Djokovic Bids to Extend Melbourne Park Supremacy

Defending champion Novak Djokovic returns to the Australian Open seeking his third consecutive trophy at Melbourne Park, where memories of last year’s gut-wrenching final against Rafa Nadal still linger around Rod Laver Arena’s blue centre court.
Last year’s record-breaking epic of five punishing hours and 53 minutes secured Djokovic his fifth grand slam title while establishing the 25-year-old as tennis’s indisputable iron man, Reuters wrote.
The marathon match would also serve as a portent for the year ahead for the steely-eyed Serb, who came under siege from his ‘Big Four’ rivals but emerged from an attritional season with his world number one ranking intact.
If 2011 was the year Djokovic soared into the stratosphere on the back of three grand slam titles and an astonishing 41-match winning streak, he as brought gently back to Earth in 2012.
After winning his third Australian Open, Djokovic would add no further major titles last year, with the spoils shared by Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray. Federer, who shattered Djokovic’s Wimbledon defense in the semi-final on the way to his 17th major crown, would even prise the number one ranking away from the Serb before losing it again less than four months later.
Djokovic would taste further disappointment with a semi-final loss to Briton Murray at the London Olympics, where he was also upset by Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro in the bronze medal match.
Murray, a good friend off the court, would later quash Djokovic’s US Open title defense in a grueling five-set final.
Rather than sulk in the shadows with the spotlight trained elsewhere, Djokovic responded by thrashing a succession of opponents to win his next tournament at the China Open.

Boateng Wrong to ‘Run Away’ From Racists

FIFA president Sepp Blatter does not believe AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng’s decision to walk off the pitch during a friendly this week was the right response to racist abuse and warned clubs they risk forfeiting matches if there is any repeat. According to Independent.co.uk, Former Portsmouth and Tottenham player Boateng led his team-mates off the pitch during a match at Pro Patria after being subjected to racist chanting from a section of the home fans, with the former Ghana international insisting he would walk off again in any competitive match under similar circumstances.
Speaking at a conference in the Middle East, Blatter said football must take a “zero tolerance” approach to racism but suggested that clubs should have to forfeit matches if their players force the abandonment of a match, whatever the reason.
Quoted in United Arab Emirates newspaper The National, he said: “Walk off? No. I don’t think that is the solution.
“But the Italian federation has yet to provide FIFA with a report detailing what exactly has happened.
“I don’t think you can run away, because then the team should have to forfeit the match. This issue is a very touchy subject, but I repeat there is zero tolerance of racism in the stadium, we have to go against that.
“The only solution is to be very harsh with the sanctions (against racism) - and the sanctions must be a deduction of points or something similar.”
He added: “We have to have no tolerance to racism, absolutely no tolerance.
“This action is an example that the spectators must behave well because, as I understand it, the player ran away and the others went with him. (The spectators) cannot go on abusing afterwards.”
In an interview with CNN broadcast on Friday, Boateng expressed his frustration with a perceived lack of support from world football’s governing body. He said: “So many people in FIFA can do something and they should wake up and do it. They should not tolerate it. They should ban people forever from the stadiums. That’s the first thing you can do.”

Reds New Boss Hoping To Advance

In the last 8 round of Iran’s Hazfi Cup, popular club Persepolis is scheduled to meet Naft Tehran at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium on Tuesday.
The game is a revenge game for Persepolis new boss Yahya Golmohammadi. Former head of Saba was defeated against Naft, which has Mansour Ebrahimzadeh at the helm, in the 9th round of Iran’s Premier League.
Golmohammadi hopes that with Persepolis he will be able to beat Naft and reach the next round of the games.
Many expect that Golmohammadi will get good results with the Reds. But he was unable to do it in the league games. Also, Vinko Begovic joined the team as the coach. This gave an opportunity to the critics to put the club under pressure. Golmohammadi hopes to win the game to answer these comments.
The winner of the match will meet Zob Ahan in the quarterfinal of the tournament.
The Hazfi Cup is a knockout cup competition in Iranian football, run by the Iranian Football Federation. The competition wasn’t regarded important by clubs until the IFF decided to award one of Iran’s Asian Football Confederation Champions League spots to the champion.
The competition was founded in 1975. Esteqlal has won the cup on the most occasions, with 6 wins. The current holders are also Esteqlal.

