Putin says he didn't steal ring

NFL • Russian President Vladimir Putin is denying insinuations that he stole New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft's Super Bowl ring that's on display in the Kremlin, but says he's ready to buy him another ring as a gift. Putin was reacting Sunday through a spokesman to a New York Post story quoting remarks made by Kraft at an awards gala at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel last week.

"I took out the ring and showed it to [Putin]. And he put it on and he goes, 'I can kill someone with this ring,'" Kraft said, as quoted by the Post. "I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out."

The diamond-encrusted Super Bowl ring worth about $25,000 changed hands while Kraft was visiting St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2005 with an American business delegation that met Putin. At the time, Kraft had said he gave the ring to Putin as a gift. But the Post story quoted Kraft as saying at Carnegie Hall's Medal of Excellence gala that he had an "emotional tie to the ring" and wanted it back, but George W. Bush's White House intervened and said it would be in the interest of U.S.-Russian relations to claim it was a gift.

Federer wins his first title of 2013

TENNIS • Roger Federer won his first title of the year, overcoming a sluggish start to beat unseeded Mikhail Youzhny 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 at the Gerry Weber Open on Sunday in Halle, Germany.

• Top-seeded Andy Murray rallied to beat defending champion Marin Cilic 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 to win the Queen's Club tournament for the third time. The match was delayed for more than three hours by rain.

Balotelli's goal lifts Italy over Mexico

soccer • Mario Balotelli scored in the 78th minute to lead Italy past Mexico 2-1 in the Confederations Cup in Rio de Janeiro. Balotelli took a perfectly placed acrobatic pass from Emanuele Giaccherini and muscled between two defenders. His goal broke a 1-1 tie in the Group A game.

The Associated Press