Reuters Sports Schedule at 0600 GMT on Thursday, May 8

Reuters sports schedule at 0600 GMT on Thursday: - - - - SOCCER Premier League Man City on brink of title LONDON - Manager Manuel Pellegrini expects Manchester City to be crowned English champions for the second time in three seasons with his side needing only a point from their final home game against West Ham United on Sunday (SOCCER-ENGLAND/ (PREVIEW), moved, 600 words) - - World Cup Valcke discusses World Cup preparations ZURICH - FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke discusses preparations for next month's World Cup (SOCCER-WORLD/FIFA, expect by 1400 GMT/10 AM ET, by Brian Homewood, 600 words) - - Korea coach Hong takes gamble on Park for World Cup SEOUL - South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo included Park Chu-young in his 23-man squad for the World Cup finals on Thursday, taking a gamble on the oft injured striker who finished the season playing in the second tier of English football (SOCCER-WORLD/KOREA (TV), moved, by Peter Rutherford, 450 words) - - Loew announces provisional Germany Cup squad BERLIN - Germany coach Joachim Loew announces his provisional World Cup squad with injured and out-of-form key players giving him a selection headache (SOCCER-WORLD/GERMANY, (PIX), expect by 1230 GMT/8:30 AM ET, by Karolos Grohmann, 400 words) - - - - MOTOR RACING Spanish Grand Prix Ferrari's Alonso gears up for home race BARCELONA - Ferrari's Fernando Alonso appears in a news conference ahead of his home grand prix, a race he won last year and which remains his most recent victory (MOTOR RACING-PRIX/, expect by 1500 GMT/11 AM ET, by Alan Baldwin) - - - - NFL Sam waits for answer to NFL dream NEW YORK - University of Missouri standout Michael Sam, who appeared to be poised to become the NFL's first openly gay player, may face an uphill climb to fulfill his dream as NFL analysts say he may not be drafted this week (NFL-DRAFT/SAM, moved, by Larry Fine, 500 words) - - - - OLYMPICS NBC makes surprise play for Olympic TV rights through 2032 NBC Universal is paying $7.65 billion for the rights to six Olympic Games, surprising competitors by keeping its grip on the valuable live sports event for the next two decades (NBC-OLYMPICS/, moved, by Liana B. Baker, 600 words) - - - - GOLF Scott lured by Players title, not top ranking PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida - Adam Scott has a golden opportunity to become world number one for the first time after this week's Players Championship but the Australian is much more concerned with trying to win the tournament (GOLF-PGA/SCOTT (PIX), moved, by Mark Lamport-Stokes, 500 words) - - - - NBA Hibbert emerges from slumo to rescue Pacers Roy Hibbert emerged from a deep playoff slump to help rescue the Indiana Pacers as they edged Washington 86-82 to avoid falling behind by two games in the Eastern Conference semi-final (NBA-PLAYOFFS/PACERS (PIX), moved, by The Sports Xchange, 300 words) - - Thunder strike back at Clippers Newly crowned MVP Kevin Durant scored 32 points and Russell Westbrook recorded a triple-double as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Los Angeles Clippers 112-101 to level their second round playoff series (NBA-PLAYOFFS/THUNDER (PIX), moved, by The Sports Xchange, 300 words) - - - - NHL Pens take control with win over Rangers Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury had his shutout streak ended but the Pittsburgh Penguins still ended up victorious, beating the New York Rangers 4-2 to take a 3-1 lead in the second round series (NHL-PLAYOFFS/RANGERS (PIX), moved, by The Sports Xchange, 350 words) - - - - BASEBALL Tigers down Astros, win eighth straight Miguel Cabrera homered in his first at-bat for the second consecutive night and the Detroit Tigers extended their winning streak to eight games by downing the Houston Astros (BASEBALL-HIGHLIGHTS/ (PIX), moved, by The Sports Xchange, 975 words) - - - - NORTH AMERICAN SPORTS Roundups of off-field developments in the major North American professional sports leagues (moved, by The Sports Xchange, 400 words) - - - - TENNIS ATP Madrid Open Nadal to play Niemenen MADRID - Top seed Rafa Nadal of Spain will play Finland's Jarkko Nieminen in the highlight of the third-round matches and Briton Andy Murray faces Santiago Giraldo (TENNIS-MEN/MADRID, pix, expect by 1600 GMT/12 PM ET, 400 words) - - WTA Madrid Open Li to face Stephens, Williams faces Navarro MADRID - World number two Li Na plays American Sloane Stephens in the first match on court, Maria Sharapova takes on Australian Sam Stosur and defending champion Serena Williams meets Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro (TENNIS-WOMEN/MADRID (PIX), expect by 1400 GMT/10 AM ET, 300 words) - - - - (Duty editor: Peter Rutherford)