Mahdavikia Tired of Injuries

Persepolis captain Mehdi Mahdavikia said that he is tired of injuries.
Speaking to the club’s official site, he said, “ I wish I could join the trainings in the next few days. But I am not fully prepared.”
Referring to his chronic pain he added, “I had an operation some 11 years ago and I think it is the side effect of the operation. This pain has created problems for me.”
Asked whether he can join the outfit against Zob Ahan in the Iran’s Premier League he said, “I wish I can. Since the operation I have this pain two times. Two times when I played in Hamburg and just before the 2006 World Cup Games in Germany, the pain prevented me. I hope I can overcome this and be ready for the games.”
Mahdavikia also rejected the claims that he is sidelined by the coaching staff of the team.

FIFA Investigates Zambia for Match-Fixing

FIFA is investigating Zambian officials over allegations they allowed eight players banned for match-fixing in Finland to return to soccer without permission.
FIFA said Friday it opened a disciplinary case and invited the Football Association of Zambia to provide an explanation ‘’together with any documentary evidence it might deem appropriate.’’ FIFA said it believes at least four of the players - who were not identified - appeared in official matches in Zambia, AP wrote.
In 2011, nine Zambian players received suspended sentences of at least six months from courts in Finland.
Seven players from RoPS team in Rovaniemi and two from AC Oulu were linked to taking bribes from Singaporean fixer Wilson Raj Perumal to help Asian organized criminals arrange betting coups.
Perumal was arrested in Finland in February 2011 and jailed after a criminal trial.
He is co-operating with authorities in Hungary, and his evidence has been key to FIFA and law enforcement agencies piecing together the scope of match-fixing plots carried out by crime syndicates with Singapore connections.
FIFA and Interpol have urged governments to help fight match-fixing, as soccer authorities have limited investigative powers and jurisdiction only over people within the sport.
The Finland FA banned the Zambian players through April 5, 2013, and FIFA extended those sanctions globally.
FIFA said Friday that Zambian’s soccer federation took over eight players’ registration from Finland without proper documents and while they were suspended.
Zambian federation President Kalusha Bwalya, a former playing great, is a member of the FIFA Football Committee and served in 2011-12 as deputy chairman to Franz Beckenbauer on FIFA’s Task Force Football 2014.

Mercedes Can’t Win Yet

Lewis Hamilton says his Mercedes car will not be fast enough to compete for victories at the start of the season.
The Englishman said on the final day of the second pre-season test that the team still needed to find aerodynamic performance to compete with the best, BBC wrote.
Hamilton said: “We’re not looking at wins at the moment. We’re hoping to get into the points and fight for top 10.
“It’s not fast enough to be quickest over one lap but it’s not slow, that’s for sure.”
Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso predicted last month that Hamilton would win races with Mercedes this season following his move from McLaren.
But Hamilton, while admitting wins were “not impossible”, rejected the notion that Mercedes would be able to compete at the front at the start of the season in Australia on 17 March.
“People are talking us up at the moment - [Sebastian] Vettel and Fernando saying we’re going to be competing for the world championship... Well, I really don’t see that happening at the moment,” Hamilton said.
“Of course that’s our goal. But you’ve got to remember the car was more than a second off, sometimes two seconds off, last year and we’ve not caught two seconds up, and the new teams will have put another second on this year and we’ve not caught up three seconds. That’s just a fact.
“Hopefully by the end of the year we will have gained three seconds but definitely not at the beginning.”
He repeated his analysis from the first pre-season test two weeks ago that aerodynamics were the Mercedes’ biggest weakness.
“We need more downforce, that’s the name of the game at the moment,” he said.
“We need to improve the reliability in some areas, sensors and that, but otherwise we just need as much downforce as we can.”
And asked whether the 2013 Mercedes was yet as good a car as the McLaren he drove last year, Hamilton said: “No. The downforce factor is what everyone’s pushing on.
“The team has won a race so they have clearly not such a bad foundation in terms of the mechanical side of the car but it’s downforce where we need to improve.”

