Persepolis Victorious Against 9-Man Zob Ahan

Sports Desk

Popular club Persepolis came from a two goals down to defeat Zob Ahan 3-2 at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium in the 15th round of Iran’s Premier League (IPL) on Monday.
According to ISNA, after just 6 minutes Payam Sadeqian scored an early goal for the visiting team. Nine minutes later, Persepolis defender Alireza Nourmohammadi scored an own goal to give the struggling Isfahan-based club full points of the away game.
Zob Ahan reduced to 10 men in the 24th minute when Saeid Abdollahpour was sent off by referee Mohsen Torki after bringing down Persepolis striker Hadi Norouzi just outside of the box.
After that, Persepolis created good scoring chances and finally pulled a goal back in first-half injury time thanks to flawless unstoppable free kick by captain Mehdi Mahdavikia.
Just 8 minutes before the hour mark Zob Ahan keeper Masoud Homami brought down Persepolis player Hadi Norouzi. The referee showed him a red card and awarded Persepolis a spot kick.
Montenegrin keeper Darko Bozovic, who came to the pitch, stopped Mahdavikia’s penalty kick.
Persepolis put 9-man Zob Ahan under heavy pressure to at least get a home draw and Mohammad Nouri equalized the match in the 75th minute with a nice shot from inside of the box.
Karim Ansarifard scored Persepolis’s winning goal in the sixth minute of the stoppage time to give Persepolis’ 5th win in the current season of the IPL.
Persepolis moved up to 10th spot of the IPL table with 20 points.
Esteqlal dominates the table with 28 points and a game in hand, followed by Malavan and Traktorsazi with 25 and 24 points, respectively.

Dizin Ski Resort Will Reopen

Dizin Ski Resort will be opened next week. Speaking to IRNA, Qorbanali Solaqani, the head of the resort said, “Thanks to the good downpour of snow we can open the resort next Monday. In terms of infrastructures we are ready to host the athletes.”
Dizin Ski Resort is situated to the north of Tehran in the Alborz Mountain Range.
Established in 1969, the ski season in Dizin also lasts longer than European ski resorts (from December to May) because of its high altitude.
This resort reaches 3,600 meters, making it one of the 40 largest ski resorts in the world.
Dizin’s amenities include two hotels, 19 cottages and five restaurants, villas and private apartments around the ski resort, which accommodate thousands of people every year.
It is the first ski and winter sport resort in Iran which has been officially recognized by the International Ski Federation for its capability in administrating official and international competitions.
It gained its official recognition for its physical and technical features such as the course’s slope, length of the course and the place where competitions and races are to be held, as well as amenities and other recreational facilities.
There are also other facilities such as tennis courts and equipment on hire for mountain climbing and mountain biking.
Ski instruction courses are offered at the resort.
At present, Dizin Ski Resort is administered by Iran’s Skiing Federation. The snow quality at Dizin rivals many European and Rocky Mountain snow areas.

Lakers Rip Rockets For 4th Win in 5 Games

After just two practices and two games together, Kobe Bryant already can see Mike D’Antoni’s ideas and schemes improving the Los Angeles Lakers.
Although a triple-double isn’t usually part of Bryant’s game plan, he happily picked it up along with another win for a team that has been revitalized before their new coach has even taken the court, AP wrote.
Bryant had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for his 18th career triple-double, and the Lakers ran past the Houston Rockets 119-108 Sunday night for their fourth victory in five games since firing coach Mike Brown.
Dwight Howard had 28 points and 13 rebounds, and Pau Gasol scored his 15,000th career point among his 17 as the Lakers returned to .500 by running away from their second straight opponent since D’Antoni took over their practices. Although D’Antoni and his surgically replaced knee haven’t even appeared on Los Angeles’ bench yet, his new team is already playing with passion and fluidity it hadn’t showed during a miserable start to the season.
‘’We’re just picking apart the defense,’’ said Bryant, who also had three of Los Angeles’ 10 steals. ‘’We’re putting the defense in predicaments where they have to choose, and we’re making them pay.’’
D’Antoni watched his second straight game from the Lakers’ locker room while interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff ran the bench. D’Antoni decided earlier Sunday to delay his debut, giving him at least a few more days to recover from surgery.
Bickerstaff improved to 4-1 while filling in for Brown and D’Antoni, who announced the longtime NBA coach and executive will remain on his staff - as long as the Lakers beat Houston, D’Antoni joked.

Sterling Will Sign Long-Term Liverpool Contract

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers expects teenage star Raheem Sterling to commit his long-term future to the Premier League club.
Sterling, 17, recently made his England debut after a series of impressive performances for the Reds this season, BBC wrote.
The ex-QPR youngster has 18 months left to run on his current Anfield deal.
“We want him to continue to grow,” said Rodgers. “Why would you want to leave one of the biggest clubs in world football? So it’s a no brainer.”
The Northern Irishman insists Sterling is “in a real good place” to achieve his career ambitions.
He added, “He will tie himself to a new contract because he wants to be here and he can be a great here at this football club.”
Sterling has been linked with a move away from Anfield, with Arsenal rumored to be interested in signing the Jamaica-born player. Sterling had not started a senior match for Liverpool before this season, but has forced his way into Rodgers’ first-team plans and responded with one goal and four assists in 11 Premier League starts. It led to England coach Roy Hodgson, who has described Sterling’s rise as “meteoric”, starting him in the 4-2 friendly defeat in Sweden last week.
He returned to domestic action by creating two goals for Luis Suarez in Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Premier League rivals Wigan on Saturday--leading to further speculation about his future.
“He has been given an opportunity here this season and he is thriving on it and enjoying the work,” Rodgers told Liverpool’s official club website.
“He is so bright and so sharp and what I like now is that you are seeing that little bit of arrogance with the ball.
“He knows he has a lot to learn and a lot to improve on, but you see him and Luis Suarez combining better in each game and that is a tribute to them and how hard they are working on the training ground.

