Iranian Routs US, RussiaIn Wrestling World Cup

In the final game of the 2013 Freestyle Wrestling World Cup in Tehran, Iranian freestyle wrestlers defeated Russia to be crowned world champion.
In the 55-kg category, Hassan Rahimi and Masoud Esmaeilpour in the 60-kg class defeated their rivals. In the 66-kg class Mehdi Taqavi was downed by his Russian opponent but in the 74-kg class Sadeq Goudarzi was victorious. In the 84-kg category Ehsan Lashkari and in the 96-kg division Hamed Tatari overpowered their rivals.
Iran’s 120-kg category wrestler Komeil Qasemi downed his opponents to gain the team’s 6 victory.
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad joined the thousands of Iranian wrestling enthusiasts jubilated at the 12,000-seat hall of the Azadi Sports Complex.
Before reaching the final Iranian freestylers downed US. According to Press TV, on Thursday, thousands of Iranian wrestling enthusiasts jubilated at the same venue as the host team win over the US squad 6-1 in their fourth group B encounter.
Iran had defeated Japan 7-0, Bulgaria 6-1, and Georgia 7-0 before facing the US.
In the 55-kg class, Rahimi defeated his American competitor Zach Sanders.
Esmailpour registered Iran’s second victory after beating Coleman Scott in the 60-kg category.
Also, Taqavi was the winner in his bout against Harold Brent Metcalf in the 66-kg class.
Ezzatollah Akbarari, however, conceded defeat in the 74-kg category, and lost to Jordan Burroughs.
In the 84-kg class, Lashkari overpowered John Screen, and Tatari defeated James Daniel Bergman in the 96-kg class.
The Iranian man-mountain Qasemi overwhelmed Tervel Dlagnev in the 120-kg class.
The United States had earlier beat Georgia and Japan both 5-2 in Group B as Belarus beat Turkey 4-3 and lost with the same result to Azerbaijan in Group A.
The two-day World Cup freestyle competitions opened on February 21.
A total of ten countries, namely Iran, Russia, the United States, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Japan, Belarus, Bulgaria and Turkey took part in the tournament.
On Wednesday, Iran finished runner-up in the 2013 Greco-Roman Wrestling World Cup in Tehran, after losing to powerhouse Russia in the final.

Persepolis Held to a Goalless Draw

Popular club Persepolis failed to register its 10th victory against Aluminum in Bandar Abbas.
According to Mehr News Agency, the away club, Persepolis, created some good scoring chances throughout the game but the team’s forwards missed them one after the other.
In the middle of the second half, the head coach of Persepolis Yahya Golmohammadi sent off by the referee Ahmad Salehi.
Thanks to the away draw Persepolis remained 6th in the table with 39n points while the host has collected 27 points.
Meanwhile, AFC Champions League Group C contender Sepahan prepared their Wednesday’s continental clash with Al Nasr of UAE with a convincing 3-1 win over mid-table Malavan in the Iran Premier League on Thursday.
Sepahan is still five points behind the leader with Esteqlal also winning their match against Sanat Naft on the same night. ACL 2013 Iranian debutant Traktorsazi is at the second place with 52 points--two points ahead of Sepahan.
Former Traktorsazi midfielder Eshan Hajsafi put the reigning Iranian champion ahead in the 26th minute.
The home side had to wait till the 78th minute to double the lead through Ahmed Jamshidian and five minutes later Omid Ebrahimi sealed a comfortable win scoring the third Sepahan goal. Mohammad Haidari pegged a consolation back in the 90th minute for Malavan.
Sepahan is in tough Group C featuring ACL 2012 finalist Al-Ahli of Saudi Arabia, big-spending Qatari side Al-Gharafa and Wednesday’s opponent Al-Nasr.
They travel to Qatar next month to face Al Gharafa in their second match of the ACL campaign.

Wenger’s Desire Burns Bright

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger adopted a fresh approach on Friday to the persistent questions over his future, swapping tetchiness for humor as he stressed he was committed to getting the best out of his beleaguered side.
The Frenchman has endured a series of back-page headlines to forget this week after a 3-1 home defeat by Bayern Munich in their Champions League last-16 first leg followed a humiliating 1-0 loss to second-tier Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup, Reuters reported.
He snapped his way through a news conference on Monday after what he said was incorrect information that he had agreed a two-year contract extension but on Friday was in a calmer mood when asked whether he had been unfairly scrutinized this week.
“It’s not down to me to judge, my responsibility is to keep the guidelines and to guide the team and the club into what I think is right,” he told a news conference.
“I will not come out with my feelings because that is not my job. I feel what is important for me is to focus on the next game and try to give my best like all the players.”
Demonstrating he was still as motivated as ever after being in the job since 1996, he issued a challenge to one reporter in jest.
“I do think that spark is nothing to do with the length of your life. It’s just that’s how you are. You are motivated by how much you want to win and how much you win,” he said.

Acropolis Rally ‘Not in Jeopardy’

The organizer of the Acropolis Rally has guaranteed this year’s event will go ahead despite continued concerns regarding the financial state of Greek motorsport’s governing body.
There has been continued speculation that Greece’s ELPA is on the verge of going bankrupt. Pavlos Athanassoulas, director of Greece’s World Rally round, scotched such suggestions, AutoSport reported.
The Acropolis Rally is run by Celeritas, a private company with private investment. One of the primary areas of concern for event organizers in Greece is the potential loss of insurance ability if ELPA did go bankrupt.
“ELPA is not bankrupt,” said Athanassoulas. “These are very tough times in Greece right now. Roughly half of all companies in Greece are working through some very tough financial times and ELPA is in there.
“ELPA has some debts, but it is expected that these issues should be solved in the coming weeks. But the Acropolis Rally is, again, not affected - we have insurance for €10m which is not with ELPA.”
Athanassoulas confirmed the Loutraki-based event is in the third and final year of a contract made with ELPA, the Greek governing body, in 2011.
“There is no question about the Acropolis Rally,” he said. “It is 100 per cent safe for this season. Obviously, we cannot talk yet about next year, because this is outside of the deal made with ELPA, but we are already in discussions to extend the current contract.”
Athanassoulas added that Celeritas is also looking to extend its current contract to stay in the Peloponnese region.
This year’s event runs from June 30 until July 2.

