Sunderland

The Scotland international has already missed six months of the season with an ankle injury and will be unable to help Sunderland try to avoid relegation in the last two games of the season.

Gordon said: “I have hardly missed a game in my career. To have lengthy injuries back to back is disappointing.”

“It’s a possibility that it is the knee cartilage, but it’s been the worst season of my career for injuries. I have never had anything like this at any stage.”

Gordon signed for the Black Cats in 2007 from Hearts for £9m which is a British transfer record for a Goalkeeper.

Even without injuries Gordon has struggled to get games and the the number one jersey has belonged to Marton Fullop  for a number of games this season.

The operation will tell Gordon the full extent of the injury and hopes to be fit for the  next round of World Cup qualifiers.

With Eurobasket starting this September the Great Britain basketball team will need to impress if they hope to make the London 2012 Olympics.

Eurobasket is the European Championships for basketball that the top 16 international teams fight for the title of European Champions.The Great Britain teams success in this tournament is vital to their ambition to play in the 2012 Olympics.

The team were asked by The International Basketball Association (FIBA) to prove that they were competitive enough to play in 2012.

Last week the 24 man British training squad was released and included three NBAplayers, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon of the Chicargo Bulls and Pops Mensah-Bonsu  of the Toronto Raptors.

Pops Mensah-Bonsu said:

“To have three players representing Great Britain in the NBA just shows us how far British basketball has come. I know for sure this summer we will open a few eyes and raise a few eyebrows.”

If fit those three will be key to team GB’s hopes when they travel to the tournament which is been played in Poland.

The squad also includes many players who have vast European experience playing in the top leagues in Spain and Greece.

Although they have been drawn in a tough group which includes the runners-up from two years ago, Spain, as well as Slovenia and Serbia.

All three of those teams have played in Eurobasket in previous years but GB have never reached this stage before.

Eurobasket is a great opportunity for this new look GB squad to prove themselves and make it on the world stage.

Full 24 Man Squad: Kieron Achara (Fortitudo Bologna, ITA), Rob Archibald (Malaga, ESP), Andy Betts (Aris Thessaloniki, GRE), Eric Boateng (Arizona State Univ, USA), Flinder Boyd (Leicester), Matthew Bryan-Amaning (University of Washington, USA), Dan Clark (Estudiantes Madrid, ESP), Daryl Corletto (Melbourne Tigers, AUS), Luol Deng (Chicago Bulls, USA), Germayne Forbes (Nyon, SWI), Joel Freeland (Gran Canaria, ESP), Nick George (Gravelines, FRA), Ben Gordon (Chicago Bulls, USA), Randall Hanke (Providence College, USA), Jarrett Hart (Keravnos Nicosia, CYP), Dzaflo Larkai (L’Hospitalet, ESP), Mike Lenzly (Scafati, ITA), Steve Leven (West Brabant, NED), Pops Mensah-Bonsu (Toronto Raptors), Richard Midgley (Everton), Nate Reinking (Mons, BEL), Justin Robinson (Rider Univ, USA), Andrew Sullivan (Samara, RUS), Tafari Toney (Newcastle)

Tiger Woods

Woods has been out since June when he won the US Open at Torrey Pines with a double stress fracture and a knee injury.

Those injuries have been the reasons for him missing the end of the 2008 season and key events in the golfing calendar.

Despite the lay-off Woods remains top of the rankings but his lead has been cut considerably and Tiger will have to fight to keep his number one spot.

Woods beat Brendan Jones 3&2 at the World Golf Championships Match Play event on Thursday and will now play Tim Clark in the Second Round.

After beating Clark in the same tournament in 2007, Woods will go into the second round expecting to advance and expand on his victory over Jones.

Speaking after his first round victory Tiger said, “it felt like nothing changed walking down the fairway, and it felt like business as usual.”

“I hit a couple loose irons in the middle part of the round, but other than that, I really hit it pretty good all day.”