TEHRAN, Jan. 30 ÐIran’s National Football Team was held to a 0-0 draw by Costa Rica in a friendly match on Wednesday here at Azadi Stadium.
Iran is set to play against Syria on February 6 in the 2010 World Cup qualifications and a match against Costa Rica was in preparation for this game, Mehr News Agency wrote.
Mansour Ebrahim- Zadeh headed the team while Afshin Peyrovani assisted him.
Newly-appointed Javier Clemente will coach the team in the Syria match.

Mehdi Karbasian

TEHRAN, Jan. 30--The 18th Fajr International Badminton Tournament will be held from February 2-5 at Tehran’s Shiroudy Gymnasium.
“The tournament is to be held in single and double categories in men’s and women’s section.
The Fajr tournament is considered a prestigious event and well-known players participate in the competitions,“ ISNA quoted Mehdi Karbasian, head of Iran’s Badminton Federation, as saying.
He added that the competitions will officially kick off on Saturday.
The women will take part in the tourney in the mornings while the men’s competitions are scheduled in the afternoons.
According to him, a total of 23 countries will participate in the event including Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the US, Morocco, Portugal, Iceland, Slovenia and Peru.
Karbasian said, “West Asia Badminton’s office is based in Tehran and the annual assembly will be held on February 4. Asian Badminton Confederation’s general manager and the World Federation’s vice president will attend the meeting accompanied by delegates from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Iraq and Syria.“
A cash prize of $5,000 will be awarded to the winners, said Karbasian.
He underlined that Iran aims to qualify for the 2010 Asian Games badminton event and employing an Indonesian coach has helped the advancement of the sport.

TEHRAN, Jan. 30--Behzad Katiraei was appointed head of Iran’s Karate Federation on Wednesday.
The election for the federation’s presidency was held at Enqelab Sports Complex and Katiraei was elected with 44 votes in favor, said IRNA.
Ten candidates had registered for the post, including Saeed Ashtian, Fatollah Hassanlouei, Alireza Souri, Farhad Sharif and Ahmad Ali Akbari.
Meanwhile, Mohsen Ashouri will remain the federation’s secretary.

BERLIN, Jan. 30-- Bundesliga league leaders Bayern Munich booked their place in the German Cup’s quarter-finals with a convincing 5-2 win at third division minnows Wuppertal on Tuesday night.
According AFP, with four third round ties played on Tuesday night, Germany striker Miroslav Klose scored twice in the first half for Bayern, but the hosts equalized twice to make it 2-2 at half-time.
Bayern’s Belgian defender Daniel van Buyten netted on 50 minutes, before Italian World Cup winner Luca Toni put the result beyond doubt with a fourth goal and Hamit Altintop completed the rout with a fifth two minutes from time.
Bayern’s league rivals Werder Bremen crashed out of the German Cup when they were beaten 2-1 at Borussia Dortmund when Italian midfielder Giovanni Federico and Spanish striker Diego Klimowicz scored either side of half-time for the hosts.
Bremen’s Brazilian midfielder Diego hit a late penalty for the guests, but it was too little, too late.
Second-division 1860 Munich enjoyed a stunning fight back when they scored three goals in just six minutes as they turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win at Alemannia Aachen and sealed the win two minutes from time.
Hosts Aachen were cruising into the last eight with a 2-0 lead late in the game, but Munich’s Danny Schwarz led the fight back on 83 minutes before striker Mustafa Kucukovic put them level on 85 minutes and midfielder Fabian Johnson hit the winner two minutes from time.
Second division Hoffenheim claimed the scalp of Bundesliga strugglers Hansa Rostock with a comfortable 2-1 win.

BRAsILIA, Brazil, Jan. 30--Brazilian swimmer Rogerio Karfulkenstein was suspected of doping violation after he failing a drug test last December.
According to Xinhua, the test was taken during the Open Tournament when the swimmer won a bronze medal in the 50-meter breaststroke.
The athlete has been summoned by the Brazilian Confederation of Aquatic Sports to explain the positive test result.
Karfulkenstein alleged that he took diverse doses of medication to treat a knee injury prior to the event.
He said that one of the medications he took may have provoked the positive test. The athlete added he will retire from the sport and that there is no need to analyze the sample B test.
Despite the swimmers decision to quit, the panel of doctors who make of the Brazilian Confederation of Aquatic Sports have issued a two-year suspension from the sport to the athlete.
Apart from the formality, Karfulkenstein will lose his bronze medal that he won in the Open Tournament.
This is the first case of doping since the case against Rebeca Gusmao.
Last year, Gusmao, who won the gold medal in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle in the Pan-American Games in Rio de Janeiro, was accused of taking testosterone.
The athlete maintains her innocence and asked for an analysis of the sample B test.
The sample B test verified the results of the first test, and as a result, the athlete was forced to return her medals won in the games of Rio de Janeiro.

SHEFFIELD, UK, Jan. 30--Clinton Woods will defend his IBF light-heavyweight title against Antonio Tarver on April 12 and then attempt to set up a fight with Joe Calzaghe.
Making his fifth defense, the English fighter will take on the 39-year-old former undisputed champion in Tampa, Fla., a week before Calzaghe faces Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas in the same weight division.
“It is a fight I have been longing for,“ Woods said Tuesday of the Tarver fight. “He told me he would beat me years ago. Well, now he has got the chance.
“He can’t run any longer because the deal has been made. It is smell-the-coffee time and he is going to find out the hard way what a thorough beating is all about.“
According to AP, Tarver captured the world title by knocking out Roy Jones Jr. in 2004 but lost it to Bernard Hopkins two years later.
“If Joe Calzaghe gets past ’granddad’ Hopkins the week after I make mincemeat of Tarver, he can come looking for me. I’m ready for Calzaghe any time and any place and he knows it.“

