Outside Edge

Masal Bugduv made his international debut at 16 and is being watched by Arsenal, claims an online story from a Moldovan newspaper, 'Diario Mo Thon', so no wonder 'The Times' thought the midfielder worthy of inclusion in their "Top footballers to watch in 2009". Doing so might prove a little difficult, though, as he doesn't appear in the squad list of his supposed club, Olimpia Balti. And "mo thon" is Irish for "my arse", while "Masal Bugduv" bears a curious resem- blance to the Irish "m'asal beag dubh" ("my little black donkey", the title of a children's story). But this may just be coincidence, of course; let's wait until Moldova's next game, against Switzerland on 28 March, and see if he trots on.

17

The shoe size of Brittney Griner, 16, a 6ft 8in high-school basketball player in Houston who is still growing. Her team-mates' nickname for her: "Big Foot." In Britain she'd probably be called "Tiny", but the Yanks don't do irony.

Broomstick riders of the week

So farewell then Dai Llewellyn, Bt, the Welsh bon viveur known as "the seducer of the valleys" in his younger days. Before his demise last week he was reputed to have been the inspiration for Dangerous Dai Llewellyn in the Harry Potter books, "a famous Quidditch player for the Caerphilly Catapults", but is not thought to have played the game himself, unlike the students of 150 or so colleges in America we mentioned recently who have formed the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association and play for the IQA World Cup each year, using a model helicopter to simulate the Golden Snitch. Yet another sport Britain invented only for the rest of the world to overtake us, it seems.

Good week for

Mike Tindall, England rugby union centre, recalled to the Six Nations squad... Sébastien Buemi, 22-year-old Swiss named as Toro Rosso's new F1 driver... Martin Whitmarsh, takes over from Ron Dennis as team principal of McLaren... Joe Kinnear, offered a "lucrative" deal to stay on as manager of Newcastle United... and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's cricket captain, whose fans are building a temple to honour him in his home town.

Bad week for

Howard Webb, football referee, deflected ball to help Wolves score then incorrectly denied Birmingham a penalty in their FA Cup tie... Rochdale Hornets, Rugby League founder members, forced into administration over debt to Inland Revenue... Glenn Roeder, sacked as manager of Norwich City... and Great Leighs racecourse, refused a licenceto stage further meetings.

Brand-new deals of the week

Multi Gold medallist Michael Phelps, worth about $50m already, has added to his stash by signing a $1m-plus deal to be a "brand spokesman" for Mazda 6 cars in China, the biggest endorsement fee for a Western personality in the country's history. When the American swimmer was arrested for drink-driving in 2004 he was at the wheel of a Land Rover, so no conflict of interest there then. Phelps has also signed up to endorse a video game. "Swimming will be part of it, but it won't be set in an Olympic pool going back and forth," said the president of 505 Games. "It'll be pure action." But probably nothing like 'Grand Theft Auto'; no point in losing that Chinese contract.

s.redfern@independent.co.uk