Camera for good action photos

[AdventurerGR]

This forum gave me extremely useful advice last time I looked for a camera 3 years ago, so I thought I'd indulge on you again if you're willing. Thank you for considering to help me



Important Notice : I know I am probably asking for too much but that's just my way - aim for perfection and then compromise little by little to find what best suits my needs. So if no camera matches my criteria, please direct me to the closest-matching options.



Budget

Up to 400-450 Euros.

Size

I'd like it to fit in my pocket (it's a pretty big pocket though :P ).

Features

Megapixels: At least 6.

-> Video Resolution : At least 720p.

Optical Zoom: At least 4x, the more the better.

Image Quality : Importance is between 8-9.

Manual Controls : Preferably.

General Usage

I plan on taking fun pics with my friends doing all sorts of stuff, plus shots of basketball and football.

Print : No.

Indoor photos or low light photos : Some.

Sports and/or action photos : A lot.

Miscellaneous

I'd love a camera whose Image Viewer only shows some of the photos currently stored in it as per the owner's discretion. That's why I have my eye on the Nikon S8000 and its Hide Image function, although I'm currently drawn off by its small sensor (equaling less clear photos) and inability to optically zoom during a video.

Functions that make the photos look better, like Image Stabilisation and Flash Compensation, are more than welcome.

A short time period between photos, even flashed ones, would be great (my Canon Powershot A710 takes ~10 seconds from one flash to the next).




Thanks again for reading through my post