Chelsea interest in Diego Costa is no surprise – Simeone

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone believes that Chelsea's interest in Diego Costa is nothing unusual - particularly given their striking options.

The Spain international has led his side's title challenge this season, scoring 26 goals in 31 games in La Liga, prompting the Blues to take initial steps towards arranging a summer move for the player, as exclusively revealed by Goal.

Jose Mourinho has been repeatedly critical of his strikers this season and Simeone says that it is no surprise to see the Portuguese turn his attention to the Atleti hero.

'His future depends on him and what he feels is best for his future,' he told AS.

'It's normal that Chelsea are interested in him. They are an economic power, Samuel Eto'o is getting older and Costa can do his work, but right now he's ours.'

Costa picked up an injury while scoring in his side's derby win over Getafe but Simeone insists that he is not overly concerned.

'It's not worrying me,' he remarked. 'Gabi came and told me that he had a cut. He risked his leg but he's like a bull. Costa, with that gesture, exemplied how we want to play every game as though it's our last.'

The Argentine also touted his star striker as a potential Ballon d'Or winner if he continues to go from strength to strength.

Simeone enthused: 'He has room for improvement. He's rebellious and I like that and he's something different. Hopefully his development won't end. Right now he's among the candidates for the Ballon d'Or.'

Atleti are set to play Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals and Simeone insists that Thibaut Courtois, who is on loan at the Estadio Vicente Calderon from Stamford Bridge, will be able to play - although he admits that the goalkeeper's long-term future remains less clear.

'I have no doubts that he will be able to play against Chelsea,' he continued. 'He also has no doubts. It's not a concern. I don't know where he'll play next season, though.'

Frog King’ Kitajima hasn’t spawned new generation

Former Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima has urged Japan's young swimmers to step up after a collective flop at the national championships left him wondering if he needs to postpone his retirement.

The 'Frog King' won double breaststroke gold at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics but at 31, and expecting his first child with his pop star wife, he is getting ever closer to hanging up his goggles.

However, he may have to remain in competition for a while yet after nobody went inside Japan's 100m and 200m breaststroke selection times for this year's Pan Pacific Championships and Asian Games.

The results left two berths in each distance for the Pan Pacifics, in Australia in August, and the Asian Games in South Korea in September, to be chosen at the Japan Open in June.

'I really wanted them to decide the berths here,' Kitajima said of his younger rivals at last week's meet in Tokyo.

'Now I may have no choice but to consider competing in June and it will be very tough.

'I will take a long, hard look because I need to motivate myself to feel like going to the Pan-Pacs or the Asian Games.'

Kitajima underwent just one month of intensive training for the national championships and he placed seventh in an unsuccessful 100m title defence, and failed to make the 200m final.

After the 100m, Kitajima told the younger swimmers to work harder because 'I need a reason to retire.'

Yasuhiro Koseki, 22, won in 1min 00.07sec, 0.03 short of the selection standard. Kitajima's time was 1:00.67.

'Koseki should time in 59 seconds at least. The world's level is rising. He will be left behind,' warned Kitajima, whose 58.90sec at the 2012 nationals remains the Asian record.

Kitajima has three world gold medals to his name, and his last individual international titles were in the 100m and 200m breaststroke at the 2010 Pan Pacifics in California.

He was also part of Japan's victorious 4x100m medley relay team at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, the last of his seven titles at the regional competition.

At the last Olympics in London, Kitajima finished fifth in the 100m and fourth in the 200m but took home a silver as part of Japan's 4x100m medley relay team.

A month after Kitajima's London failure, Akihiro Yamaguchi, then 18, set a new 200m world record of 2:07.01 at a domestic meet. But he finished fourth in 2:10.33 on Sunday.

The new generation's failure to emerge keeps the onus on Kitajima to remain as the leader Japan's challenge, even as he tries to step away from the sport.

And the veteran campaigner said he scarcely felt ready to take on the heavy burden of training for international competition. 'Honestly, this is how I feel,' he confessed.

But with his first child, a daughter, expected in May, Kitajima also feels a new responsibility.

He married Chisa Maekawa, from J-pop trio Girl Next Door, last September and said he is motivated to show his child the virtues of hard work.

'If I continue being a competitor, I must show my child a bit of my attitude to work hard,' he said

Webber shines in world endurance test bow

Former Formula One star Mark Webber was second fastest in testing for the 2014 World Endurance Championship on Friday as the Australian opened a new chapter in his career.

Webber, driving a Porsche 919 Hybrid, was just a 10th of a second behind team-mate Timo Bernhard, who clocked 1min 41.788sec, on the first day of testing at the Paul Ricard circuit.

Australian veteran Webber spent 12 seasons in F1 and was third in the world championship in 2013 before he decided to quit and race sports cars instead.

The eight-round world endurance championship gets underway at Silverstone on April 20 and ends at Sao Paulo on November 30.

The series also includes the famed Le Mans 24 Hour Race on June 14.

Quiet appreciation for new Formula One engines

Sebastian Vettel bluntly swore when asked about the new sound of Formula One but a more measured response elsewhere at the Malaysian Grand Prix suggests it is not all bleak for the sport's quiet, hybrid engines.

The engineering marvels that are propelling F1 cars faster than before, but at a fraction of the noise and with less fuel, have not been widely welcomed in a world that revels in the roar of machinery.

But even F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, initially a critic, toned it down after hearing the cars trackside for the first time this weekend at Sepang.

'It's a little better than we thought,' said Ecclestone, who watched this year's first race, in Australia, on TV.

While F1's ear-splitting V8 engines are gone, the turbocharged 1.6-litre V6s bring out different sounds: squealing tyres, the roar of the crowd and the previously inaudible race updates over the tannoy.