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Jan. 30--Nigeria forward Osaze Odemwingie has warned the rest of the tournament that his team mean business after their ’miracle’ qualification.
The Super Eagles beat Benin 2-0 while Ivory Coast defeated Mali as Nigeria scraped into the last eight and a quarterfinal meeting with Ghana, FIFA wrote.
“We asked for something of a miracle and it happened,“ said Odemwingie, who is suspended for Sunday’s match. “We showed great mental strength. Rule us out at your own risk.“
The victory for Nigeria sparked scenes of celebrations in the Super Eagles camp as the west African nation avoided elimination at the group stage for the first time since 1982.
Odemiwingie, 27, had an excellent game against the Squirrels, setting up John Obi Mikel for the opening goal. Yakubu Aiyegbeni made the result safe for Nigeria five minutes from time--and with Ivory Coast comfortably defeating Mali, the Super Eagles finished second in Group B on goal difference.
“We are now up against the host team and if we want to progress in this competition, we will have to beat them as well,“ added Odemwingie.
Didier Drogba was on the score sheet as Ivory Coast won their third straight game.
The heavily-fancied Elephants will now play Guinea for a place in the semifinals--but the Chelsea striker is refusing to talk up his team’s chances of winning the tournament.

Jacques Rogge

DUBLIN, Ireland, Jan. 30--Moscow beating Singapore to win the right to host the inaugural Youth Olympics in 2010--the brainchild of International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge--would be like Christmas in August for the athletes, a leading director for the bid told AFP.
Alexander Chernov, who is assistant to the deputy mayor of Moscow, said that unlike their senior counterparts many will not have travelled before and the experience for them would be unforgettable.
“All the stadia and facilities are in place including the village,“ Chernov told AFP by telephone from Moscow.
Both Moscow and Singapore--who are judged to be the favourites to take the prize which will be announced towards the end of February after a postal vote of IOC members--beat off opposition from seven rivals including 2004 Olympic hosts Athens to make the shortlist.
Chernov is adamant, though, that despite Rogge’s insistence that the preferred winner should be a city that is unlikely able to ever host a senior Olympics that Moscow, having hosted the Olympics in 1980, is not out of the running.
“Only two of the original nine candidates would be judged incapable of hosting a summer Olympic Games and they were Poznan (Poland) and Debrecen (Hungary).
Chernov claimed that the fact the Black Sea resort of Sochi had won the right to host the 2014 Winter Olympics--they won at the same IOC get together in Guatemala City where Rogge won his argument for the Youth Olympics--was a bonus rather than a drawback for their bid coming so soon after the decision.

ALBUQUERQUE, USA, Jan. 30--Johan Bruyneel has a message for the cycling community: Forget last year’s troubled Astana team.
According to AP, Bruyneel, the architect of Lance Armstrong’s seven Tour de France victories, raised eyebrows a few months ago when he took over a team that was shamefully dismissed from last year’s Tour amid a doping scandal.
Last year’s Tour de France champion, Alberto Contador, and other Astana riders are in Albuquerque, which rests at mile-high elevation. Training at altitude provides an endurance advantage for riders after they return to sea level.
Yet as Bruyneel’s riders negotiate high desert roads and attack a winding highway to the Sandia Peak Ski Area, he agrees there’s another huge challenge facing Astana: reforming the team’s image.
The Kazakh-based Astana team endured a Tour de France doping scandal in which top rider Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for a banned blood transfusion. Astana also wasn’t invited to the Spanish Vuelta.
Team organizers at Kazakhstan’s national cycling federation could have turned away. Instead, they asked former Russian cyclist and Astana team director Viatcheslav Ekimov, a longtime support rider for Armstrong, to approach Bruyneel.
The pitch: Become the team’s general manager, not just the coach, and restore Astana’s name.
Bruyneel was impressed by the importance of cycling in Kazakhstan, pointing to a $150 million velodrome under construction as an example of how much the nation supports the sport.
Not long after Bruyneel agreed, Contador joined Astana, along with top American rider Levi Leipheimer. Both had raced for Bruyneel with the Discovery team, and both were eager to join simply because Bruyneel was in charge.

Dallas Stars Marty Turco (35) stops Vancouver Canucks Brad Isbister's shot attempt during second period NHL hockey action in Vancouver, January 29.

VANCOUVER, Canada, Jan. 30--Mike Modano and Stephane Robidas scored three minutes apart early in the second period, and Marty Turco made 29 saves, leading the Dallas Stars to a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night
According to AP, Trevor Daley and Steve Ott also scored for the Stars, who ended a two-game losing streak to stay tied with the San Jose Sharks atop the Pacific Division.
Ott’s short-handed goal 7:30 into the third period became the game winner when Ryan Kesler scored with 7:30 left for Vancouver and Markus Naslund added another with 1:20 left.
But the slumping Canucks didn’t manage another shot and now have just one win in their last six games and two in their last nine.
Curtis Sanford started in goal for Vancouver while star stopper Roberto Luongo continued to spend time with his pregnant wife at their summer home in Florida. Sanford, playing his second game since Dec. 15, didn’t last long.
Beaten from the goal line in the first period, Sanford was pulled after giving up another two goals -- a 56-foot one-timer by Modano and Robidas’ power-play point shot between his legs --just 4:31 into the second.
Henrik Sedin tied it from the slot less than three minutes later, but Dallas took over with two goals early in the second, and Drew MacIntyre took over for Sanford, whose night ended with just eight saves.
Turco made a handful of highlight saves, including a point-blank stop off Taylor Pyatt in tight; a sliding, stacked-pads effort to take away an empty net from Mattias Ohlund on the power play; and a couple of against Daniel Sedin from close range. Kesler finally beat him from the slot with 8:50 left.