Ashkan Dejagah

TEHRAN, Oct. 13--The Central Council of Jews has retracted a tough statement about Ashkan Dejagah, the Iranian-German soccer player who refused to play Israel, according to PressTV.
The General Secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Stephan Kramer told Hamburg newspaper Tagesspiegel he could understand Dejagah’s personal reasons.
In a hasty statement on Tuesday, the president of the council, Charlotte Knobloch, had demanded the exclusion of Dejagah from the U-21 German national soccer team, due to Berlin’s historic obligations toward the Zionist regime.
Dejagah’s coach at Wolfsburg club, Felix Magath slammed the media for creating the controversy around his 20-year old striker.
Dejagah had announced on Monday that he would not play against Israel, due to his respect for his homeland.

TEHRAN, Oct.13 -- Esteqlal and Persepolis football teams will clash today in one of the most important, or by some counts the most important, sporting event in Iran.
Azadi Stadium, Tehran’s oldest sports complex, is the venue. The stadium has been hosting matches between two giants for the past 40 years.
Esteqlal head coach, Nasser Hejazi, who has experienced the Tehran Derby as a goalkeeper many years ago (before the 1979 Islamic Revolution), told reporters Wednesday “It’s impossible to predict the result. I hope my team will do its best to get the desired result. Although we have played very well in previous matches, but unfortunately we did not get the best results.“
Esteqlal does not deserve to be in the 9th place of the rankings, he stressed.
“I understand that the fans should be concerned about their favorite team.“
The game between Persepolis and Esteqlal is normally influenced by enthusiastic football fans which in turn results in lack of concentration of the players that by extension affects their performance in the field.
However, the high number of fans (over 100,000 fans) in the stadium can be regarded as an advantage that normally makes Iran the envy of other countries and teams.
On the exceptional atmosphere during the contest, Persepolis head coach, Afshin Qotbi said “I am confident Persepolis will beat its archrival in the derby.“
Declining to talk about a clear and definite victory of his squad a day prior to the match, he vowed that his team would offer a gift (by winning) to its supporters concurrent with the annual Eid Al-Fitr.
“I have seen many competitions elsewhere and experienced different team settings. Persepolis will win,“ he said with an extra air of confidence.
The 63rd Tehran Derby will be judged by Spanish referee Gonzales. The game begins at 15:30 hours Sunday in 9th week of Iran Pro League.

Pakistani batsman Kamran Akmal (c) plays a stroke as South African captain Graeme Smith (r) and wicketkeeper Mark Boucher (l) look on during the fifth and last day of the second Test match between Pakistan and South Africa at the Gaddafi Cricket Stadium in Lahore on Friday.

LAHORE, Pakistan, Oct. 13--South Africa captain Graeme Smith hailed Friday’s series win over Pakistan as a “wonderful achievement“ and a huge confidence boost ahead of a tough 12 months, reported AFP.
South Africa won their first series on the subcontinent since 2000 with a draw in the second and final Test after sealing the first by 160 runs.
“Tonight we are going to enjoy the Test series. This is hugely encouraging and a wonderful achievement and gives us a chance to focus on a few tough challenges this year,“ said Smith. “Pakistan was our first. India, England, Australia are to come and I am happy that we have achieved our first,“ Smith said.
Smith said he was surprised that his charges were able to place Pakistan under so much pressure on home soil. “The style of cricket we played, the way we executed our plans, the way we have been able to put Pakistan under pressure has been surprising and very exciting for our future in Tests,“ he said.
Smith also praised his batsmen’s ability to play spin on turning pitches. “We played it well here. We surprised a few people with the way e played. Our game plan on spinning wickets worked for us,“ he said.
Man of the series Jacques Kallis, who scored 421 with three hundreds, described the win as “memorable“. “It’s right up there. When you come to the subcontinent it’s never easy touring here and beating a subcontinent side,“ said Kallis.
He followed his 155 and 100 not out in the first Test with 59 and 107 not out in the second.
Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik said he harboured hopes of a win when Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf were at the crease.
“We were expecting to win when they were playing and had Younis survived longer we would have had a chance, but we lost two wickets including that of Inzamam-ul Haq and were forced to settle for a draw,“ said Malik.
“Obviously we are disappointed but we have to look ahead to the one-day series now and put our efforts and thoughts there,“ said Malik of the five-match series starting here from October 18.