US to Sue Disgraced Cyclist

The US government has joined a lawsuit against Lance Armstrong after talks with his lawyers broke down.
The suit argues Armstrong defrauded the American public by insisting he was not using drugs while riding for the publicly funded US Postal Service team.
Last month, Armstrong admitted using performance-enhancing drugs during all seven of his Tour de France wins, BBC wrote.
The suit, filed by his former teammate Floyd Landis, aims to recover sponsorship money from Armstrong.
“Lance Armstrong and his cycling team took more than $30m from the US Postal Service based on their contractual promise to play fair and abide by the rules - including the rules against doping,” said Ronald C Machen Jr, US Attorney for the District of Columbia.
“The Postal Service has now seen its sponsorship unfairly associated with what has been described as ‘the most sophisticated, professionalized, and successful doping program that sport has ever seen’.
“This lawsuit is designed to help the Postal Service recoup the tens of millions of dollars it paid out based on years of broken promises.
“In today’s economic climate, the Postal Service is simply not in a position to allow Lance Armstrong or any of the other defendants to walk away with the tens of millions of dollars they illegitimately procured.”
Armstrong’s legal team had tried to convince the US government not to join the so-called ‘whistle blowing’ lawsuit filed by Landis, who himself admitted using drugs throughout his career.
“Lance and his representatives worked constructively over these last weeks with federal lawyers to resolve this case fairly, but those talks failed because we disagree about whether the Postal Service was damaged,” said Armstrong’s counsel Robert Luskin.
“The Postal Services’s own studies show that the Service benefited tremendously from its sponsorship - benefits totaling more than $100m.”
By flagging up allegations of fraud, Landis could receive a substantial share of any money recovered from Armstrong under the federal False Claims Act. The law, introduced by President Lincoln in 1863, stipulates the person bringing the lawsuit can receive 15-25% of any damages.
Armstrong ended years of denial in January during an interview with chat show host Oprah Winfrey in which he described doping as part of the process of winning the Tour.
The 41-year-old has since said he will not agree to be interviewed under oath by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
Armstrong was charged by USADA in June 2012 with using performance-enhancing drugs.

Lakers Hold Off Blazers

Back on the court after days of mourning, the Los Angeles Lakers grinded out a gritty win thanks to a vintage performance from their biggest star.
Kobe Bryant scored 40 points, Dwight Howard had 19 points and 16 rebounds, and Los Angeles capped a trying week with a 111-107 victory over the slumping Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night, AP wrote.
Hours after longtime Lakers owner Jerry Buss was buried, and a day after a moving memorial service punctuated by eulogies from Bryant and other franchise greats, the team got back to basketball with a much-needed victory at Staples Center.
‘’It’s been a tough week,’’ Howard acknowledged. ‘’But as a team and a city and an organization, we’re coming together. And it’s great. We need all the support we can get from our fans, and the Buss family needs the support from us. So we’re getting there. You could see the effort and emotion that we have on the court.’’
During his eulogy, Bryant publicly challenged his teammates in the audience to win a championship in Buss’ memory--even though the Lakers are 3 1/2 games behind Houston for the final Western Conference playoff spot with 26 games remaining.
‘’Kobe said what he had to say. But as a team, we understand how important the second half of the season is for us and what we want to accomplish,’’ Howard said. ‘’We’ve had a lot of ups and downs this year, and we want to do whatever we can to get this right. Kobe and myself understand that. It starts with me and him, as far as being on the same page. And on defense, it starts with me.’’
Bryant scored 11 points in the final 5 1/2 minutes as the Lakers won for the seventh time in 10 games.
Antawn Jamison had 16 points off the bench, helping to hand Portland its season-worst seventh straight loss. The Trail Blazers have lost five consecutive road games and 10 of their last 11 away from the Rose Garden, leaving them 11th in the conference standings.
Portland led 82-80 after three quarters, and the lead changed hands 11 times before Steve Nash’s layup gave the Lakers a 107-105 lead with 1:44 to play. Bryant fumbled the ball out of bounds on the Lakers’ next possession, but the Blazers couldn’t capitalize and Bryant closed it out with four free throws in the final 13 seconds.

