Torres to coach Azerbaijan

Baku: Carlos Alberto Torres, who captained Brazil to the 1970 World Cup title, has been named Azerbaijan’s national coach.

The 59-year-old Brazilian, who replaces Asker Abdullayev, signed a one-year rolling contract to guide the Azeris through the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.

“I want to share my knowledge and experience with Azerbaijan but it’s going to take some time to get results,” Torres said.

He had previously coached in Egypt, Oman, Nigeria and in his native Brazil with Flamengo, Botafogo and Fluminense.

Azerbaijan have been drawn in European Group Six along with England, Wales, Poland, Austria and Northern Ireland.

The Brazilian's first test will come on Wednesday when the Azeris take on Israel in a friendly international at the National Stadium in Tel Aviv.

World meet in September

Kochi: Top chess players of world will participate in the world junior chess championship to be held here from September 15 to 29.

India will field at least 60 players, including medal hopes Grandmaster P. Harikrishna, national champion M. R. Venkatesh and world junior silver medal winner and GM Koneru Humpy, said P. T. Ummer Koya, secretary All India Chess Federation.

The defending champions are Shakhariyar Mamedyorov from Azerbaijan in the boys’ section and Nana Dzavnidze from Georgia in the girls’ category. Surya Sekhar Ganguly was ranked eighth in the last tournament held at Azerbaijan.

Gardener equals mark

Karlsruhe: Jason Gardener of Britain tied his own five-year-old European record in the 60 meters, running 6.46 seconds at the Karlsruhe indoor athletic meet.

Haile Gebrselassie, the two-time Olympic champion in the 10,000, also turned in one of the year’s best times, racing through the 3,000 in 7:29.34 on Monday.

Ivan Heshko of Ukraine ran the fastest 1,500 of the year in 3:35.15, while Maria Mutola of Mozambique also had the best women’s 800, running 1:57.48. Merlene Ottey was last in women’s 60 metres at 7.29.

Three rookies in Italy squad

Milan: Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni has called up three uncapped players for Wednesday’s friendly against the Czech Republic in Palermo.

The Sampdoria pairing of defender Stefano Bettarini and midfielder Sergio Volpi, along with Parma midfielder Simone Barone, are set to make their debut in Sicily.

Bettarini’s call-up at the age of 32 is a surprise but, like teammate Volpi, he has caught the eye in Sampdoria’s impressive return to Serie A this season.

Barone, 25, will have a chance to reunite with his former Chievo partner Simone Perrotta in the centre.

Troussier tactics

Paris: Qatar manager Philippe Troussier, helped by new Fifa regulations, is looking to include French players in his squad to boost the country’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup. In October, Fifa modified its naturalisation rules which were exploited by several players at the African Nations Cup. Brazilian-born Francileudo dos Santos was granted Tunisian citizenship shortly before the Nations Cup and ended up as one of the leading goal-scorers in the competition.

Squillaci injury

Paris: Monaco’s Sebastien Squillaci will be out of action for at least a month after he injured his leg in the French Ligue 1 leaders’ 0-1 defeat by Lille on Saturday. Squillaci’s setback provided another blow for the team as they have had to do without injured Ludovic Giuly for two weeks.

Sport on Screen

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