TEHRAN, Oct. 13--Iran and Pakistan will clash on November 6 when the teams of the two nations face each other after 15 years, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) said Friday.
According to IRNA, Pakistan is being placed in tough Qualifying Group B of AFC U19 Youth Championship and besides Iran, will take on India (11 Nov) and Asian powerhouse Oman (9 Nov), Lebanon (14 Nov) and Bahrain (17 Nov), the PFF said in a statement.
PFF President Makhdoom Seyyed Faisal Saleh Hayat said in Islamabad this week the game with Iran will not be an easy task on their home territory.
“I hope our players will show their commitment and try their best to grab one of the two top berths for qualification in 16-team finals at Saudi Arabia 2008,“ said Faisal.
The top two teams from each of the seven qualifying groups of AFC U19 Championship advance to the finals with the best third-placed team.
All the matches will be played in one centralized venue hosted by one country in the group.
The top-four finishers of AFC Youth Championship 2008 will advance to the 17th FIFA World Youth Championship 2009 in Egypt.

ROME, Oct. 13--Milan’s captain Paolo Maldini will play in a friendly weekend match against Athletic Bilbao to make his first appearance of the season, said AP.
“The match against Athletic Bilbao will give me the chance to play maybe one half, at most an hour, after four months out, so it’s an important test, because playing a match gives me more of an indication of where I’m at,“ the legendary 39-year-old defender said.
The veteran player who made his debut for Milan in 1985 is recovering well after undergoing surgery for a knee injury this summer.

PHILLIP ISLAND, Australia, Oct. 13--Spaniard Dani Pedrosa saw off newly crowned world champion Casey Stoner to grab pole position for the Australian Moto GP at Phillip Island on Saturday, said AFP.
Pedrosa clocked a lap time of 1min 29.201sec on his Honda to take pole position, 0.218 faster than five-time world champion
Valentino Rossi on a Yamaha. Local favorite Stoner, who clinched the world title two weeks ago in Japan, will join Pedrosa and Rossi on the front row on Sunday after finishing third fastest on his Ducati, 0.615 off the pace.
Stoner led qualifying early Saturday before Pedrosa fired in the fastest lap late in the session.
Pedrosa’s time was two-tenths of a second slower than the lap record set last year by American Nicky Hayden.
Hayden, who claimed the world title in 2006, will start from fourth on his Honda. Pedrosa, currently third in the championship behind Stoner, claimed his third pole position of the season.
Not noted as a wet-weather rider, the Spaniard said afterwards he hoped the rain would hold off for Sunday’s race.
Of the eight races Stoner has won this season, two were from fourth place on the grid. In the 250cc category, championship leader Jorge Lorenzo took pole with a dominant performance on his Aprilia. Lorenzo stopped the clock at 1:33.641, 0.886 ahead of nearest rival fellow Spaniard Hector Barbera. Another Spanish rider, Alvara Bautista, finished third 0.936 behind Lorenzo.
Lorenzo’s nearest rivals for the title, Alex De Angelis and Andrea Dovizioso, were in fourth and seventh respectively.
Italian Mattia Pasini was fastest qualifier in the 125cc on his Aprilia, clocking 1:38.078.

Floyd Landis

PARIS, Oct. 13--Floyd Landis is appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn a ban imposed when he failed a drugs test after winning the 2006 Tour de France.
According to AFP, it follows September’s ruling by a US arbitration panel that upheld findings that he used synthetic testosterone.
“I want to take this opportunity to say again, that I am innocent of the doping allegations against me,“ said Landis.
Landis, 31, was stripped of his title and given a two-year racing suspension, which will run until January 2009.
“I hope that the arbitrators of the case will fairly address the facts showing that the French laboratory made mistakes, which resulted in a false positive. “Although the process of proving my innocence has been difficult for me and my family, I will not stop trying to prove my innocence,“ added Landis.
Landis is the first rider in the race’s history to be stripped of the title for a doping offence.
Oscar Pereiro, of Spain, the 2006 Tour runner-up, will receive the winner’s yellow jersey in a ceremony on 15 October in Madrid.
The Cas, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, is Landis’s final venue for appealing against the case.

