LONDON, Dec 21 — Andy Wood, a key figure in English badminton for the past decade, has quit just four months after being appointed again as Great Britain head coach.

His decision is another unhappy piece of news for the sport in Britain, coming 11 days after its budget for the next two years was cut by more than £540,000 (RM2.6 million), about 14 per cent, by UK Sport following a failure to reach tournament targets.

Wood's departure means he will miss out on Britain's bid to land badminton Olympic gold on home territory at London 2012, having helped Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms to Olympic silver in 2004 and Simon Archer and Jo Goode to bronze in 2000.

"Having headed the GB team at the last three Olympics, Andy's extensive experience will be sadly missed and I wish him every success with the next stages of his career," Badminton England chief executive Adrian Christy said in a media release. — Reuters

CAIRO, Dec 21 — Cameroon and Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto'o set a new landmark for individual success in African football yesterday after being named the continent's Footballer of the Year for a record fourth time.

The 2010 award came five years after his last triumph and capped a year of unprecedented club success in which he also extended his scoring record at the African Nations Cup finals.

The Cameroon captain finished ahead of Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba and Asamoah Gyan of Ghana in the polling for Africa's top individual prize, awarded at the Confederation of African Football's awards gala in Cairo.

"It is a pleasure to be a winner again, to take it for the fourth time against such top opposition," Eto'o told a news conference after the ceremony.

"It is true now that Africa has so many good players and there is lots of talent coming up, so this might be a last chance for me."

Eto'o was African Footballer of the Year from 2003-05 and his fourth award surpasses the three titles won by Abedi Pele in the early 1990s.

Eto'o's goal-scoring form helped Inter Milan to a triple of titles last season, including the Uefa Champions League in which the 29-year-old took a winner's medal for a second successive year.

He scored on Saturday as the Italians beat African champions TP Mazembe Englebert in the Club World Cup final in Abu Dhabi.

Eto'o scored twice at the Nations Cup in Angola in January to stretch his tournament record tally of goals to 18. He also netted at the World Cup finals but later described Cameroon's poor performance in South Africa as the biggest disappointment of his career. — Reuters