The mighty Mount Everest.

New Delhi: Taming the mighty Mount Everest by climbing the world’s highest mountain peak is no longer a feat. Apparently, hurtling down its icy, steep, rugged peaks is.

A six member team of the rugged Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), a specialized para-military force which was created to guard the Indo-Tibet border, is all poised to create a world record by skiing down the mighty Mt Everest down from the Chinese side of the cold, brutal slopes.

The team which had been flagged off from New Delhi last month, has already scaled the peak and have spoken to their base camp via satellite phone. The ski run down the 8,848 mts peak is expected to begin within this week.

“The six-member squad will now begin the ski down from the Chinese side, which the force is attempting this time as part of its golden jubilee celebrations,” ITBP spokesperson Deepak Pandey told reporters.

The team members comprise of Ratan Singh Sonal, Pradeep Kumar Negi, Pasing Sherpa, Devendra Singh, Birendra Singh and Kishore Prasad Gurung. The six members of the 23 member ITBP team have scaled the Mt Everest from the Chinese side of the slopes which are more rugged and tougher than the ones looking down Nepal.

If the ITBP team pulls the ski run off, they would be the first Indian team to do so.

Sachin Tendulkar

NEW DELHI: Indian ace cricketer Sachin Tendulkar wants to keep his oath taking ceremony in the Rajya Sabha “under wraps.”

Tendulkar, according to media reports here, has officially asked the secretariat of India’s Upper House to facilitate his oath taking ceremony in private in the room of the Rajya Sabha chairman.

Media reports also said that the oath taking ceremony is due on Friday, after the cricketer with the longest list of cricketing record` against his name, was nominated as a parliamentarian by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government along with actress Rekha, among others.

India’s parliamentary tradition mandates that new members of parliament to be administered oath in the House when it is in session, those nominated when the House is adjourned, are allowed to take oath in the privacy of the Chairman’s chamber.

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Australian Luke Pomersbach has been charged with attempted rape.

NEW DELHI: An Australia cricketer playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been booked for attempting to rape a 27-year-old US citizen of Indian origin at a five star hotel here.

27-year-old Australian player Luke Pomersbach has been accused by the victim of trying to rape her in her own hotel bedroom and beating up her fiancé when he tried to intervene.

Pomersback, who plays for Bangalore Royal Challengers has been arrested and charged under sections of 354 of the Indian Penal Code (for outraging modesty of woman), 323 (hurt), 454 (lurking, house trespass) and 511 (attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment).

The victim in her complaint said that Luke “forced” himself over to her flat for drinks, while she was hosting a do with her fiancé and friends.

“When I retired to the bedroom, he slipped inside and tried to rape me. When my fiancé tried to intervene, he hit him badly,” police complaint reads.

Reacting to the incident IPL Chairman and Congress member of parliament Rajiv Shukla said that the IPL organizers could not be held responsible for the incident.

“Let the law take its course,” Shukla said.

Earlier this week, a drunken Shah Rukh Khan, a well known Bollywood actor was involved in a scuffle at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, after he was not allowed to celebrate his team Kolkata Knight Riders win at the venue.

Last week an Indian TV news channel had claimed, naming a few cricketers, that matches were being rigged in the tourney.

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Shahrukh Khan

NEW DELHI: Denied permission to celebrate, a drunk Shahrukh Khan got into a messy scrap with a Mumbai stadium’s cricket officials, after the former’s team Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat the Mumbai Indians.

Shah Rukh and his entourage which religiously follows the matches of their team the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), had wanted to celebrate at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium after winning the match against the host team, the Mumbai Indians, when officials of the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) which oversees the affairs of the stadium allegedly switched off the stadium’s flood lights, which enraged the Bollywood superstar, who was otherwise jubilant with the win.

Speaking to reporters a senior police official confirmed that Shah Rukh was indeed drunk when the incident happened. Iqbal Sheikh, Mumbai assistant commissioner of police (ACP), confirmed on Thursday that film star and Kolkata Knight Riders’ owner Shah Rukh Khan was in a drunken state when he was involved in a late Wednesday night brawl at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

“Shah Rukh was drunk. He was smelling of alcohol but he was not drinking at the Wankhede stadium. It is not an offense. He was also abusing and threatening the MCA officials,” Mumbai assistant commissioner of police Iqbal Sheikh said.

