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Asian Taekwondo Crown for Iran
Iran’s men’s Taekwondo team brought Korea’s 38-year reign in the Asian championship to an end in Zhengzhou, China, on Monday.
Iranian taekwondokas hoisted the national flag after seizing the title in the 18th Asian Senior Taekwondo Championship. Powerhouse South Korea was crowned successively over the past 17 editions, MNA reported.
S. Korea came second as Chinese Taipei, Jordan and Vietnam finished third through fifth in the competitions, respectively.
Iran’s four gold medals went to Mohammad Baqeri Motamed, Alireza Nasr Azadani, Farzad Abdollahi and Kurosh Rajoli while Reza Naderian took the silver medal.
S. Korea stood behind Iran with two gold medals and two bronze.
In the women’s category, Iranian taekwondo athletes finished in the fourth place for the first time. Fatemeh Nemati claimed Iran’s first ever gold medal in the field while Soheila Sayyahi took the bronze.
Chinese Women Team clinched the championship with three gold medals, one silver and two bronze. South Korea and Chinese Taipei came in second and third places, respectively.
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Ranieri Lauds Del Piero Contribution
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Claudio Ranieri
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Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri heaped praise on evergreen forward Alessandro Del Piero a day after the Italian giants secured their place in next season’s Champions League.
Juve are guaranteed to finish at least third in the table after their 5-2 demolition of Lazio on Sunday ensured they cannot be caught by the teams directly below them.
Del Piero scored his 18th league goal of the campaign in that victory and is closing in on his best ever return, despite beginning the season on the bench.
“Del Piero is the player who has surprised me the most throughout the course of the season,“ AFP quoted him as saying.
“At the end of December he had some problems but he came back better than ever.
“I never doubted the quality of this champion but I didn’t expect him to grow in such a way.“
Ranieri is expected to try to strengthen his squad during the summer break to cope with the added demands of playing at home and abroad next season, something they did not have to do this year. “We won’t undergo a revolution but just a retouching to complete this organism which finally has become a team.
“We’ll need between 22 and 25 players, two for each position, which will be the right number to compete on two fronts.“
Juventus are reportedly after Arsenal’s Mathieu Flamini to strengthen their midfield, as well as Palermo’s Amauri to bolster their front-line.
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Ronaldinho Costs Over Û40m
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Joan Laporta
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Barcelona will not sell Ronaldinho for less than Û40 million, club President Joan Laporta said.
Barcelona had received several bids for the twice former World Player of the Year, including from Premier League sides, but AC Milan had shown the strongest interest, he said in an interview published in Tuesday’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Milan said earlier this month they had agreed personal terms with the Brazil forward but his move to the San Siro stalled over the Spanish club’s asking price.
“I only say that Ronaldinho is worth more than Û40 million ($62.5 million),“ Laporta said. He added that the player might stay on at the Camp Nou. “He has never created the slightest problem and I’m sure he will return to how he was before, as soon as he is well.
“He just needs to find new motivation, but it’s no foregone conclusion that he has to leave because he can find this with us, given that his contract runs until 2010.“
Barcelona, the only non-English side left in the last four of the Champions League, visit Manchester United on Tuesday after last week’s goalless draw in the first leg.
Laporta was also certain that France striker Thierry Henry would soon rediscover the form of his days at Arsenal.
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Federer Can BeatNadal On Clay
Roger Federer is adamant he has the weapons to defeat Rafael Nadal on clay, despite his latest loss on the surface to the Spaniard.
Nadal maintained his hold over the world’s top-ranked player on the grass court Sunday by posting a 7-5, 7-5 triumph in the final of the Master Series event in Monte Carlo.
According to Tickernews, Sunday’s win for the 21-year-old Spaniard, whose rally from a 0-4 deficit in the second set allowed him to become the first player in the Open era to capture four straight titles at Monte Carlo.
Nadal, the world’s second-ranked player behind Federer for 144 consecutive weeks, improved to 112-3 on clay since the start of 2005.
Federer, however, still is certain he is not too far away from ending Nadal’s dominance on the surface.
“Yes, and I have always been convinced,“ said Federer, who has now lost the last three Monte Carlo finals to Nadal. “I have only beaten him once on this surface, in Hamburg last year, but that is more than enough for me to know that I can do it again.
“And I reckon this defeat proves again that yes, I do have the game to beat him. I could have played six or seven sets if I had had to and it really is a shame that the final is only a best-of-three.“
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Milan Derby Bigger
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Massimo Moratti
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Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti claimed on Monday that Sunday’s Milan derby will be bigger than the Champions League final.
Inter can win the Serie A crown with victory in the match while AC Milan are desperate for the three points as they chase fourth spot and a place in next season’s Champions League.