Iran Beats Kazakhstan in Granatkin Match

The National Iranian junior football team defeated Kazakhstan 2-1 in the 25th edition of the international youth football tournament in memory of the first FIFA Vice President Valentin Granatkin.
Iranians started stronger and looked the better team in the first few minutes of the match played on the pitch of Peterburgsky Sports and Concert Complex in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg on Saturday, Press TV wrote reported.
Saeid Ezzatollahi put the ball into the back of Kazaks’ net only 5 minutes into the match to score the opener for Iran.
The match gained momentum after the break, as Kazaks started playing with much more purpose. They counter-attacked into Iran’s half of the pitch in the 50th minute and slipped the ball into the net to level the score at 1-1.
Yousef Seyyedi replaced Hossein Sha’bani in the 55th minute of the match to give the Iranian team more power and better performance. A few moments later, a right-footed pass got caught up in the feet of Seyyedi, who could pass the ball over the line and make it 2-1 for Iran.
The 25th edition International youth football tournament in memory of the first FIFA Vice President Valentin Granatkin opened on January 5 in Saint Petersburg and will wrap up on January 13.
The tournament is attended by 16 youth teams from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Iran, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Saint-Petersburg, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.
Group A contains Czech Republic, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Lithuania. Group B consists of Russia, Greece, Slovenia and Latvia.

Lampard Definitely Leaving Chelsea

Frank Lampard will not be offered a new contract with Chelsea under any circumstances, according to the midfielder’s agent.
The 34-year-old has widely been expected to leave the club he joined back in 2001 at the end of the season, and agent Steve Kutner claims the Blues hierarchy have confirmed that to the player, PA Sport reported.
He told the Daily Mirror, “Chelsea executives told Frank in Japan during the Club World Cup then again reconfirmed with me after the Everton victory that in no circumstances will he be offered a new contract to stay at the club after the end of this season.
“Nothing since has changed in any respect.
“Frank has had to accept that and just wants to carry on playing football for Chelsea so as to finish the season as successfully as possible for the club that he loves.”
Reports over the weekend suggested Chelsea may be interested in keeping the player after all and that Lampard had offered to take a hefty pay cut to stay at the club.
Fans made their feelings clear on Saturday as they chanted “sign him up” when Lampard came off the bench in Chelsea’s 5-1 FA Cup win at Southampton.

Mourinho Defiant After Dropping Casillas Again

Jose Mourinho said crowd whistles against him for dropping club captain Iker Casillas in favor of Antonio Adan showed a lack of respect towards their reserve goalkeeper, after Real Madrid beat Real Sociedad 4-3.
Casillas, who is also captain of world and European champions Spain, was left on the bench for the second match in a row, after also missing the 3-2 defeat at Malaga, and the decision did not go down well with home fans at the Bernabeu, Reuters wrote.
Casillas, a big fan favorite, was cheered by supporters when his name was read out among the substitutes before kickoff, but Mourinho’s name was met with whistles from sections of the crowd.
“If they whistle me for leaving Iker on the bench, fine, and if they whistle me for poor performances, that’s ok by me,” Mourinho told a post-match news conference when asked about the crowd’s reaction.
“I don’t want to be a hero all the time, independent of my performances.”
Adan was only on the pitch six minutes before being sent off for bringing down Carlos Vela in the area, and Casillas entered in his place to a huge ovation from the Bernabeu, though he failed to stop the ensuing penalty. A double from Cristiano Ronaldo helped Real go on to win the game.
“The fans and the media don’t have a problem with Adan, they have a problem with me for my decision, but Adan suffers for this pressure,” Mourinho added.

Wenger: Arsenal Should Have Had Penalty

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger felt his side had been wrongly denied a penalty during the 2-2 draw with Swansea in their FA Cup third-round tie at the Liberty Stadium.
With the game goalless early in the second half, Aaron Ramsey raced on to Olivier Giroud’s through ball with Swansea right-back Dwight Tiendalli in pursuit, PA Sport reported.
The Welshman went to ground but referee Howard Webb waved away the Arsenal appeals, and replays appeared to suggest Ramsey had clipped his own heels. But Wenger firmly believed his side should have been awarded a spot-kick.
“It was a penalty and the referee saw it,” he said. “Do you know why he did not give it? Because he thought the guy had not done it on purpose, and I also think it was accidental.
“But he (Ramsey) did not trip himself, he was caught clearly by the leg of the Swansea player. The referee hesitated and he did not give it.”
Michu, who settled last month’s league meeting between the sides, had looked to again be Arsenal’s downfall as he gave Swansea the lead just 73 seconds after coming on as a second-half substitute.
But two goals in three minutes from Lukas Podolski and Kieran Gibbs put the Gunners on course to advance, only for Danny Graham, who scored a late leveler against Aston Villa in midweek, to rifle home with three minutes left.
Wenger felt his side should have seen the game out after leading late on.