Spectators and officials can watch without earplugs, and the fear of hearing damage, and parents can bring young children to the track without wondering if the noise will reduce them to tears.

In Malaysia, the response among visiting fans was mixed but rarely as damning as world champion Vettel's four-letter reaction, indicating quiet engines may not be quite the disaster that some in the sport had feared.

Ross Hainan, an IT analyst who flew out for the race from Glasgow, had low expectations after watching the Australian race on TV.

'When we came out the initial expectation was that it was going to be really poor. However, actually being here and hearing it live with your own ears, it's far, far better than we expected,' said Hainan, 35.

His wife Julie added: 'It's not quiet when they're all out running and they're on full throttle, it's definitely not.

'Plus Formula One should be the pinnacle of technology in motorsport, and they are the most amazing hybrids you've ever seen. And five years down the line we'll all be driving them in our cars back home.'

- Get used to it -

Denmark's Steffen Moller, a former racing driver who now manages new talent, said Formula One simply had to embrace a future of more fuel-efficient motoring.

'I know there's a lot of criticism about the sound but we see a lot of electrical cars on the road now and Formula One must be the point where all the manufacturers look to find new ideas,' he said.

'So for me it's not about the sound, it's more about the top of the performance for what you can do engineering-wise.'

Australian sales manager Tim Anscombe, from Perth, said he missed the old sound but was resigned to the fact that Formula One had to move on.

'You miss that thunder of the old V8s but I suppose the times are changing and that's the way it's going to be. Certainly you miss the atmosphere of that roar going through you,' said the 47-year-old.

Others were less philosophical. Pete Visagie of South Africa, who heads an engineering company and races production cars in his spare time, said: 'It's not the spectacle it used to be. The sound was much nicer.

'Even the safety car and the medical car sound better than the F1 cars going past, honestly.'

By the end of this year, Formula One will sound noisy compared to the futuristic whine of Formula E, a worldwide series for electric cars which debuts in Beijing in December.

And Claire Williams, the deputy team principal of Williams who has grown up around Formula One, predicted people would soon get used to a sound that has been disparagingly compared to vacuum cleaners and golf carts.

'Personally I like the sound of the engines, but then I love Formula One and I love watching cars go round a racetrack,' she said.

'We've had so many changes over so many decades of motor racing and you very quickly forget what a previous engine sounds like.'

Gasol’s Grizzlies rally to beat Bulls

Marc Gasol tallied 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Memphis Grizzlies rallied to beat Chicago 85-77, snapping the Bulls' home win streak at five National Basketball League games.

'We believe in our game plan,' Gasol said on Friday. 'We took away the paint we got stops. We did a good job of rebounding the ball.'

Mike Miller also had a hot hand, nailing four of five shots from three point range. Miller finished with 14 points for the Grizzlies who have won eight of their past 11.

Mike Conley and Kosta Koufos both had 12 points, while Zach Randolph finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds in his return to the lineup. Randolph did not play against the Nets Wednesday because of a virus.

Bulls star Joakim Noah had 15 points and eight rebounds while Taj Gibson had 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter.

The Bulls went five-of-23 from the field in the first quarter, trailing 15-12 heading into the second.

Chicago bounced back in the second to lead by four, 39-35, at halftime.

Memphis grabbed the lead late in the third quarter and held on for the victory.

Conley's layup early in the fourth capped a 16-2 spurt that made the score 70-63.

Memphis have won four of their last six games as they are battling for the final playoff spot in the West with Dallas.

The Grizzlies are 17-12 on the road and are getting set to host Charlotte and Portland.

'We got another game tomorrow at home and we have to play better and better so we make the playoffs,' Gasol said.

The Bulls dropped to 18-11 on the season at home.

Djokovic dominates in winning Monte Carlo start

Novak Djokovic stormed into the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters as the defending champion won his 11th straight match of the season 6-1, 6-0 over Albert Montanes on Tuesday.

The second seed is bidding for a trophy at his fifth straight Masters 1000 after ending last season as winner at Shanghai and Paris and sweeping Indian Wells and Miami last month.

He won the last 11 games in a row, finishing in 45 minutes and improving to 17-2 on the season.

The Serb ranked second in the world behind top seed and eight-time Monte Carlo champion Rafael Nadal ran his record over Spain's Montanes to a comfortable 6-0.

Ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga joined Djokovic in the third round with a hard-fought 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 victory over German Philipp Kohlschreiber on his third winning chance.

French compatriot Michael Llodra upset slumping Polish 16th seed Jerzy Janowicz 6-4, 6-2.

France's Julian Benneteau advanced over Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 but Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili handed a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 loss to Gilles Simon

Bulgarian 12th seed Grigor Dimitrov reached the second round over Marcelo Granollers 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 while Italian Andreas Seppi defeated 13th seed Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).

Tsonga needed just under two hours to go through in front of an enthusiastic crowd, with the seed taking a medical timeout on the way to finally securing victory on his third match point.

The winner managed four aces and broke Kohlschreiber twice from seven chances.

Tsonga now leads the series against the German number one 7-1, with his only loss occurring in 2009.

Tsonga is playing the tournament for a fifth time, with a 2013 semi-final his best result at an event the French consider a 'home' tie. He continued his tradition of never losing in a Monte Carlo opening match.

Ferrari Formula One boss Domenicali quits

Ferrari's Formula One boss Stefano Domenicali quit on Monday following the Italian team's disappointing start to the 2014 season.

'Ferrari notes the resignation of Stefano Domenicali and thanks him for having served the company ... for 23 years,' a company statement said.

Domenicali, Ferrari's team principal since 2008, has shouldered the blame for the F1 giant's poor show in the opening three races with drivers Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen failing to produce a top three finish.