Spurs Beat Clippers For 5th Straight Win

The aging San Antonio Spurs came out of the All-Star break rested and raring to go.
They notched their second win since the break ended and fifth in a row, beating the Los Angeles Clippers 116-90 on Thursday night behind 31 points from Tony Parker.
‘’Tony’s been a huge part of us playing that well. He’s been the one who is most consistent,’’ said Tim Duncan, who had nine points. ‘’Everything kind of clicked together. We made a lot of shots. They just couldn’t get their footing.’’
The Spurs led all the way in beating the Clippers for the first time this season and improving to an NBA-best 22-10 on the road, where they’ve also won five in a row, AP wrote.
‘’It was a complete butt-kicking from the start in every way you can count,’’ Clippers coach and former Spurs player Vinny Del Negro said.
Parker had seven assists and no turnovers in 28 minutes and Danny Green added 15 points.
The West-leading Spurs tied their season-best with 59-percent shooting, hit eight 3-pointers and made 22 of 28 free throws.
They had lost both previous meetings with the Clippers in November.
‘’We’re not that good and they’re not that bad,’’ Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. ‘’I think it’s because we already played one. Too long of a layoff (for the Clippers).’’

AFC Forms Task Force Against Match-Fixing

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has set up a task force to help combat match-fixing in the continent, the sport’s regional governing body said on Friday.
The announcement came a day after an INTERPOL-led conference into result rigging closed in Kuala Lumpur, Reuters reported.
The task force would collaborate with all stakeholders and educate member associations on ways to combat the practice and introduce mechanisms to fight it, AFC General Secretary Alex Soosay said in a statement.
“By setting up this task force, we would like to coordinate the education, training and implementation of measures through one platform,” he said.
Earlier this month, European anti-crime agency Europol said hundreds of soccer matches were fixed in a global betting scam run from Singapore.
It also identified about 680 suspicious matches, including qualifying games for the World Cup and European Championships, and for Europe’s Champions League.
Tan Seet Eng, a Singaporean also known as Dan Tan, has been accused of heading an organisation to fix soccer matches worldwide and Italian police have issued an arrest warrant for him.
Italian police arrested a fugitive associate of the alleged match-fixing kingpin on Thursday after the 31-year-old Slovenian, a former player, flew in from Singapore to hand himself over to authorities.
Singapore says Tan is not a wanted man in the city-state but it is working with European authorities looking into the syndicate.

Hulkenberg Impressed by Lotus

Nico Hulkenberg admits he was impressed by the consistency and duration of Romain Grosjean’s Thursday race simulation at Barcelona.
The Lotus driver was the only man to complete a 66-lap run, which included one 24-lap stint in which his pace rarely dipped below the 1m29s mark, AutoSport reported.
Sauber driver Hulkenberg said that stint in particular was striking, particularly given how his own long-run simulations went.
“The Lotus has been very good,” Hulkenberg told reporters at Barcelona on Thursday night.
“We didn’t do the same programs, and his fuel would have been down by then so you can’t tell [fully], but that [wasn’t] a bad effort.
“From what I can remember they were good here last winter as well in terms of tire life and consistency.
“From how my own tires felt, [Grosjean’s stint] wasn’t bad.”
Hulkenberg insisted however that there was no ground for worry given how specific conditions at Barcelona have proved this week.
“I’m not really concerned about it. Next week we will be here and maybe it is warmer, maybe the track picks up again. Maybe we have some new parts to try out for Melbourne,” he said.
“So far we have had four quality days, the target is to have two more next week.
“In Melbourne we will see how it is but I’m not going to break my brain now.”

Mancini Swears Over Job Speculation

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini swore in front of reporters when asked about speculation over his future.
City are 12 points behind leaders Manchester United, and Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini is the latest name to be linked with Mancini’s job, BBC wrote.
After a brief pause and a laugh, Mancini gave a more thorough response and said: “I cannot continue to answer about this every week.
“We’ve another two months. You’ll know then but I can’t continue with this.”
Mancini replaced Mark Hughes at the City helm in December 2009.
The Italian, who has also managed Lazio and Inter Milan, won the FA Cup in 2011 and guided City to their first top flight title for 44 years last season.
Mancini signed a new five-year contract in July but this term his team again failed to progress beyond the group stages in the Champions League.
City remain in the FA Cup, with a home quarter-final to come against Barnsley on 9 March, but lost at home to Aston Villa in the third round of the League Cup and are a distant second to rivals United with 12 matches remaining in the Premier League.
Earlier this week Mancini said he was “the best manager in England” and is not facing the sack.
And on Friday the 48-year-old told reporters: “This is normal for you, it’s your job, don’t worry, but I can’t continue to answer each week about one (manager) or another or another.
“But also because I don’t understand this - why would Manchester City change their manager? For what reasons?”

Fabrizio Leading

Michel Fabrizio topped Qualifying 1 ahead of the season-opening World Superbike races at Phillip Island.