Vicente Del Bosque

Lothar Matthaus

Javier Clemente

TEHRAN, Jan. 23--Mohammad Aliabadi said that the head coach of Iran’s National Football Team will be named within the next 10 days.
“We told the federation to select the coach as soon as possible. I don’t know who will be the coach since the federation will make a decision,“ the head of Physical Education Organization told IRNA.
Stressing that Iran’s head coach should be strong, he added, “The coach has to have managerial skills while we don’t have financial problem for employing a first class coach.“ A number of top coaches such as Lothar Matthaus, Javier Clemente and Vicente Del Bosque are candidates for the job.

TEHRAN, Jan. 23--Iran will participate in the First Asian Beach Games in Bali, Indonesia.
According to Mehr News Agency, the First Asian Beach Games Bali 2008 is slated for October 18-26. Iran will participate in the games with almost 100 athletes.
Ali Kaffashian, secretary general of Iran’s Olympic Committee, has requested the officials to announce their teams’ position to obtain better results from the games.
Organizers say the event, which will include beach handball, beach soccer, beach sepak takraw, beach volleyball, body building, dragon boat races, jet ski competitions, marathon swimming, paragliding, sailing, triathlon and wood ball, will take place at various venues along the beaches of Kuta, Sanur, Serangan, Benoa Harbor and Jimbaran. Bali is hoping to draw some 5,000 athletes from at least 45 countries to compete in 13 beach sport competitions at the event.

TEHRAN, Jan. 23--Iran’s Greco-Roman wrestling team is likely to take part in a tournament in Belgrade, capital of Serbia.
According to ISNA, the federation has received an invitation from the Serbian organizers to take part in the event scheduled for mid-February.
Mohammad Dalirian, the Greco-Roman wrestling team manager, said that the team will likely participate in the tournament. “We are going to test our wrestlers in Serbia. The event will help us choose the best wrestlers for the Asian Championship in South Korea,“ he said.

TEHRAN, Jan. 23--Twelve weightlifters have been invited to the training camp of Iran’s National Weightlifting Team in Kish Island.
The preparatory camp begins on February 20 ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the Asian Weightlifting Championship in Japan, reported IRNA.
The 20-day camp will be headed by Bahman Zare and Liu Yuhung as coaches.
Iran’s junior weightlifting team is also holding a camp in Kish Island.

PHILADELPHIA, USA, Jan. 23-- The New Jersey Devils scored five power play goals on the way to a dominating 7-3 road win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.
New Jersey tied the team record for power play goals in a game and came within one of their franchise mark, established before the team moved from Colorado in 1982, Reuters said.
“Top to bottom it was a good game for us,“ Devils left wing Zach Parise told reporters.
“The power play was working tonight.
“In all aspects of the game we did really well. In our own zone we played well and we were skating which cause them to take a lot of penalties,“ added Parise, who scored his 17th and 18th goals in the win.
The Devils have won their last five games against the Flyers and are 15-1-1 against them over the last 17.
Philadelphia coach John Stevens was predictably disappointed with the result, particularly since the Flyers had come into the game on a 10-1-1 roll.
“I was excited about this opportunity,“ he said.
“I was kind of tired of hearing: ’You guys are playing great but here comes the Devils.’ We made that fear come true.“

Arsenal's Danish Striker Nicklas Bendtner (l) complains to Captain,William Gallas, during second leg of the Carling Cup semifinal in the White Hart Lane Stadium on Tuesday.

LONDON, Jan. 23-- Juande Ramos could have been forgiven for basking in the spotlight after Tottenham routed Arsenal to reach the League Cup final.
But the Spanish coach was keen to let his players take the credit for the dazzling 5-1 semifinal second leg victory which clinched a 6-2 aggregate success and left Arsenal so frustrated that Emmanuel Adebayor became embroiled in an ugly spat with Nicklas Bendtner, AP wrote.
Adebayor appeared to butt Bendtner late in the match as Arsenal prepared to defend a corner, leaving the Dane with blood on his nose.
There was no obvious spark to the clash but the feuding teammates had to be kept apart by William Gallas. At full-time Adebayor was stopped from going down the tunnel at White Hart Lane, presumably to let him cool down before being in close proximity to Bendtner again.
To see Arsenal in such disarray only made success all the sweeter for Spurs, who finally ended a miserable nine-year run of 21 matches without a win over their north London rivals.
As if reaching their first cup final for six years wasn’t enough, Ramos’s side had done it by inflicting their heaviest defeat on the old enemy for 25 years.
Ramos had an exceptional record in knockout competitions at Sevilla and now he has taken Spurs to Wembley only four months after arriving at the club.
It is easy to see why Tottenham’s directors were so keen to lure him away from Spain. But Ramos was disarmingly honest about his role in the Spurs resurgence.