“I took him out and separated him because the incident was turning ugly. While being taken away he was showering abuses on MCA and BCCI officials. We are investigating the matter,” the official further said.

The incident has cast a slur on the affairs of the Indian Premier League, even as a news channel claimed in an investigative news story that matches in the Indian cricket’s ‘cash cow’ tourney were being fixed by players in return for money.

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Malaysia women football team.

HANOI: Ho Chi Minh City will play host to the 2012 ASEAN Football Federation Women’s Championship to be held September 13-22.

The move is expected to boost women’s profiles in the country and improve the construct of women and sport, activists and women’s rights advocates told Bikyamasr.com.

The tournament will be divided into two groups, with Vietnam, Myanmar Singapore and the Philippines in group A, and Thailand, Laos, Indonesia and Malaysia in group B.

They will compete in a round robin format to select the two group winners and runners-up for the semi-finals.

The host team Vietnam will play Singapore, while Myanmar will face the Philippines in the opening matches of the tournament.

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Indian children playing cricket.

New Delhi: In the rest of India, playing cricket can fetch you fame and glory. In the conflict ridden Jammu and Kashmir state, playing cricket can get you bullet.

Asking for the return of cricket ball, which landed accidentally into a university vice chancellor’s house, was reason enough for the police shoot in the air at the University of Kashmir.

A leading national news channel NDTV has reported that the incident occurred on Monday morning during a cricket match being played near the Vice Chancellor’s lodge.

“A player went to fetch it, a policeman deployed there asked him why are you trespassing into restricted area and the duo exchanged heated words. However, the matter was sorted out and the match commenced,” the channel said quoted witnesses, adding that the police returned again after a while beating up the cricket players and resorting to a aerial firing.

“Players sustained injuries in police action,” adding that flash demonstrations were held against the police action.

Cricket is one of the most popular games in India, equally followed with passion and gusto across regional, religious as well as class barriers.

Youngsters play street cricket in a desolate lane in Pakistan.

NEW DELHI: It’s not just boxing greats who like to bite off ears, amateur cricketers love to tear off earlobes too it appears.

In a scene reminiscent of the infamous bout between former World heavyweight boxing champions, Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, an auto driver in the suburbs of Chennai bit off the ear of another man over an argument while playing a match of cricket.

The police in Chennai, the capital of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu have arrested the auto driver.

The incident occurred at a cricket match among residents of Thiruniravur town, who had picked two teams from amongst themselves and were playing at a school ground.

At the match, the auto driver, Ravi, picked up an argument with Jaisankar, but teammates pacified the two. But after the match, Ravi and Jaisankar re-started the argument. Enraged by what Jaisankar had said, Ravi in a fit of rage bit the former’s right ear and cut off a piece of the earlobe.

Jaisankar then proceeded to the Thiruninravur police station where he filed a complaint with his right ear still bleeding. He was operated upon at the nearby Stanley Medical College and Hospital where surgeons stitched back the part of the earlobe that was beaten off by. Ravi has been arrested and is cooling off his heels in jail.

Former Australian cricket team captain Steve Waugh.

NEW DELHI: A company promoted by Australian cricket hero, Steve Waugh, is linking up with real estate developers to design and plan sports facilities and spaces in upcoming housing townships in India.

More than a business idea, the move is aimed at providing leisure and sports grounds to a growing number of middle and upper-middle class Indians moving into apartments in fast urbanizing India.

Developers cashing in on the housing demand hardly plan for sports and leisure facilities and the Steve Waugh founded Sporting Edge Communities, hopes to fill this void.

According to Gautam Gadgil of Sporting Edge Communities, they will be targeting 25 cities which have 25 acre and above townships that hold over 2,000 dwellings.

Gadgil said, the company is already in talks with developers in Delhi, Maharashtra and Gujarat, to include sports infrastructure in their plans.

The specialty of Sporting Edge Communities is to provide expertise to set up infrastructure for a number of disciplines in sports, not merely aimed at producing sportsmen, but also a healthy lifestyle for those living in the townships and large condominiums.

Already, Sporting Edge Communities has clinched deals in two Indian cities — Pune and Coimbatore. In a third city close to Kolkata, the company has begun work to set up its first facility after tying up with the Shrachi Group based in Kolkata.

Basketball, tennis, soccer, swimming and fitness besides of course cricket where Sporting Edge Communities’ founder, Steve Waugh, has achieved iconic status will be the areas that the company will concentrate on, according to Gadgil, who is its India partner. It will also take on board other sporting icons, including swimming champion and Aussie Ian Thorpe, to brand the facilities.