Lorenzo to Ponder Future After 2014

Newly-crowned MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo claims he will re-evaluate his future at the end of the 2014 season.
The Spaniard was speaking just days after Casey Stoner competed in MotoGP for the final time at Valencia, having announced in May that he would quit the sport at just 27, AutoSport reported.
Lorenzo, two years Stoner’s junior, was offered a deal to replace the Australian at Honda, but opted instead to extend his contract with Yamaha for a further two years.
He duly clinched his second world title with the squad, having finished first or second in all but two races--Assen, when he was taken out at the first corner, and the Valencia finale, when he crashed violently while leading.
Speaking at the International Motorcycle Show in Milan, Lorenzo explained he would look to re-evaluate his future in the sport’s premier class when his current deal expires.
“I will race for two more years, then we’ll see,” the Spaniard told Italian journalists.
“At 15, everything is fun, but then the sport can become routine.”
Lorenzo added that Marco Simoncelli’s fatal accident at Sepang last year had also given him cause to question his future.
“The death of Marco Simoncelli was a blow to us all, and made us think that it can happen to any of us, but we know that the risk is part of the sport.”
Lorenzo insisted however that his motivation will not be dimmed heading into next year--not least because of the return to Yamaha of seven-time champion Valentino Rossi.

Iranian Karatekas Ready

The secretary of Iran’s Karate Federation said that the country’s karatekas are fully ready in their fights in France.
Speaking to IRNA, Mohsen Ashouri said, “With the participation of European teams, the level of the competition is high. On the first day of the competition Farid Haqiqi and Zabihollah Poursheib in the 84-kg category and Bahman Askari in the 75-kg category of individual Kata will meet their rivals.”
Paris will host the Karate championship form November 21 for four days.

Serbian Coach Committed To Handball

The deputy of Iran’s Handball Federation said that the country’s coach will remain at the helm of the team.
Speaking to IRNA, Mitra Nouri said, “The Serbian coach has received all of his salary and will remain in the team by June 2013.”
She also added that the main objective for the team is not the 2012 Asian Championship in Indonesia. Iran is gearing up to show a good performance in the 2014 Asian games in South Korea.
She said, “We shouldn’t just focus on the results. We have gained many good results in women’s sports.”
Nouri said that the last round of preparatory camp will be held on November 27 and will run for 7 days. After that 15 players and 3 goalkeepers will be selected for the upcoming games.
North and South Korea, Indonesia, China and Taiwan are in Iran’s Group.

Ajax Appoint Van der Sar as Marketing Director

Former goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has joined the board of Ajax Amsterdam as marketing director, the Dutch club said on Monday.
In a statement the club said Van der Sar, who began his playing career with Ajax and ended it after six years at Manchester United, had joined the board along with Michael Kinsbergen who will be managing director, Reuters reported.
“Van der Sar had a fantastic career and also has natural leadership and therefore the potential to be our managing director in the future,” Ajax CEO Hans Weijers said in the statement.
“Kinsbergen will lead the board and organization in the coming years and also guide Van der Sar in his further development.”
Van der Sar retired in 2011 after a glittering career that brought two Champions League and eight domestic titles.
A number of former players have returned to Ajax in a variety of roles since a major shake-up at the club in 2011.
Frank de Boer is currently the first team manager while Marc Overmars is director of football. Dennis Bergkamp and Wim Jonk are both part of the club’s coaching set-up.

Domenech Hits Out at Ribery, Nasri

Former France coach Raymond Domenech, who led Les Bleus during their 2010 World Cup fiasco, has branded Franck Ribery a “diva”, Samir Nasri a “symbol of selfishness” and said Nicolas Anelka “killed the group”.
In his memoirs “Tout Seul” (“All by Myself”) to be published on Wednesday, based on the diary he kept during his six-year spell as France coach from 2004 to 2010, Domenech assumes little responsibility for the World Cup debacle, Reuters wrote.
France players refused to take part in training to support Anelka at the World Cup in South Africa after the former Chelsea forward was dismissed from the squad for verbally abusing Domenech at halftime in the 2-0 group stage loss to Mexico.
“He killed the group,” Domenech said of Anelka.
However, the former France coach acknowledges that everything was going wrong long before the incident and said he had been “mistaken” about the players he called up for the tournament, especially Ribery.
“He was prone to take offence at everything”, Domenech writes about the Bayern Munich winger, who said last week his club was more important than France.
“A senior player at the 2008 Euro finals had warned me about Ribery but I gave him the keys of the team. What a fool I am...”
Domenech also takes a swipe at Samir Nasri and Karim Benzema, branded an “arrogant” person, who were both dropped from the squad before the World Cup.
“I did not call up (Nasri) in 2010 because I had the same problems with him two years before. He always points at anything that can trouble the group - in that he is no use in a squad”, he said.
The Manchester City playmaker was banned for three games for insulting a reporter at Euro 2012. France coach Didier Deschamps has not called Nasri up since taking charge in July.

Gustavo Undergoes Groin Surgery

Bayern Munich holding midfielder Luiz Gustavo underwent groin surgery on Monday as his team departed for Valencia.