“In a way it’s worth more than a Champions League final because this match is vital for both teams to achieve their objectives,“ Moratti told AFP.
“All derbies are great matches and each one has its own importance because there is an issue of revenge from the previous one or because the fans care more about it.
“But this one has a special significance and it’s difficult to find a similar match in history.“
Moratti denied, though, that he would get extra satisfaction from sealing the title during the Milan derby rather than in one of Inter’s other two remaining games.
“You can’t say you’d prefer to win it in one match or another,“ he added. “We just have to try to win it and whatever happens, will happen. “It’s clear that we’ll give it everything when we play, whether in the derby or in the next matches.“
Milan probably have more to lose as they trail Fiorentina by two points in the race for fourth place and a defeat could leave them five points behind with only two matches to play.
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Persepolis vs Shirin Faraz
In the 30th round of IPL, Saba Battery face Barq in Shiraz, while Sepahan hosts Saipa in Isfahan. In the most important game of the week, Shirin Faraz of Kermanshah will meet Persepolis at Azadi Stadium in Tehran.
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Blatter Encourages Spain to Host World Cup
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IranÕs taekwondokas training
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FIFA president Sepp Blatter wants Spain to bid for the 2018 World Cup.
“I have good memories of the 1982 World Cup in Spain,“ Blatter told a visiting party of 50 soccer officials from Spain led by Angel Maria Villar, a vice president of FIFA, AP reported.
“I have heard that you might have some interest in hosting another World Cup,“ Blatter said Monday. “I encourage the Spanish FA to present a bid and the next occasion when this would be possible is for 2018.“
South Africa will be the first African nation to host the tournament in 2010 and Brazil has been awarded the 2014 World Cup.
The English Football Association has set aside $29.5 million for its bid to host the 2018 tournament. Other likely candidates include the United States, Mexico, Canada, Belgium and Netherlands as a joint bid, Russia, China, Japan and Australia.
FIFA votes on the host nation in 2011.
Lakers Sweep Out Nuggets
Kobe Bryant scored 31 points and Pau Gasol added 21 to spark the Los Angeles Lakers past Denver 107-101 Monday, completing a first-round National Basketball Association playoff sweep.
Bryant hit 12-of-24 from the field, including scoring nine consecutive Laker points in a key stretch late in the fourth quarter, and Lamar Odom added 14 points for the Lakers, the top seeds in the West.
“They did a good job in the third quarter denying me,“ Bryant told AP. “We made our adjustments, they made theirs and we made them pay in the fourth.“
The Nuggets became the first 50-win team ever swept out of the playoffs in the first round, the Lakers taking the best-of-seven series in four games to book a second-round Western Conference date with either Utah or Houston.
“In the West there are no easy match-ups,“ Bryant said. “We’re looking forward to whoever we face.“
The Lakers were also looking forward to a rest before the next round. “It’s extremely important to relax, get home, rest a little bit, get some treatment and get ready for the second round,“ Bryant said.
J.R. Smith scored a playoff career-high 26 points to lead the Nuggets while Allen Iverson added 22 points and Carmelo Anthony scored 21.
“I feel like me and my teammates gave everything they had and put everything on the line,“ Iverson said. “You have to accept that when guys give everything they had. We gave everything we had. We just got beat by a better team.“
First US LPGA Tournament in China
China will host its first US LPGA tournament in October, with 63 of the world’s top women golfers competing for a purse of $1.8 million, it was announced Tuesday.
The event, to be known as the Grand China Air LPGA, will be played at the Haikou West Golf Club on tropical Hainan island from October 24-26.
“This is a landmark event for women’s professional golf, and we are excited to bring the best of the LPGA to China,“ LPGA Commissioner Carolyn F. Bivens told AFP.
“China is one of the fastest growing golf markets in Asia, and with our growing fan and sponsor interest, it is the right time to bring the LPGA there.“
Earlier this year, the world’s top players put their weight behind an expansion of the US LPGA Tour overseas with more tournaments played globally, particularly in Asia, where the sport is booming.
Of 36 LPGA events this year, 25 are in the United States. Mexico gets three and Canada, France, England, Japan, Singapore, South Africa and South Korea have one each. China has now been added to the list.
The field will be made up of the top 51 ranked available players on the LPGA Official Money List as of September 14, with 12 other invited players, most likely Chinese golfers.
Vice president and secretary general of the China Golf Association, Zhang Xiaoning, said the tournament would ’become a new milestone in the development of the sport in this country’.
“It will be very exciting and motivating for our up-and-coming young Chinese golfers to have the chance to watch the world’s best women golfers here in China and for some of them to improve their skills by actually competing,“ he said.
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