MADRID, Oct. 13--World number two Rafael Nadal is aiming to use next week’s Madrid Masters tournament to reignite his season ready for an end-of-year flourish at the Masters Cup in Shanghai, said Reuters.
The 21-year-old has not played competitively since losing to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in the last 16 of the U.S. Open on Sept. 4, deciding to take time off to recover from a bout of tendinitis in his left knee.
Although he has not won a tournament since July, Nadal is hoping to recapture his early season form on his return to action in front of the partisan fans in the Spanish capital.
“I’ve done all I can to ensure I’m in top shape but I’ve had a month and a half when I haven’t been able to do anything and it is here in Madrid where I will be able to see whether or not I’m in condition to compete at 100 percent,“ Nadal told reporters this week after a training session at the Madrid Arena.
“I felt pretty good and had no pain. I will be training the hardest since I played in U.S. Open.“
But Nadal, who got the better of Croatian Ivan Ljubicic in an epic struggle to win in Madrid two years ago, will have a difficult task on his hands if he is to become the first man to take the title on two occasions.
World number one Roger Federer will be defending the title he won last year when he crushed Fernando Gonzalez in the final, while an ever-improving Novak Djokovic will be out to add a third Masters crown to the ones he won in Miami and Montreal earlier this year.
Like Nadal, Federer has not competed in a tournament since winning his third grand slam of the year and 12th of his career at the US Open last month, but he did play for Switzerland in the Davis Cup in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent them dropping out of the World Group.
Although he unsurprisingly pointed to Federer as the man to beat, Nadal said he expected the tournament to more open than ever.
“The favourite is the same as always, it’s the world number one,“ the Mallorcan said. “But Djokovic will be coming in with a lot of confidence and I think this tournament will be very open.“
Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, who have mopped up all of this year’s seven Masters trophies between them, have already secured their places in Shanghai.
But with five places at the end-of-season jamboree still up for grabs there will be an added incentive for the rest of the field to upset the favorites.

PHOENIX, USA,
Oct. 13--The Colorado Rockies used a bases-loaded walk in the top of the 11th inning to take control of the National League Championship Series with a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, reported Reuters.
Willy Taveras walked on four straight pitches by Arizona closer Jose Valverde to bring in Ryan Spilborghs as the Rockies moved 2-0 ahead in the best-of-seven series with their 19th win in 20 games.
Game Three is in Denver on Sunday. “It’s a big win for us,“ Taveras told reporters.
The Rockies, who have now won five straight postseason games, need only two wins on their homefield to make their first World Series.
“We are playing with a lot of momentum,“ Rockies manager Clint Hurdle told reporters. “We didn’t draw it up that way to win our first five (playoff games), but we will take it.“
Not even a change in uniforms could slow them.
They had won seven straight games, including the regular season, wearing black jerseys but Arizona decided to wear black tops on Friday, forcing the visitors to don their grey uniforms with pinstripes.
However, it did not stall their winning ways.
Spilborghs got on base with an infield hit and Valverde walked Brad Hawpe before getting the second out of the innings.
The closer then walked Jamey Carroll on a full-count pitch to load the bases, setting the stage for Taveras to watch four straight balls in notching the winning run. Arizona manager Bob Melvin defended keeping Valverde in the game as long as he did. “He’s our closer and he was going to stay in until he gave up a run,“ Melvin told reporters.
Ryan Speier then retired the Diamondbacks in order in the bottom of the 11th.
Arizona, who stranded 11 runners on base, had tied the scores in the bottom of the ninth but a mental error by Stephen Drew may have cost them the game. After Chris Young scored the tying run on Eric Byrnes’s fielder’s choice, Drew began walking off the field, thinking he had been called out at second. Actually he had been safe on the play and the Rockies quickly tagged him out, snuffing out the potential winning run for the Diamondbacks. Earlier, Todd Helton’s fifth-inning sacrifice fly scored Taveras to give the Rockies a 2-1 lead. Helton also scored Colorado’s opening run, coming home on Yorvit Torrealba’s single in the second.

MOSCOW, Oct. 13--Evander Holyfield will attempt to turn back the clock and make history when he takes on Sultan Ibragimov in Moscow.
According to AFP, if the 44-year-old beats the Russian WBO heavyweight title-holder, 32, on Saturday, he will become a world champion for a record fifth time.
He will also become the second-oldest top-weight world champion after fellow American ring great George Foreman.
Few rate his chances but trainer Ronnie Shields said: “If he does what we’ve worked on, it will be enough to win.“
Apart from a draw against journeyman Ray Austin, Ibragimov boasts a record of 21 victories with 17 knockouts and no defeats.
In a fragmented division still seen as lacking in quality, he a relative unknown compared to the fame Holyfield won in his prime as ’The Real Deal’.
Ibragimov first made his mark at the 2000 Olympics, losing in the heavyweight final to Felix Savon, although many believe he shaded the Cuban great.
An awkward southpaw known for his power punching, he may not have troubled Holyfield in his prime, when the American twice defeated Mike Tyson in 1996, but should beat the 2007 version.
Holyfield, who is also a former cruiserweight world champion, acknowledged he is in for a tough time.
“Ibragimov is quick and is probably going to throw more punches than any of the heavyweights that I’ve fought,“ he said.
“He does awkward stuff that I’ve never seen a heavyweight fighter do.“