LONDON, Jan. 23--Mosley Motorsport boss Max Mosley has warned that any Formula One team found guilty of spying in the future can expect to be kicked out of the championship.
McLaren were fined £50 million and lost all their constructors’ championship points after the 2007 spying controversy, but their drivers stayed in the title race.
“Next time, I don’t think they would stay in the championship,“ Mosley told BBC. “In McLaren’s case everybody said ’Oh, $100 million’. The alternative was to exclude them. That’d have been more expensive.“
Despite their team’s punishment, McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were allowed to stay in the 2007 drivers’ championship, finishing second and third respectively behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Mosley, president of motorsport’s governing body the FIA, warned teams that no repeat of the spying scandal would be tolerated next season.
“You can never stop what someone has got in his head, but we can stop the transfer of information in written or electronic form,“ said Mosley. “If you are prepared to check, and we have demonstrated that we are, then somebody using such information would be very unwise because in a modern F1 team you cannot do it without leaving traces and we will find those traces.“

DUBAI, UAE, Jan. 23--Asian clubs champions Saba of Iran overcame first quarter lethargy to beat spirited Dubai’s Al Ahli in their Group B match for a quarterfinal berth in the 19th Dubai International Basketball Tournament at the Al Ahli sports hall Tuesday, reported Khaleej Times.
Saba, playing in the colors of Emirates Airlines trailed, 19-22 in the opening quarter. But the former two-time west Asia champions showed a remarkable recovery to take the next three quarters 27-14, 39-29, 53-51 to clinch victory.
Saba’s Makan Dioumassi from France was the day’s top scorer with 30 points for his side. Teammate Karam Ahmadian chipped in with 29. American William Pippen of Amlak Finance-sponsored Dubai’s Al Ahli, scored 27 points followed by Mohammed Mubarak (17) and Modic Johnson (16).
The defeat was Al Ahli’s third successive loss in the tournament having lost to Dubailand and Steelfab.
Al Ahli put up a brave performance against Saba with American William Pippen spearheading the early attacks. Though Hamed Ehdadi of Saba powered his side to a 7-5 lead, Al Ahli took up the challenge to draw level 7-7 and 9-9. Saba’s Dioumassi scored two points from the free-throw line but Moosah Abdullah and American Modic Johnson hit back with three-pointers each to give Al Ahli a 15-11 lead.
Johnson was in irresistible form from there on and with the support of countryman William Pippen and Moosah Abdullah, gave Al Ahli 22-19 first quarter lead. Karam Ahmadiyan pulled Saba early into the match in the second quarter as he converted one free throw and scored two points a few seconds later to reduce the scores 24-23.
Al Ahli, however, started to lose ground three minutes from the end of the quarter, with many passes going astray. For more than a minute they could not find the basket as Saba shot past to take the quarter 39-36.
Saba’s coach Mehran Shahintab admitted the first quarter was difficult for his side as their opponents shot from outside and it was difficult to stop them. “We made a lot of mistakes also in the first quarter. But we have the experience and we managed to take control.“
With the quarterfinal slot assured, Shahintab said their task now was to beat last year’s finalists Al Jalaa, playing in the colors of Dubailand to be able to top Group B.
Results: Saba (Emirates Airlines) bt Dubai’ Al Ahli (Amlak Finance) 97-80.
Monday’s results: Mahram (Sama Emirates) bt Al Ittihad (Continental Real Estate) 90-84; Al Hikma (Plus Real Estate) bt Al Jazeira (Aramex) 71-66.

Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash (r) drives by the defense of Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Vilanueva in the fourth quarter in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

NEW YORK, Jan. 23-- Steve Nash helped the Phoenix Suns overturn a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit and post a 114-105 road victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.
According to Reuters, the All-Star guard scored 15 of his season-high 37 points in the final period and tallied 10 assists in total as Phoenix became the first team in the Western Conference to reach 30 wins this season.
The Suns are 30-12, second only to the Boston Celtics (33-6) for the best record in the league.
Phoenix also continued their domination of Milwaukee, winning 30 of the last 34 games against the Bucks since March 28, 1991. During that run, the Suns are 20-0 against the Bucks in Phoenix.
Amare Stoudemire had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Raja Bell also scored 19 points for the Suns, but the stage belonged to Nash.
“That’s what he means to us,“ Bell told reporters. “If he doesn’t get those opportunities (to score) you can pretty much bank on the fact that he will find the guy who is wide open.
“If teams choose to play us like that, it’s fine because he is probably our best shooter.“
The Suns were also bolstered by the return of Grant Hill to the starting line-up, the guard coming back less than two weeks after undergoing an appendectomy on January 9.
He had eight points in 27 minutes.

NEW YORK, Jan. 23--Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) against his four-year ban for failing a drugs test in 2006, Reuters wrote.
The 25-year-old was initially banned for eight years by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) but it was reduced after an appeal this week. But Gatlin could now be cleared in time to compete at the Beijing Olympics.
“Mr Gatlin is taking the next steps in recovering his right to defend his gold medal,“ said lawyer Maurice Suh.
“While there are many possible avenues that we are currently exploring, the appeal of the arbitration panel decisions are a critical component of his defense.“
The athlete’s other options include appealing to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) or filing a federal lawsuit. Usada confirmed an arbitration panel had voted 2-1 for a four-year ban, meaning Gatlin will not be able to race until May 24, 2010.
Gatlin, the 2005 world 100m and 200m champion, gave a positive test for testosterone at the low-level Kansas Relays in April 2006. The American has accepted testing positive but claims he never knowingly used banned substances.
It was his second failed drugs test and, under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code, he should have been given a lifetime suspension. But Usada, in exchange for Gatlin agreeing to cooperate with its anti-doping campaign and in recognition of the exceptional circumstances of his first failure, imposed an eight-year ban.