Iran to Challenge Russia In London Games

11
Nasri Apologizes
June 28, 2012
France midfielder Samir Nasri issued an apology for insulting a journalist
after his team were knocked out of the Euro 2012 quarterfinals by Spain
last Saturday.
Sports
Iran to Challenge Russia
In London Games
T
he often overlooked sport of wrestling did its best to grab the spotlight when the United States and
Russia staged a highly publicized exhibition in New York’s Times Square in June.
The Americans held serve on their
home soil, beating their longtime rivals
4-3, but expect a different theme when
the action moves to London this summer.
Russia takes wrestling as seriously as
any nation in the world and often dominates in the Olympics. The country won
three freestyle gold medals in Athens,
three more in Beijing and could match
that haul again at the London Games, AP
reported.
“For Russian standards, this is probably
a lower team than they’ve had. But make
no mistake. They’re very, very good,” US
national freestyle coach Zeke Jones said.
Russia’s main competition likely will
come from Iran, which boasts a promising crop of young wrestlers, along with
Azerbaijan and the US.
Iran’s medal contenders include 2011
world champions Mehdi Taqavi Kermani
at 66-kg and Reza Yazdani at 96-kg. Hassan Rahimi also could push for gold at 55kg, especially now that Viktor Lebedev is
uncertain for London after he was upset
in the recent Russian Nationals.
Azerbaijan has a pair of freestyle gold
contenders in Yabrail Hasanov and Sharif
Sharifov, along with reigning Greco-Roman
champion Ravshan Bayramov at 55-kg.
No country in the world qualified more
wrestlers than the United States, which
will compete for 17 of the 18 gold medals up for grabs at the ExCel Center from
Aug. 5-12.
But the Americans have just one favorite, Jordan Burroughs, and there’s a
possibility the US could bring home only
one wrestling gold medal for the third
straight games.
Burroughs, who won two NCAA titles
at Nebraska, made a smooth transition to
freestyle wrestling last year and won the
world championship in Istanbul. The New
Jersey native is the popular pick to win at
74 kg, which could see a world-championship rematch between Burroughs and
Iran’s Sadeq Goudarzi.
Former Iowa State star Jake Varner,
heavyweight Tervel Dlagnev and Pennsylvania native Jake Herbert also are
medal contenders, but none of them are
expected to bring home the gold.
Jones said one of the strengths of the
American team is it’s much more experienced than it has been in recent years.
“I just think the expectations of the program are always high,” he said. “We want
to do well. Each guy is capable of winning a gold medal. We’ve really been able
to do everything we need to be ready.”
Former Michigan State star Franklin
Gomez, now wrestling for Puerto Rico, is
hoping to get another crack at Russian favorite Besik Kudukhov after losing their
gold-medal match in Istanbul.
Perhaps the most stunning result of the
recent world championships was Cuban
Mijain Lopez losing to Turkey’s Riza
Kayaalp in the Greco-Roman heavyweight final.
Lopez won gold in Beijing and is about
as big of a favorite as there will be in London. If he happens to run into Kayaalp
again, it should be among the most compelling matches in London.
On the women’s side, Japan figures to
dominate much like it did in Athens and
Beijing.
Two-time defending gold medalists
Saori Yoshida (55-kg) and Kaori Icho
(63-kg) are heavy favorites in their respective weight classes. Yoshida would
equal Russian great Aleksandr Karelin’s
12 international titles if she wins in Lon-
don, while Icho is hoping for a third gold
to go along with a staggering seven world
championships.
Canadian Tonya Verbeek, who’s spent
much of her career in Yoshida’s shadow,
will again try to overtake the world’s best
at 55-kg. Icho’s main competition could
be Hungary’s Marianna Sastin, though
the Americans are high on Russian-born
Elena Pirozhkova, who grew up in Greenfield, Mass.
Japan might also take gold at 48-kg,
with six-time world champion Hitomi
Obara Sakamoto competing in her first
Olympics.
None of the Russian female wrestlers are favored to win. But Russia is
still expected to fly back from London
with more wrestling medals than anyone else.
