TEHRAN, Feb. 13--Tamas Ajan, president of International Weightlifting Federation, said that Hossein Rezazadeh does not belong to the Iranians and he is an international lifter.
“Hossein is a kind man who belongs to the world. Iranians, particularly Rezazadeh have earned a pretty good position in the world. We hope to see him in good shape in the upcoming Olympics,“ he told reporters at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium prior to the Namjoo International Weightlifting Championship.
Asked about Iran’s weightlifting position after the doping crisis, he said, “Iran has a key role in the world and has introduced a number of great lifters, therefore should fight doping. We ought to penalize Iranian offenders such as a father who punishes his child.“
Ajan praised Iran’s facilities and said he is amazed by the well-organized stadium, IRNA wrote.
He pointed out the Namjoo Weightlifting Championship is a prestigious tourney which can be held yearly.
Ajan concluded that talented lifters can insure Iran’s future in the 2012 London Olympic Games.

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--Iran’s National Football Team has been invited to a friendly against the US in May 2008.
Announcing this, Ali Kafashian, secretary general of Iran’s Olympic Committee and president of Iran’s National Football Federation, said that head of international strategies and development of United States National Olympic Committee Dragomir Cioroslan, during his visit to the country, called for a friendly match with Iranian footballers prior to the World Cup Games.
However, he noted that the team will participate in the event once Iranian officials gave the go-ahead, ISNA wrote.

Javier Clemente

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--Iran’s soccer federation has rejected a suggestion by prospective new coach Javier Clemente that he would commute to Iran from his native Spain, casting doubt on his chances of landing the job, Reuters wrote.
“We don’t want a remote control coach,“ soccer federation chief, Ali Kafashian told ISNA news agency late on Tuesday, a day after Clemente signed a contract to take charge of the three-times Asian Cup winners for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.
He said that the Iranian side had yet to sign the contract and it had added a paragraph under which Clemente, 57, could travel to Spain twice a year.
“And if he should decide to travel more he would have to seek the federation’s permission,“ said Kafashian, who is secretary general of Iran’s Football Federation (IFF).
“We don’t want a flying coach and if Javier Clemente does not accept our conditions we will consider other alternatives. Even though Clemente has signed the contract we have not as yet signed it,“ he said.
The former Spain and Serbia coach told a Spanish daily this week he would continue to live in the Basque Country and would travel to Iran to prepare for matches.
“I will live in my house on the beach in Zarautz and travel to Tehran a week or two before the games and whenever is necessary,“ he told sports daily AS.
“To be coach of Iran you don’t have to live there. You can only see one match live at a time and the rest you have to study on the video and as far as I know the video works the same in Tehran and Zarautz.“
However Kafashian said: “It would not be acceptable to us for him to make decisions on the national football team by watching the league games (on video).“
Clemente was sacked by Serbia in December after failing to steer his team to this year’s European Championship finals which are being co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland.
He faces the enormous task of transforming the Iranian team into a respectable force and living up to fans’ expectations.
Iran got their World Cup qualifying campaign off to a disappointing start when they were held to a 0-0 draw by Syria last Wednesday. Iran and Syria contest the all-Middle East Group Five with the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
Clemente managed Spain from 1992 to 1998 and has coached several clubs including Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao.

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--Iran’s Football Federation has deducted six points from Persepolis’ overall scores following a request by FIFA based on a complaint lodged by former Persepolis player, Rafael.
Azizollah Mohammadi, IFF’s vice-president, said the decision was made because the football club delayed payment of the foreign player’s debt.
“Persepolis should pay 142,000 euro to the company which transferred Rafael to the team. FIFA’s deadline for paying the fine is February 18“, he told IRNA on Wednesday.
Persepolis ranks second with 34 points as Saba Battery jumped to first place with 35 points.
The team is to play Peykan on Friday in the 18th week of the Iran’s Professional League.

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--Iran’s National Archery Team is set to leave for Thailand on February 25 to compete in the First 2008 Asian Archery Grand Prix.
The 14-member team includes both men and women archers, Mehr News Agency reported.
Reza Zamaninejad, Parviz Sadeqi, Majid Ahmadi, Sakineh Qasempour, Mahboubeh Shahriari, Akram Shabani and Ensieh Haji-Anzahaei, are to compete in the compound category. Recurve archers include Milad Vaziri, Keivan Riazi-Mehr, Hamzeh Safaei, Hojjatollah Vaezi, Houman Heidari, Najmeh Abtin and Afrouz Molavi.
Head of Iranian Archery Federation, Karim Safaei, will attend the first seminar of Head of Asian Federations to be held concurrent with the event.

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--Iranian referee, Shahram Arbabi, has been selected by the International Taekwonodo Federation (ITF) to officiate in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Arbabi has been selected from among 300 candidates who were tested by ITF, Mehr News Agency wrote.
Holding an international referee license, experience of officiating at international matches, as well as a good command of English, were among the ITF criteria for selecting Olympic referees.
Arbabi and 27 other referees will attend ITF Umpire Training Course to be held prior to the event.
The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is scheduled for August 8-24.

