Reuters Sports Schedule at 1400 GMT Friday, Oct 30

Reuters sports schedule at 1400 GMT on Friday: - - - - FIFA FIFA's Blatter says attacks from sponsors politically motivated MOSCOW Embattled soccer boss Sepp Blatter has rejected complaints made by the sport's biggest sponsors over a bribery and corruption scandal, saying they were politically motivated and made at the behest of the United States. (SOCCER-FIFA/BLATTER, moved, 400 words) - - Russia 2018 organisers: bid vote was not pre-decided The Russian team that successfully bid to host the 2018 World Cup had no knowledge of who would win until the vote on choosing a host was publicly announced, the head of the Russian organising committee said on Friday. (SOCCER FIFA/RUSSIA WORLDCUP, move, 200 words) - - - - RUGBY World Cup (to 31) Springboks and Pumas to meet in third-place playoff LONDON - South Africa face Argentina in the bronze medal match at London's Olympic Stadium after the two sides lost their semi-finals last weekend. (RUGBY UNION-WORLD/BRONZE, expect by 2300 GMT/7 PM ET, by Julian Linden and Rex Gowar, 400 words) - - Wallabies get last practice in before final LONDON - The Australian captain Stephen Moore will take the Wallabies through their last training run at Twickenham ahead of the World Cup final. (RUGBY UNION-WORLD/AUSTRALIA, expect by 1800 GMT/2 PM ET, by Julian Linden, 400 words) - - All Blacks finish preparations at Twickenham LONDON - New Zealand, under the guidance of captain Richie McCaw, will have their final practice at Twickenham as they bid to become the first team to win the William Webb Ellis trophy back-to-back. (RUGBY UNION-WORLD/NEWZEALAND, expect by 1800 GMT/2 PM ET, by Mitch Phillips, 400 words) - - Evergreen McCaw still leading from the front LONDON - Richie McCaw has been the world's outstanding loose forward for over a decade and at the age of 34 appears to retain the same energy he did when captaining the All Blacks for the first time as a 23-year-old. (RUGBY UNION-WORLD/NEWZEALAND-MCCAW (PIX), expect by 1500 GMT/11 AM ET, by Justin Palmer, 400 words) - - Carter primed for one last hurrah as an All Black LONDON - Arguably the best flyhalf to have ever played the game, Dan Carter will make his 112th and final New Zealand appearance in Saturday's World Cup final, desperate to go out with a bang after missing the 2011 final victory through injury. (RUGBY UNION-WORLD/NEWZEALAND-CARTER (PIX), expect by 1500 GMT/11 AM ET, by Mitch Phillips, 400 words) - - We will also move factboxes on New Zealand and Australia. (RUGBY UNION-WORLD/NEWZEALAND (FACTBOX) and (RUGBY UNION-WORLD/AUSTRALIA (FACTBOX) Expect by 1700 GMT/1 PM ET - - - - SOCCER Bayern out to extend winning streak BERLIN - Bayern Munich will attempt to make it 11 wins in a row since the start of the season and go 10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga when they meet Eintracht Frankfurt. (SOCCER-GERMANY/ (PIX), expect by 2130 GMT/5:30PM ET, by Karolos Grohmann, 400 words) - - La Liga Deportivo La Coruna v Atletico Madrid (1930) Atletico face Deportivo aiming to go top of La Liga BARCELONA - Atletico Madrid are aiming for a third straight win when they visit Deportivo La Coruna on Friday. Victory would put them a point clear at the top of the La Liga, ahead of Real Madrid and Barcelona, who play on Saturday. (SOCCER-SPAIN/ (PIX) expect by 2030 GMT/4:30 PM ET, by Iain Rogers, 400 words) - - African families hand over life savings to false agents AARHUS, Denmark - African families are handing over their life savings to fake football agents who promise to get their child a contract with a European club but instead leave them abandoned on the streets, according to a charity which deals with the problem.(SOCCER-AFRICA/TRAFFICKING, (INTERVIEW), expect by 1800 GMT/2 PM ET, by Brian Homewood, 600 words) - - We will have the latest team news ahead of this weekend's Premier League matches. (SOCCER-ENGLAND/, expect throughout) - - - - MOTOR RACING Mexican Formula One Grand Prix Drivers get their first taste of Mexican circuit MEXICO CITY - Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton and his Formula One rivals enter new territory with their first practice laps of the Mexico City circuit that has been revamped since it last hosted a grand prix in 1992. (MOTOR RACING-PRIX/ (PIX), expect by 1800 GMT/2 PM ET, by Alan Baldwin, 400 words) We will also have stories from around the paddock. - - - - OLYMPICS For Olympic leaders, the US is back in the game WASHINGTON - The United States appears to be back at the heart of the Olympic