Schweinsteiger to Face Italy at Semis
Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger is fit to face
Italy in Thursday’s Euro 2012 semifinal.
The 27-year-old has been struggling with an ankle ligament injury sustained in February, but coach Joachim
Loew has confirmed his playmaker is ready to start in
Warsaw.
Italy are giving intensive treatment to three players
ahead of the match.
Defenders Ignazio Abate and Giorgio Chiellini have
muscle complaints, as does midfielder Daniele De Rossi,
BBC wrote.
Italy team doctor Enrico Castellacci refused to be
more specific about the trio’s chances of making Thursday’s game, other than reassuring fans: “We are doing
everything possible.”
Germany striker Miroslav Klose, 34, plays his club
football in Rome for Serie A side Lazio.
The veteran forward explained on Tuesday how he
Mercedes Eying More Podiums
For Schumacher
Michael Schumacher has been tipped
to deliver more podium finishes by his
Mercedes team bosses, but they insist his
Valencia achievement does not change
the timetable for sorting out his future.
The seven-time champion turned the
corner on a frustrating run of reliability
problems this season to
charge through the field
in the European Grand
Prix and finish behind
race-winner Fernando
Alonso and runner-up
Kimi Raikkonen.
It was the first time
that Schumacher has
finished on the podium
since he returned to F1 at
the start of 2010, and Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug reckoned that
the result was vital going forward.
“It is important and more podiums
will come when we give him the car he
needs in terms of speed and reliability,”
Haug said in an exclusive interview
with AUTOSPORT.
“His lack of results this season are
not down to the driver, and in fairness to
him he could have definitely had in excess of 60 or 70 points if we would not
have had technical issues--which would have
been good for him and
good for us in the constructors’ championship.
We did not get it because
we got it wrong.
“But I think we have
the right to push, and if
you push you are more in
the risk zone than if you
are slower and reliable. So in the third
year we are still learning. But considering we have quite a limited budget compared to the others, all in all the job we
have done and the direction is good.”
plans to use his Italian to eavesdrop on the opposition and
relay any of Italy’s tactics to his German team-mates.
“I’ll try to be a bit of a spy and pass on any bits I hear,”
he said.
“I should be able to pick up a few sentences and pass
them on if they are helpful. I don’t think it will be too
loud [inside National Stadium] for that.”
Loew reiterated the importance of the influential Schweinsteiger to his team after the midfielder participated
in a full training session with the rest of the squad on
Monday.
“He has fantastic stamina,” said Loew. “We will get a
good performance [from him].
“He is one of our leaders. He has matured tremendously over the last few years and I think in the first three
group games he was very good.”
Nadal Made
To Work Hard for Win
World number two Rafael Nadal overcame a slow start to beat Thomaz Bellucci in the first round at Wimbledon.
The 2008 and 2010 champion was
broken twice in going 4-0 down in the
first set to his Brazilian opponent but recovered to take it on a tie-break, BBC
wrote.
His progress from
there was straightforward, the Spaniard completing a 7-6 (7-0) 6-2
6-3 win.
Elsewhere, fifth seed
Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga
defeated 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt in
straight sets.
Hewitt’s loss, along with Bernard
Tomic’s four-set defeat by Belgian wildcard David Goffin, contributed to Australia being without a man in the second
round for the first time since 1938.
Frenchman Tsonga goes on to play
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez for a place in
the last 32 and is a potential quarterfinal
opponent for Nadal.
On the back of a record-breaking
seventh French Open title, Nadal certainly could have had an easier firstround challenge than
the one presented by
Bellucci.
The world number
80 produced a series of
fizzing forehands to get
Nadal on the back foot,
only to implode in the
tie-break after the second seed regrouped.
A further Bellucci
wobble in the second set allowed Nadal
to extend his lead and, although the underdog registered a break in the third,
Nadal was always unlikely to be derailed.
News in Brief
Cavendish Targets Double Success
Britain’s Mark Cavendish is aiming for double success this
summer by helping teammate Bradley Wiggins to win the
Tour de France before claiming Olympic gold for himself in
London.
