TEHRAN, Feb. 6--The 14th Asian Junior Men’s Volleyball Championship will be held in Tehran next year.
According to IRNA, the tournament is also considered the world cup qualifying game.
Asian Junior Volleyball Championship is slated for August 23 to September 1. Ê
Teams participating in the 10-day tournament include Iran (host), Pakistan, Kuwait, Oman, China, Qatar, India, Australia, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, UAE, Japan, South Korea, Maldives, Indonesia, Kazakhstan.
Pakistan was originally scheduled to host the championship but declined due to lack of facilities.

A badminton player in action at the 18th Fajr International Tournament which ended in Tehran, Feb. 5.

TEHRAN, Feb. 6--The 18th Fajr International Badminton Tournament ended here on Tuesday.
A total of 21 countries participated in the tourney which was held in single and double categories both in men’s and women’s sections, reported IRNA.
Iranian men’s team was runner up in the double category. Ali Shah-Hosseini and Nikzad Shirazi ranked second after a 2-1 loss to Malaysian players Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif and Vountus Indra Mawan, in the final game. Pakistan and Sri Lanka jointly stood third.
World Junior Badminton champion in 2007, Abdul Latif topped the single category with a 2-0 victory against a Lithuanian, while Malaysia and Spain jointly took the third place.
In the women’s single category, an Italian team won the championship ahead of Portugal and Malaysia.
Iranian players Negin Amiripour, Sahar Zamanian, Saba Soltani and Raha Rad-Afshar, ranked third in the women’s double category.
Malaysia beat Sri Lanka to rank first. A cash prize of $5,000 was awarded to the winners.

TEHRAN, Feb. 6--Iranian Basketball Federation has accepted Australia’s invitation to hold some preparatory matches in the country.
Australian counterpart has offered to host three warm up games from May 15-24 in three unnamed Australian cities. IBF has however requested Australian officials to delay the matches by 10 days, Mehr News Agency wrote.
Iran National Basketball Team had been already invited to Germany, New Zealand, China, Slovenia and Taiwan and the federation has announced its readiness to take part in preparatory matches in these countries.

TEHRAN, Feb. 6--New assistant coach to Iran’s national soccer team, Markar Aqajanian, is in Abu Dhabi to analyze the match between UAE and Kuwait.
Aqajanian flew to the UAE on Tuesday to review the match because Iran is slated to face the two teams as part of the 2010 Asian World Cup qualifiers, Press TV wrote.
“The first matches of international competitions are of great importance to all the teams and could affect the players’ morale directly,“ Aqajanian said before leaving Tehran.
“Nowadays, analyzing rival teams is a key tool and our rivals are sure to send their experts to analyze the Iran-Syria match,“ he added.
He expressed his satisfaction with Iranian team’s progress, saying that their game has improved significantly.

Diego Maradona

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Feb. 6--Diego Maradona has confirmed he would like to return to coaching and expressed his regret at not being offered the job of leading Argentina to this year’s Olympic Games.
According to ESPN, the Argentinian idol revealed he would have liked to coach the Olympic team in Beijing, despite the Argentinian Football Association (AFA) handing fellow World Cup winner Sergio Batista the role.
’I would really like that (coaching),’ Maradona told Radio Del Plata.
’I am very happy for Batista being in the Under-23 side, but that squad was for me. I would have loved coaching in the Olympic Games.’
Maradona added he had been offered the coaching role at Boca Juniors, saying: ’(Club president Pedro) Pompilio asked me if I would like to manage Boca, but I rejected because (Miguel) Russo was still at the helm.’
Maradona’s coaching career began in 1994 when he was named coach at Deportivo Mandiyu, but moved to Racing Club a year later.
During that time he registered just three wins as a manager from a combined total of 23 games in charge of both clubs.

SYDNEY, Australia, Feb. 6--Australia are set to oppose a plan to introduce a revolutionary new starting block at this year’s Beijing Olympics. The official timing suppliers have designed a new block with an angled foot hold at the back, similar to the types used in athletics.
According to Reuters, the makers believe the new starting platforms will improve times by up to one-tenth of a second.
However, Australian head coach Alan Thompson believes using them in Beijing will be unfair because most competitors will not have had enough time to experiment with them.
“Everyone thinks the blocks are a great idea, but we won’t have any time to practice on them before the Olympics,“ Thompson told The Australian newspaper on Tuesday.
“If we’re not ready to do it properly before the Olympics, let’s not rush it. I think the blocks have to be more widely available first. “We need to practice and race with them. While they are not readily available, it puts some people at a disadvantage.“
The makers of the block have installed a prototype in the ninth lane at the Olympic pool in Beijing, while swimming’s world governing body FINA is set to vote on the introduction of the new blocks during the world short-course championships in Manchester in April.
Thompson, who is the secretary of the FINA coaches committee, believes the blocks will be approved, but is pushing for a date after the Beijing Olympics.

COLORADO SPRINGS, USA, Feb. 6--Cyclist Stephen Alfred has been banned for life from USA Cycling-sanctioned events after refusing to take an out-of-competition doping control test, AP said.
Refusing a test without compelling justification is a doping violation under the rules of US Anti-Doping Agency and Union Cycliste Internationale, the international cycling federation. USADA said Tuesday it was the third violation for the 40-year-old Alfred, of Capitola, Calif.
Alfred had tested positive for banned substances in 1998 and 2006, USADA said.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) congratulates forward Pau Gasol after he scored a layup against the New Jersey Nets in their NBA game in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Tuesday.