Gadgil added that the facilities will be funded by a model that involves generating revenue from contributions made by the township’s residents and the neighboring communities.

Gadgil claimed the company has invested heavily in branding as well as intellectual property rights of the model and estimates they will break even in less than a year of the projects materializing.

He said, the projects in Coimbatore and Pune will be on stream by the end of 2013 and the one in Burdwan, near Kolkata in mid-2013.

Ahly Club logo

CAIRO: The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) decided to dispatch a military plane to carry the mission members of al-Ahly football team from Mali after Bamako airport was reopened for air traffic movement.

In a press release on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Amr Roshdi, informed Bikyamasr.com that coordination between the Council and the Ministry is being maintained for carrying the football mission and their accompanying media personnel back home.

Mali is suffering now from a shaky security situation after a military coup that toppled president Amadou Toumani Toure.

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Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan puffing awat at a cigarette.

New Delhi: We know he’s ‘smoking’ hot, but Shahrukh Khan is fast turning out to be the bad boy of Bollywood, at least during cricket matches.

After being taken to task over smoking during a cricket match at the popular Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2009, Khan’s lighting of the taboo tobacco stick during a match in Rajasthan has triggered controversy again.

A local magistrate Shilpa Samir has issued summons to the actor after a complaint was filed by Anand Rathore, a director of a local cricket academy in Rajasthan’s Jaipur. Khan has been asked to remain present in the court premises on May 26.

Khan was seen smoking at the Sawai Man Singh stadium on April 8, during a match between IPL teams Rajasthan Royals and the Kolkata Knight Riders, a team which is partially owned by Khan.

“Smoking publicly is banned in Rajasthan since 2000 under the Rajasthan Prevention of Smocking Act. However, Shahrukh Khan was smoking publicly in front of thousands of spectators. The actor was broadcast live while smoking on the TV channel which was showing the match,” Rathore’s lawyer told reporters here.

In 2009, during the IPL, which was held in South Africa that year, South African anti tobacco vigilante organization National Council Against Smoking (NCAS) had complained about Khan’s penchant for smoking during the high-octane cricket matches and had even asked the organizers that the actor should be evicted from the stadium for defying South African smoking laws.

Tendulkar, who turned 39 on Tuesday and became the first person to score 100 centuries at the international level this year, has already been tipped as one of the favorites to win India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.

President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday formally approved Sachin Tendulkar’s candidature on Thursday along with other dignitaries such as glamorous actress Rekha, renowned businesswoman Anu Aga, among others.

All the names were first recommended by prime minister Manmohan Singh to the union home ministry who later forwarded it to the president of India for formal clearance.

Article 80 of the Indian Constitution allows the President to nominate 12 persons, who are specialists in their field of expertise.

Political parties across ranks have welcomed Tendulkar’s entry into the House of Elders.

Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury said: “It will look nice if he comes to Parliament. It will encourage sports.”

The opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and parliamentarian Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “Sachin is a great player. We are proud of him. If Sachin is being nominated surely he would devote some time to the Parliament.”

Born in Mumbai, Sachin made his debut in the international cricket arena in the late 1980s at the age of 16. Tendulkar has since won most individual batting records up for grabs and is regarded as the greatest player to have ever played the game.

Memorial mural for Port Said riot, American University in Cairo Tahrir, photo by Pete Willows for Bikya Masr

CAIRO: Egypt’s Ismailia Criminal Court has adjourned the stadium massacre trial until May 5 and ordered that defendants be remanded in custody.

The court will hold successive sessions starting on May 5 through May 9, to hear testimonies by the chief forensic doctor and prosecution witnesses.

Defendants are accused of killing 73 and injuring 254 more fans of al-Ahli Club in a February match versus Port Said’s al-Masri team.

The court also ruled on Tuesday to include the Interior Minister, chairman of the National Sports Council and chairman of al-Masri Club as opponents in the civil suits filed by families of the victims. Lawyers should be allowed to have copies of the file, the court said.

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Brasil 2014 logo

NEW DELHI: Promoting India as an incredible tourism destination is India’s ‘goal’ at the 2014 World Cup scheduled to be held in Brazil.

According to India’s tourism minister Subodh Kant Sahai a promotional media blitzkerg showcasing brand ‘Incredible India’, will be splashed all over the South American landscape.