Cavendish, 27, has won 20 stages in the Tour and last year
claimed the green jersey as the best sprinter, BBC wrote.
But he has altered his training this year to cope with the dual
challenge of the Tour, followed a week later by the Olympic
men’s road race.
He will go into the Tour, which starts in Belgium on Saturday, 4kg lighter than in previous years. As a result, the reigning world champion has given up some of his famous finishing speed, in return for greater endurance.
“I’m exactly where I want to be with my
body shape and weight and my power,” Cavendish told BBC Sport.
“I was always famed for how fast I was in
the sprint. I’m not quite that fast anymore but
I can get to a lot more finishes than I could in
the past.
“We wanted to sustain how I’m going right now a week beyond the Tour de France. I can’t afford to be in Paris on my
hands and knees.”
As a result of this change of approach, Cavendish is less
likely to be so dominant in the big, bunch sprints on the Tour’s
flat stages, but more likely to feature at the end of bumpier or
more technical days.
There are three key reasons for the change, the more pointy
profile of this year’s Tour; the need to stay fresh for a similar
course in London; and the simple fact that Team Sky has a loftier goal in mind than the green jersey Cavendish so memorably
won in Paris last year--the overall winner’s yellow jersey.
Pato Expects Beckham to
Inspire England Olympic Team
AC Milan’s Brazilian star Alexandre Pato believes Great Britain will be a team to be feared in the Olympic football tournament, especially if they include his old team-mate David
Beckham.
Pato, 22, is preparing to feature in his second Olympic
Games, aiming to deliver a gold medal having won bronze
with Brazil in Beijing four years ago. Brazil face Great Britain
in a pre-Olympics friendly at the Riverside Stadium on July
20, PA Sport reported.
The likes of Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Gareth Bale, Frank
Lampard, Joe Cole and Craig Bellamy have
all been tipped for Great Britain selection, and
Pato told Press Association Sport: “David has
a lot to give in terms of his professionalism,
in training, his expertise and his experience. If
he can play for Great Britain at the Olympics
he will be a real asset.”
He added: “As a passer, a shooter, a free-kick expert he is a
great asset and we do have to be very careful with him in these
positions.”
Pato hopes that is the only time they cross paths in the coming weeks, saying: “I hope I will only meet them in the friendly because in the Olympics they will be a very difficult side to
beat, especially at home.
“This will be the third time London has hosted the Olympics and football is very important here and I think Great Britain will be going for the title. Football is very important in
Brazil and of all the times we have played at the Olympics we
have never won a gold medal.
Hodgson Hits Back Over Rooney
England manager Roy Hodgson has defended Wayne Rooney
after former boss Fabio Capello made ‘cheap’ jibes over his
performance at Euro 2012.
Capello criticized the striker on Italian radio this week,
claiming he does not understand English and only plays well
for Manchester United, not his country.
Rooney, who was suspended for the first two games of the
tournament, was visibly short of his best in the two matches
he did play, including the quarterfinal exit to Italy, Sky Sport
reporteds.
Although the front man did score his first goal at a major
tournament since Euro 2004--a point-blank
header against Ukraine in the final group
match--he has often struggled to influence
matches for England in the way he regularly
does at club level.
But Hodgson was unimpressed by Capello’s appraisal and has hit back at his successor, insisting Rooney’s attitude in Poland and Ukraine was
faultless.
He told talkSPORT, “Capello is entitled to his opinions, I
suppose. I don’t know what relationship he would have had
with Wayne but I always think it’s a bit cheap to kid on a player who was so anxious to do well.
“His attitude [at Euro 2012] was magnificent. He was
putting in extra work in training because he was concerned
he was behind the others having missed the first two games
through suspension.
“He was trying to do extra work and we were trying to put
the brakes on. His desire to do well was enormous.
“In the final game [against Italy] he, along with one or two
other players, didn’t play to the level he can but that’s what
football is about. If every player was a robot and played at the
same level in every game then football would be a very simple
game and we wouldn’t need coaches.”