NEW YORK, Feb. 6--Pau Gasol marked a successful debut for the Los Angeles Lakers by scoring 24 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in a 105-90 road victory over the New Jersey Nets on Tuesday.
Acquired from the Memphis Grizzlies last week, the Spanish forward-center sat out Sunday’s contest because of a sore back but enjoyed a stellar first game on a night when Lakers All-Star Kobe Bryant managed just six points, according to Reuters.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he was ’not surprised’ at Gasol’s output.
The 24 points by Gasol were the most scored by a debuting Lakers player since Magic Johnson had 26 in his first game as a rookie in 1979.
Bryant, playing the last three quarters with a dislocated right little finger, was 3-for-13 from the field and was held to single digits for the first time in over a year.
He also had seven turnovers while contributing eight assists and five rebounds and working well with Gasol, who also had four assists.
Derek Fisher weighed in with a season-high 28 points to help overcome the tough offensive night recorded by Bryant.
Vince Carter scored 27 points and Bostjan Nachbar had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Nets.
Cleveland’s LeBron James took center stage with 33 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds in a 114-113 home triumph over Boston as the Cavaliers recorded their second victory of the season over the Celtics, who lost despite shooting 57 percent.
Tim Duncan had 19 points and 15 rebounds to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 116-89 road triumph over the Indians Pacers, who lost their seventh straight game.
The Philadelphia 76ers hit the visiting Washington Wizards with a 17-0 run in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 101-96 victory.

PARIS, Feb. 6--Out of form former French world number one Amelie Mauresmo got off to the perfect start in search of a morale boosting tournament win here on Tuesday with an easy 6-1, 6-2 win over American qualifier Julie Ditty, reported AFP.
Mauresmo’s chances of lifting the title for a third time improved also with the defeat of titleholder Nadia Petrova, the Russian seeded fifth going down 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-4 to Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine.
Mauresmo, 28 and coming off a disappointing Australian Open where she went out in the third round, took less than an hour to dispose of the 29-year-old American, who is ranked 101 in the world and whom she had not played since their junior days.
“I can take a lot of positives out of this victory,“ said Mauresmo, who has two Grand Slam titles to her name both coming in 2006 at the Aussie Open and Wimbledon.
The Frenchwoman, who won the title in 2001 and 2006, will face Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou in the second round.
“She (Daniilidou) is a more aggressive player than Ditty.
I am very wary of her. It will be a hard match to play,“ added Mauresmo, who has given her coach Loic Courteau a week off. Petrova put her defeat down to the in-form Bondarenko, who is ranked 43 in the world and recently won the women’s doubles title with her sister Alona at the Australian Open, due to a lack of confidence which has seen her fail to win a tournament since landing the crown here last year.

CALGARY, Canada, Feb. 6--Jarome Iginla tied it with 9 seconds left in regulation, then scored the shootout-winner as the Calgary Flames overcame a three-goal, third-period deficit to beat the Phoenix Coyotes 4-3 on Tuesday night, reported AP.
With goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff pulled for an extra attacker, Iginla scored his 33rd goal of the season--his first goal in 11 games--into the top corner and over the blocker of Ilya Bryzgalov.
A few minutes later, Iginla, the third Calgary shooter, scored on a deke to his backhand to put the Flames into the shootout lead. Steven Reinprecht missed the net on Phoenix’s final attempt, giving Calgary the victory.
Dion Phaneuf scored the other goals in the third period for Calgary.
Nineteen-year-old rookie Peter Mueller had all three goals for Phoenix, which blew a chance to move past Calgary in the tight Western Conference playoff race. The Coyotes finished 2-1-2 on its five-game road trip, and head home in ninth, one back of a playoff spot.
Trailing 3-0, Calgary finally got on the scoreboard at 7:01 when Phaneuf converted a pass from Alex Tanguay on a power play.
The goal ended a stretch of 141 minutes and 24 seconds since the last Flames goal, which was scored by Daymond Langkow in the second period of Saturday night’s 2-1 loss to the Dallas Stars.

LONDON, Feb. 6--Antonio Tarver is adamant Joe Calzaghe will have to do more than beat Bernard Hopkins to become a true two-weight great, Yahoo Sports reported.
Calzaghe moves up a division in Las Vegas on April 19 to clash with ex-middleweight champion Hopkins--holder of the Ring belt after the magazine nominated him the world’s best light-heavyweight in the wake of his 2006 win over Tarver.
But brash 39-year-old American Tarver insists the true champion will emerge from the previous week’s promotion in Tampa, Florida.
There, he will challenge Sheffield’s IBF title holder Clinton Woods, while WBC champion Chad Dawson defends his crown against former world title-holder Glen Johnson.
The plan is for a showdown between the two winners to find the top man at 175 pounds.
Tarver, insisting he is fully focused on becoming a real-life fighting star again after taking a year out to be Rocky’s final opponent in the last Sylvester Stallone boxing film, at least recognized Calzaghe might just be something special.
But his American promoter Gary Shaw also dismissed the relevance of Calzaghe against Hopkins in the current light-heavyweight shake-up.
Hopkins’ last fight, a point victory over former middleweight holder Ronald ’Winky’ Wright, was made at 170 pounds, a weight between the super-middle and light-heavy limits.