Branco Ivankovic

ISFAHAN, Jan. 16--Sepahan manager, Mohammad Reza Saket, said Branco Ivankovic, former head coach of Iran’s Football Team, is likely to be confirmed as the team’s coach.
“Luka Bonacic has left Sepahan and we will continue to make efforts to get the best result in the second half of the season. Undoubtedly, we would be successful in the rest of the season,“ Saket told ISNA on Wednesday.
Asked about the chances of Branco as Sepahan’s head coach, he said, “Branco has performed well in Iran’s football and is a top candidate for the post while we wait to make the best choice.“
Stating that LukaÊwas not interested in continuing at Sepahan, Saket said, “We appreciate the Croat’s efforts but in professional football, both sides should consider the prevailing conditions. Luka will likely coach Emirates’ Al Nasr.“
Saket stressed that the team has earned fame and many coaches are interested in taking charge of Sepahan, namely Mustapha Denizli and Verner Lorant. Sepahan ranks second in Iran’s Premier League table.

London, Jan. 16--Chelsea continued its winter re-tooling on Tuesday by finalizing a deal to sign Serbian defender Branislav Ivanovic. Ê
According to Sport Network, Ivanovic, 23, has been granted a work permit and the center back will complete his move to Chelsea after passing a physical and signing a contract.Ê
Ivanovic was with Lokomotiv Moscow, who reportedly requested a transfer fee of around $14 million. Terms of the transfer were not announced. Chelsea already spent $29.4 million this winter to sign Nicolas Anelka. Adding Ivanovic could easily push the two signings to well over $40 million. Ê
Ivanovic, who was targeted after John Terry injured his ankle in December, was also drawing interest from Manchester United and Juventus. Ivanovic plays with Manchester United’s Nemanja Vidic in Serbia’s defense. Ê
Ivanovic made his debut for Serbia in 2006 and has played in nine matches. Ê
Chelsea signed Anelka, a former Bolton striker, on Friday.

ZURICH, Switzerland, Jan. 16--Argentina remained top of FIFA’s world soccer rankings following the publication of the almost unchanged official standings on Wednesday.
According to Reuters, with few international teams in action during the past month, the only alteration in the top 20 saw Nigeria climbing one place into 19th spot at the expense of the USA.
Nigeria’s small gain came thanks to a 2-0 friendly win over Sudan played on Jan 9 as a warm up for the African Nations Cup which gets underway on Sunday, Jan 20.
Top 20 teams are as follow(previous position in brackets):
1. (1) Argentina 2. (2) Brazil 3. (3) Italy 4. (4) Spain 5. (5) Germany 6. (6) Czech Republic 7. (7) France 8. (8) Portugal 9. (9) Netherlands 10. (10) Croatia 11. (11) Greece 12. (12) England 13. (13) Romania 14. (14) Scotland 15. (15) Mexico 16. (16) Turkey 17. (17) Colombia 18. (18) Bulgaria 19. (20) Nigeria 20. (19) United States

Andy Turner

London, Jan. 16--Britain’s leading sprint hurdler Andy Turner has been ruled out of the World Indoor Championships in Spain in March after rupturing a disc in his back.
The Commonwealth and European medalist suffered the injury during warm weather training in South Africa, BBC wrote.
“It’s frustrating because I was feeling great. I really felt like I could get a medal,“ he said.
The 27-year-old will be out of action for between two weeks to two months, depending how the injury develops.
At present, he cannot make the 11-hour journey back from South Africa, so for the time being he must stay there and have treatment from UK Athletics’s travelling medical staff.
“I can only stand up or lie flat on my back at the moment,“ he explained. “I’m not allowed to sit down - not even to eat.“

LONDON, Jan. 16--Alan Shearer says Newcastle United do not want him as their next manager because he lacks experience, Goal wrote.
The ex-Newcastle captain says he has the skills for the job, but the club had told him they wanted a seasoned campaigner to succeed Sam Allardyce.
“I got a call from the club to say they were looking for an experienced manager, which ruled me out,“ he said.
“If you want someone to galvanize the dressing room, get them organized and playing then I think I could do that.“
French World Cup winner and former Juventus manager Didier Deschamps is the bookmakers’ favorite for the job after his odds shortened dramatically on Tuesday evening.
“I have had no official approach from Newcastle but I am flattered to be linked with such speculation,“ said the 39-year-old.
Ex-Liverpool and France manager Gerard Houllier and Blackburn boss Mark Hughes have also been linked with the role.
Former Newcastle boss Keegan has also been mentioned in a possible “dream ticket“ with Shearer as his number two.

MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan. 16--Fifth seed Maria Sharapova made short work of beating former world number one Lindsay Davenport with a straight-sets victory to cruise into the third round of the Australian Open.
Davenport, who won here in 2000, was playing her first Grand Slam since giving birth last June and her game was littered with unforced errors, the Press Association said.
Speed around the court was never a strength of the American even in her heyday and she looked pedestrian compared to Sharapova, 11 years her junior.
Sharapova began strongly and raced to a 5-0 lead before Davenport eventually won serve to prevent a first-set whitewash, but the Russian held serve to go one set up in less than half an hour.
Davenport’s trademark powerful serve and solid groundstrokes were discernible in places though and the 31-year-old put up more of a fight in the second set, which went with serve until 3-3.
Sharapova then broke Davenport with a devastating cross-court forehand return and continued in the same vein to clinch the match.
Davenport earned a brief reprieve on match point with a clever winner, but Sharapova powered back to advantage and the American played a weak forehand into the net the second time round.