Sahai, said the government was looking at using the BRICS (a collaborative among the countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) connection to help push forward the campaign.

“We are looking at the FIFA World Cup for big-time advertisement of India as a tourist destination as part of our plans to market India. The idea is to garner as many eyeballs as possible,” Sahai said.

“Brazil will share its expertise with the other two in Beach Tourism while South Africa will focus on national parks and Eco-Tourism. India will provide inputs on Rural Tourism,” the Minister said speaking of joint tourism promotion efforts.

The comments come not too long after the BRICS summit in New Delhi held last week.

The Football World Cup is just one among many events in BRICS countries that India plans to use to promote tourism.

“Compared to many other parts of the world, BRICS is better equipped to deal with tourism as they have more experience. What’s more, we will be partnering half the world,” Sahai added.

The five BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — make up half the world’s population, are the fastest growing economies of the world and make up nearly a fifth of the world’s economic output.

“We are also looking at advertising during the London Olympics in July 2012,” said Sahai adding that the year 2013 could be declared as the India-China Tourism year provided diplomatic relations between the two countries do not strain.

In its 12th five-year plan (2012-2017), India wants to increase its international tourism arrivals by one percentage point. This would involve a growth of 12 percent per year in the sector over the next five years.

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Indian archers win on field, but face struggle at home.

NEW DELHI: With no money to repair her house, India medal winning archer has been forced to sell her bow for a few thousand rupees.

Archer Nishi Rani Dutta’s (21) story echoes several other sports stars, who have been ignored by India’s sports officials and industry, which has been almost exclusively backing cricket as the currency sport of India.

“My family is poor and we live in a mud house which needed repair. There was no money for it. I had to sell my bow to repair it,” said Nisha who is one of three siblings in the Dutta household in Jamshedpur, in Jharkhand district.

Nisha claims that she sold her Rs 4 lakh bow for Rs 50,000 so that she could repair the roof before the oncoming monsoon season here.

As a professional archer, Nisha had won the silver medal in the South Asian Championship and had also won the bronze in Bangkok at a Grand Prix. At the Asian Grand Prix in 2007 held at Taiwan Nisha had bagged the best player award.

India’s sports minister Ajay Maken has expressed regret that Nisha had to take such a step.

“It’s an unfortunate incident. The incident has come to my knowledge through the Sports Authority of India. We would extend all kind of help to the athlete,” Maken has said, adding that athletes of such calibre should get government employment.

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Promoted by the Association of European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL), the European Commission and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the third and biggest-ever Match Day Against Hunger kicks off on 30 March to spread this call for urgent action. The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, will attend the game between Borussia Dortmund and VfB Stuttgart.

By the time the last match is played on 2 April, the campaign’s message and activities will have swept across the continent from Glasgow to Vienna and from Málaga to Novosibirsk, involving 300 professional football clubs in 20 leagues throughout 16 European countries, reaching millions of football fans.

“We must act now to help people help themselves,” said José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of FAO. “At the same time, we need to build resilience in local communities to stop jumping from crisis to crisis, and to prevent droughts from leading inevitably to famine.”

MEGAPHONE

Nearly 16 million people, mainly farming and herding households, are estimated to be at risk. ECHO and FAO are getting life-saving and livelihood-saving cash, food, agricultural inputs and training to the people who need them most, in addition to planning longer-term interventions to protect and restore the livelihoods of farmers, agropastoralists and pastoralists, addressing the root causes of the recurring food crises in the Sahel

“Football is the perfect vehicle for highlighting the plight of the people in the Sahel,” said Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. “To respond properly to this emergency, governments, donors and aid agencies need to be united. Together, we can save lives.”

“Football is the great global unifier,” said Sir David Richards, Chairman of the EPFL. “The leagues and the players know the power and popularity of our sport and we are proud to use that power to tell stories that otherwise would not be told. European professional football is providing the megaphone for this message so that the right help can get to the people in need as soon as possible.”

FAO Goodwill Ambassador and Spanish football star Raúl González Blanco said, “We need public support for food crises like this one. No one knows like footballers how crucial it is to have the stadium on your side to win the match.”

Patrick Vieira, former French international star player and FAO Goodwill Ambassador, was born in Senegal, one of the affected countries. “We have a responsibility to those who are in distress through no fault of their own,” he said. “The right to food is a basic human right, and no one in today’s world should go hungry”.