Suns Acquire Haddadi

The Phoenix Suns have traded backup point guard Sebastian Telfair to the Toronto Raptors for center Hamed Haddadi and a second-round pick.
The 7.2 center became the first Iranian-born player in NBA history when he made his debut with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2008-09, according to inside hoops, Mehr News Agency wrote.
Haddadi, who played his first four-plus seasons with the Grizzlies (2008-13), was part of the Jan. 30 trade between Memphis and Toronto that sent Rudy Gay to the Raptors.
Haddadi owns career averages of 2.0 points and 2.1 rebounds in 134 career contests, and this season appeared in 13 games for Memphis before the trade. He has not played a game as a member of the Raptors.
Originally signed by the Suns on Dec. 11, 2011, Telfair appeared in 106 games (three starts) for the Suns over the last season-plus. The eight-year pro owns career averages of 7.5 points and 3.5 assists in 535 games (192 starts), and averaged 6.0 points and 2.5 assists in 46 games (two starts) with the Suns this season.

Hannover Star Contracts Tuberculosis

Hannover’s new signing Franca is suffering from tuberculosis and will be out of action for several months but his career is not in danger.
The Brazilian midfielder joined Hanover in January and is likely to have already been infected with the virus when he travelled from his homeland, said Hannover, Reuters reported.
“We are very sorry for Franca but the most important thing is that he recovers and returns healthy,” sports director Joerg Schmadtke said.
“After treatment he will continue his career as a footballer according to the doctors. That is important and good news for him and us.”
Club officials said it was “unlikely” for other players to have the virus but there will be blood tests conducted in the coming weeks.
The 21-year-old, who was far shorter than the 1.9 meters tall man the German team had been expecting when he arrived in January, signed a deal to 2016.

Berbatov Sinks Fulham

Dimitar Berbatov’s stunning volley earned Fulham a priceless 1-0 win over Stoke at Craven Cottage.
Bulgarian ace Berbatov produced the one moment of magic just before the interval with a superb volleyed effort to give Fulham all three points to move them further clear of trouble and add to Stoke’s away day woes, Sky Sport reported.
Jon Walters missed Stoke’s best chance to score when he saw his second half penalty saved by Mark Schwarzer to ensure the home side took the spoils.
Stoke fashioned their first opening of the game on seven minutes when Jon Walters broke the Fulham offside trap to race clear on goal down the right and he fired in a shot which Schwarzer pushed out when finding Matt Etherington inside the box may have been the better option.
Fulham had a goal rightly disallowed on ten minutes when Bryan Ruiz handled the ball into the net, with the Costa Rican earning a yellow card for his troubles from referee Lee Probert.

Pole Man Checa Sets Lap Record on New Ducati

Carlos Checa put his Ducati Panigale on pole in the opening World Superbike races of the season at Phillip Island.
The Spanish Alstare rider posted a scorching time of 1:30.234 on the new superbike--a new record for the series--in topping Superpole 3, Eurosport wrote.
It is the 10th pole position of his career.
“This morning I felt pain in both my shoulder and foot and I really didn’t think I’d be competitive in qualifying and Superpole,” said Checa.
“The mechanics did a great job and made the bike easier for me to ride and by the time Superpole started this afternoon, I felt pretty good really - better than I thought I would.
“We’ll have to see how the tires perform after a lot of laps tomorrow.”
Eugene Laverty put his factory Aprilia second, just 0.195s off the pace, with fastest rider in qualifying Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma Aprilia) third.
“I threw myself into a fast lap using a race tire and I must say that everything went perfectly,” said Irishman Laverty.
“It was just a bit rocky in the turn that comes out onto the straight stretch, but second place is excellent, especially since we’ve worked well on our race pace.”
The second row is headed by Briton Tom Sykes (Kawasaki), who posted the same lap-time as Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet).
Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia) and Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) will start sixth and seventh, ahead of Camier’s British countrymen Leon Haslam and Jonathan Rea (both Pata Honda).

Hannover Star Contracts Tuberculosis

Hannover’s new signing Franca is suffering from tuberculosis and will be out of action for several months but his career is not in danger.