SINGAPORE, Jan. 16--Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat has set his sights on the United States after enjoying a breakthrough season in 2007, which included two tournament victories and a second place finish on the Asian Tour order of merit.
According to Reuters, the big-hitting 24-year-old won his first significant title when he became the third Thai to lift a co-sanctioned European/Asian Tour event with a wire-to-wire triumph at the TCL Classic in China last March.
Chapchai followed that up with a victory at the Vietnam Masters and managed seven more top-10 finishes to amass nearly $450,000 in prize money just two years after making his debut on the Asian Tour.
Buoyed by his success, the burly Bangkok-native is targeting success outside Asia in the years ahead with a goal of one day plying his trade on the US PGA Tour.
“I want to compete in the United States,“ Chapchai said in a release issued by the Asian Tour on Wednesday.
“However, I hope to finish the 2008 season strongly so that I can see how far I go and how ready I am before I head to America.
“Competing in the US is my ultimate goal but I still have time to prepare. I don’t want to rush into it.“
His attacking style was described as “world class“ by Phil Mickelson when he partnered the American at last year’s Singapore Open and the young Thai is hoping to improve his all round game on courses in a number of continents.
“This year, I plan to play in Asia and Europe,“ he added.
“It will be quite a challenge but I am ready to have a go and try to enjoy a solid start to the year.“Ê

Rafael Nadal

MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan. 16--Rafael Nadal honed some of the weapons he aims to use to end Roger Federer’s domination at the Australian Open.
Serena Williams showed touches of the form that helped her to the last Australian Open title and a 25-1 record dating back to 2003 at Melbourne Park. Each won their second-round matches in straight sets Wednesday without much trouble, AP reported.
Top-ranked Justine Henin had a little more difficulty reaching the third round in her first Australian Open since defaulting the 2006 final, dropping serve three times en route to her 30th consecutive win.
Nadal, the perennial men’s No. 2, had 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 win over Frenchman Florent Serra. He made the third round in his debut in 2004, the fourth round in ’05 and, after missing a year, made the quarterfinals last year.
Against Serra, he displayed some of the shots he hopes will help him end Federer’s dominance at every Grand Slam not played on clay. Nadal is the only player to beat top-ranked Federer in the last 10 Grand Slams--in the finals at Roland Garros the last two years.
His heavy slice and topspin that work so well on clay are well suited to the new, blue Plexicushion surface at Melbourne Park, which seems to be slower-paced and not as spongy as the old Rebound Ace.
He yielded only 10 points while racing through the first set in 22 minutes, committing just four unforced errors. Nadal’s retrieving skills often left Serra muttering to himself and he had no answer in the last game when the 21-year-old Spaniard set up triple-match point with a backhand winner and closed with an ace, his ninth.
With a strong US contingent waving American flags in Vodafone Arena, Williams was clearly the aggressor in a 6-3, 6-1 win over Meng Yuan of China.
Yuan won her own share of fans with her feistiness and refusal to give up on every point. She was nearly flawless in the first set with only one unforced error, and broke Williams twice, but still was overwhelmed by the American’s power on key points.
Williams finished with 35 winners to 18 unforced errors but had trouble with her first serve in the wind, getting only 51 percent into play.

MEMPHIS, USA, Jan. 16--LeBron James scored a season-high 51 points, including 25 in the fourth quarter and overtime, to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 132-124 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night.
As reported by AFP, James made 18 of 28 shots and also had nine assists and eight rebounds as the Cavaliers handed their Grizzlies their fifth straight loss.
James’ 51 points tied Allen Iverson of the Nuggets for the single-game high in the NBA this season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Iverson did it in Denver’s 111-107 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on December 5.
Rudy Gay scored 30 for the Grizzlies, and reserve Juan Carlos Navarro went 6-for-10 from 3-point range on his way to 26 points. Mike Conley had a career-high 20 points, and added seven assists.
The teams were tied at 113 at the end of regulation after Navarro’s 3-pointer with 10.3 seconds left. James missed the game-winner from 19 feet as time expired. Pau Gasol finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who shot 54 percent from the field.
Cleveland shot 53 percent in winning its ninth game in the last 12. Daniel Gibson scored 18 for the Cavaliers, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 14. Drew Gooden finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Memphis trailed by as many as 10 early in the fourth, and at one point, James scored 10 straight Cleveland points. But back-to-back 3-pointers by Gay followed by a James turnover that led to a fastbreak basket by Navarro helped Memphis take a 106-104 lead with 2:55 remaining.

BERLIN, Jan. 16--A television report in Germany is accusing Michael Rasmussen and other cyclists of illegal blood doping at a Vienna lab.
Tuesday’s report by ARD claimed riders Michael Boogerd, Denis Menchov and Georg Totschnig were also among about 30 athletes who received blood transfusions in Austria. Totschnig has already denied the allegations.
The Austrian Interior Ministry is already investigating the Humanplasma lab after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) alleged it was being used for systematic blood doping.
Danish cyclist Rasmussen was removed from last year’s Tour de France for allegedly lying about his whereabouts to avoid pre-competition doping tests. ARD said about two thirds of the 30 athletes came from Germany and many were cross-country skiers and biathlon racers.
But Germany’s biathalon team coach Uwe Mussiggang denied any allegations of doping against his athletes.
He told ARD: “I can not swear on it, because you can’t be together with the athletes 24 hours a day.
“But I personally cannot imagine that any of our team would try to gain an advantage in this way.“
Cross-county coach Jochen Behle added: “People like (Germany-based doping expert) Werner Franke think that everyone is doping, but we prove the opposite. Our successes are clean.“