13 wins in 19 races since the inauguration of the MotoGP class at the start of last year, said he was delighted with yet another victory at the Andalucian circuit of Jerez. "This track is very good for me," he said. "But even more important than the win are the 25 points because the championship is a very long one." Rossi started the race from the second row of the grid and it was the Ducatis, ridden by Bayliss and Loris Capriossi, who dominated the early stages.

Former world superbike champion Bayliss powered into the lead, leaving Rossi mired in the middle of the pack. But it did not take long for the Italian to tactically move through the field on his Repsol Honda and snuff out the Ducati challenge.

Once Rossi was in front, he typically showed no sign of being caught and crossed the Jerez finish line comfortably ahead of the field. Biaggi on his Pramac-Pons Honda eventually got the better of Bayliss and Capirossi, whose race ended in the gravel, to steal the runners-up spot. Ulsterman Jeremy McWilliams finished in a determined 12th place after struggling with two-stroke KR Proton.