DELRAY BEACH, USA, Feb. 13--The weather put a damper on the 411,000-dollar ATP tournament here Tuesday, with top-seeded American James Blake among those who had their matches disrupted by rain.
Blake led compatriot Robert Kendrick 3-2 when a fresh outburst of rain halted the match after less than 20 minutes, reported AFP.
The first-round contest was to resume Wednesday, as were matches between third-seeded American Sam Querrey and Russian Yuri Schukin, and sixth-seeded American Vincent Spade and Germany’s Denis Gremelmayr.
Earlier on a rainy, blustery day, eighth-seeded Mardy Fish shrugged off a rain delay to beat Italian Marco Crugnola 6-1, 7-5.
Michael Russell beat the rain and fellow American Alex Bogomolov Jnr., needing just 49 minutes to Bogomolov 6-1, 6-0, in one of only three matches completed before the rain suspended play in the afternoon.
Russian Igor Kunitsyn defeated German Benjamin Becker 6-3, 7-6 (7/1), and Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller posted a 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) victory over American wild card Jesse Levine.
Muller recorded his first win on the ATP Tour since last June at Wimbledon.
After helping the United States open defense of its Davis Cup title, Blake is the top seed at this hardcourt event.
Ranked 12th in the world, Blake reached the final here last year, losing to Belgium’s Xavier Malisse 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Blake’s path was smoothed on Monday when Malisse, a finalist here the past four years, and second-seeded German Tommy Haas, were both upset in the first round.

SAO PAULO, Brazil, Feb. 13--Troubled Brazilian international striker Adriano could face over a year’s suspension for assaulting another player during a match last Sunday it was revealed by his club Sao Paulo on Tuesday.
According to AFP, the 25-year-old, who has been on loan there from Serie A side Inter Milan since December with a view to helping them try and win the Copa Libertadores, risks between four to 18 months on the sidelines after headbutting Santos defender Domingos during the 3-2 win for Sao Paulo for which he was sent-off.
He will go before a tribunal on Monday.
His career has been freefall since appearing at the 2006 World Cup and returned with the agreement of Inter to recover from alleged weight and drink problems.
Inter claimed that the barrel-chested forward looked great last December after a period of rest and were looking forward to welcoming him back but instead he was loaned to Sao Paulo.
The striker was an instant hit in his first two seasons at Inter but has fallen by the wayside, suffering injury problems and a loss of form.
He has featured just four times in the league this season, scoring only once, and was almost transferred away from the San Siro in the summer.

Giovanni Trapattoni

DUBLIN, Ireland,
Feb. 13--Giovanni Trapattoni is to become the next Republic of Ireland manager on a two-year contract, his current club Red Bull Salzburg said.
The Italian, who succeeds Steve Staunton, will begin his duties after the completion of the Austrian League season in late April, BBC wrote.
Trapattoni verbally agreed to take the job on Sunday evening.
Claudio Gentile is expected to be part of his backroom staff but it is not clear if Liam Brady will be involved.
Former Republic midfield player Brady is understood to have encouraged Trapattoni to take the Republic position.
Trapattoni’s appointment ends a long-running saga which followed Staunton’s departure from the job in October.
FAI chief executive, John Delaney confirmed on Monday that a board of directors meeting would take place on Wednesday to approve the appointment.
Delaney held further discussions with Trapattoni and the 68-year-old’s advisors on Tuesday before the deal was formally agreed.
Trapattoni won six Serie A titles with Juventus and one with Inter Milan. He also led Bayern Munich, Benfica and Salzburg to league titles and managed Italy from 2000 to 2004.

MIAMI, USA, Feb. 13--J.R. Smith made a career-best eight 3-pointers and scored 28 points, Kenyon Martin added 24, and the Denver Nuggets edged the Miami Heat 114-113 in overtime Tuesday night. Carmelo Anthony scored six of his 22 points in overtime for Denver, which has won three straight.
Dwyane Wade scored a game-high 29 points, but missed a 22-footer at the buzzer for Miami--which has lost eight straight and 23 of its last 24 games.
Wade--who also had 10 assists--made a 3-pointer with 2:36 left in overtime to tie the game at 110, then dove over the first row of seats in a futile effort to grab a loose ball a minute later. On that possession, Anthony Carter made two free throws, putting the Nuggets up by two with 1:26 left, according to AP.
Anthony added two more free throws with 54.1 seconds to play, and Ricky Davis’ 3-pointer with 33.6 seconds left got Miami within a point. Anthony missed with about 10 seconds remaining, Miami controlled the rebound and Wade dribbled up the left side of the floor to one of his favorite spots.

DENVER, USA, Feb. 13--Samuel Pahlsson rammed in a rebound with 4:21 remaining in the third period, Teemu Selanne added his first goal of the season and the Anaheim Ducks won their fifth straight by beating the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 on Tuesday night.
According to AP, the Ducks also broke a string of six straight regular-season losses at the Pepsi Center, spanning more than five years.
It was Pahlsson’s second game back from an abdominal injury that sidelined him for 21 games, and first goal since Dec. 10.
Anaheim concluded its franchise-record nine straight road games on a winning note. The Ducks went 5-3-1 on the road swing, which was briefly interrupted by the All-Star game.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 32 shots and Ryan Getzlaf had an assist, the 100th of his career.
Anaheim has won all five games since Selanne made his debut on Feb. 5 against the New York Islanders.
Jose Theodore turned back 27 shots, but had his season-best three-game winning streak snapped.
Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said Ryan Smyth could suit up again as soon as Thursday night against St. Louis. Smyth has missed 18 games with a fractured ankle.

NEW YORK, Feb. 13--Jeff Feagles, who became the oldest man to play in the Super Bowl when he helped the New York Giants defeat the New England Patriots this month, will be back for his 21st NFL campaign next season.
Feagles, who turns 42 in March, has signed a two-year contract extension, the club said on Tuesday, Reuters wrote.
He has not missed a game in 20 years, playing in a record 320 consecutive regular-season contests. That is 38 more than second-placed Jim Marshall, a defensive end who played for Minnesota and Cleveland from 1960-79.
Regarded as one of the best directional kickers, the bald Feagles is the league’s career leader for punts (1,585), yards (65,793) and punts inside the 20 (508). He has a career gross average of 41.5 yards and a net average of 35.7 yards.