movement after IOC President Thomas Bach said on Thursday years of wrangling over revenue sharing and failed U.S. attempts to host the Games were "history". (OLYMPICS-USA/ moved, by Simon Evans, 500 words) - - - - GOLF European Tour: Turkish Airlines Open (to Nov. 1) Van Zyl leads in Turkey South African Jaco van Zyl tops the leaderboard after his second round at the Turkish Open in Antalya. (GOLF-EUROPEAN/, expect by 1500 GMT, 400 words) - - - - TENNIS WTA Finals, Singapore (to Nov. 1) Majestic Muguruza advances, Kvitova gets reprieve SINGAPORE - Garbine Muguruza continued her dream debut at the WTA Finals by completing round robin play with a perfect 3-0 record to advance to the semi-finals after a hard fought 6-4 4-6 7-5 victory over Petra Kvitova on Friday. (WTA-WOMEN/FINALS, moved, by John O'Brien, 400 words) - - ATP Tour: Swiss Indoors, Basel (until Nov. 1) Valencia Open (until Nov. 1) Copy on merit - - - - GYMNASTICS World championships, Glasgow (to Nov. 1) Uchimura targets record sixth all-around title GLASGOW - Japan's Kohei Uchimura will be eager to flex his muscles across all six apparatus when he chases an unprecedented sixth all-around title at the gymnastics world championships. (GYMNASTICS-WORLD/(PIX), expect by 2130 GMT/5:30 PM ET, by Pritha Sarkar, 500 words) - - From crash mats to Glasgow - Karmakar puts India on the map GLASGOW - When Dipa Karmakar launches into her soaring vault at the world championships, chances are that none of her rivals will be aware that the foundations of the skill were built on a makeshift vault made by stacking several crash mats on top of each other. (GYMNASTICS-WORLD/INDIA (INTERVIEW), expect by 1500 GMT/11 AM ET, By Pritha Sarkar, 800 words) - - - - BASKETBALL Fenerbahce eager to avenge Euroleague defeat by Real BELGRADE - Euroleague holders Real Madrid visit Fenerbahce Istanbul, who are yearning to avenge last season's semi-final defeat by the Spanish giants. (BASKETBALL-EUROLEAGUE/, expect by 2200 GMT/6 PM ET, by Zoran Milosavljevic, 400 words) - - - - BASEBALL Mets host Royals in pivotal World Series clash NEW YORK - The New York Mets try to avoid being pushed to the brink of elimination in the best-of-seven World Series when they send Noah Syndergaard to the mound for a pivotal Game Three clash versus Yordano Ventura and the Kansas City Royals. (BASEBALL-WORLDSERIES/, expect by 0345 GMT/11:45 PM ET, by Larry Fine, 600 words) - - - - HORSE RACING Breeders' Cup (to 31) Wedding Toast the favourite in Distaff on opening day The $2 million Distaff highlights the opening day's four-race card at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, where five-year-old mare Wedding Toast is installed as the early 4-1 favourite as she bids to improve her 8-for-12 career record. Her biggest challenge is likely to come from Sheer Drama, a 9-2 choice and a winner in her last two starts. (HORSERACING-BREEDERS/ (PIX), expect by 2300 GMT/7 PM ET, 300 words) - - - - GOLF Global game urgently needs a bigger ball, says Feherty Top-level professional golf is headed by an "extraordinary group of players" but the game urgently needs a bigger ball to keep it relevant for the average amateur, says former Ryder Cup player and television analyst David Feherty. (GOLF-PGA/FEHERTY (INTERVIEW), expect by 2000 GMT/4 PM ET, by Mark Lamport-Stokes, 650 words) - - - - NBA Cavs' LeBron gets visit from former team LeBron James faces the team he won his only two National Basketball Association title with when the Cleveland Cavaliers host Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat. (NBA-CAVALIERS/, expect by 0230 GMT/10:30 PM ET, by The Sports Xchange, 400 words) - - Warriors visit Rockets for West finals rematch Stephen Curry and the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors visit James Harden and the Houston Rockets in a rematch of last season's Western Conference finals. (NBA-ROCKETS/, expect by 0430 GMT/12:30 AM ET, 400 words) - - - - NHL Lundqvist and Rangers host struggling Leafs Swedish goalie Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers, who have registered at least one point in each of their last five games, host a struggling Toronto Maple Leafs team at Madison Square Garden in one of the nine games on the National Hockey League schedule. (NHL-HIGHLIGHTS/, expect by 0330 GMT/11:30 PM ET, 400 words) - - - - NORTH AMERICAN SPORTS Roundups of off-field developments in the major North American professional sports leagues. (expect by 0000 GMT/8:00 PM ET, by The Sports Xchange, 400 words) (London desk editor: Toby Davis)