Former international star and ambassador from the Bulgarian professional football league Hristo Stoitchkov visited Burkina Faso last year to see the joint work of the European Commission and FAO up close. He said, “I have witnessed their life-saving, life-changing work first hand. They help people to feed themselves today and prepare for tomorrow. It’s the right kind of help getting to the right people.

“We are all diminished when somebody, in any part of the globe, dies from hunger,” said the Brazilian star player Roberto Carlos, currently the team director of Russian Premier League club Anzhi Makhachkala, adding: “This is even more tragic when we know that these deaths are preventable. United we can save a lot of lives in the Sahel.”

Former Italian national team goalkeeper and campaign’s ambassador from the Italian Lega Serie A Francesco Toldo highlighted that, “The people of the Sahel may think the world has forgotten them. This weekend, European football will stand in solidarity with them. They will know that they are not alone.”

Spanish international and campaign’s ambassador from the Spanish professional football league Roberto Soldado said, “Together we can prevent this crisis from turning into a full scale catastrophe.”

Felix Magath, former footballer and active coach in the German Bundesliga stated, “We will ask our fans to join with us in calling for urgent help to the Sahel. United in this one cause we can truly make a difference”.

Other football ambassadors of the campaign include Herbert Prohaska (appointed by the Österreichische Fußball Bundesliga – Austria); Steffen Freund (DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH – Germany); Vidar Riseth (Norsk Toppfotball – Norway), Jerzy Dudek (Polish Professional Football League) and Alexey Medvedev (Football National League of the Russian Federation).

BACKGROUND

Match Day Against Hunger is the flagship event of the “Professional Football Against Hunger” campaign, launched in 2008 by EPFL, representing the 30 largest professional football leagues and almost 800 clubs across Europe, and FAO, the United Nations agency leading international efforts to defeat hunger.

Last year the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) – one of the world’s largest humanitarian donors – joined the partnership. The campaign’s focus turned to the work of ECHO and FAO in restoring the self-reliance of people struck by disaster.

Emergencies have the most devastating consequences for rural communities, where people depend mainly on agriculture for survival. FAO and ECHO help these communities return to farming so that they can feed themselves again. They also aim to address the underlying causes of vulnerability to increase people’s resilience to future shocks.

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Jet Ski competition in UAE marred by assault on Kuwaiti team.

DUBAI: Seven Emirati men have been arrested following an assault on members of the Kuwaiti Jet Ski team taking part in the fourth round of the UAE Jet Ski Championship at Umm Suqeim Beach.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, instructed police to identify and arrest all those involved in the attack on Saturday.

Police on Friday arrested four of the attackers, and three more were arrested on Saturday.

The suspects, aged between 20 and 25, have been referred to Public Prosecution for legal action, Major General Khamis Matar Al Mazeinah, Deputy Dubai Police Chief, said, adding that no lenience will be shown to the people who attacked the Kuwaiti guests of the UAE.

Six Kuwaitis sustained slight injuries in the attack and were all discharged from the hospital after receiving treatment, he said, adding that an earlier dispute between a Kuwaiti competitor and an Emirati took place during the third round of the championship, which took placed in Abu Dhabi a few weeks ago.

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Clashes erupted February 1 after the Ahly and Masry football match in Port Said.

CAIRO: Violence has once again erupted in Egypt’s Port Said, following the funeral of the 13-year-old boy who was killed by security forces on Friday evening in violent clashes.

According to eyewitnesses, massive amounts of tear gas has been launched at angry protesters and reports of clashes in the city are taking places in Egypt’s latest violence, which seems to be a monthly ordeal.

“It is crazy, I was just hit by tear gas and my eyes burn,” one Port Said resident watching the violence unfold told Bikyamasr.com via telephone. “I think they want to fight the security because of the killing and it is getting ugly.”

There were unconfirmed reports of injuries, but confusion seems to have taken over the past hour or so as violence persists.

One protester, the 13-year-old boy, was shot dead on Friday night as fans of the local club team clashed with security forces after the club was banned for two seasons.

One eyewitness told Bikyamasr.com that “it was really chaos and scary as the guns were heard. I thought we all were going to be killed.”

The banning of the al-Masry club team for two years comes after its fans on February 1 stormed the field following a 3-1 victory against giants al-Ahly and attacked the opposing fans with clubs, knives and batons, killing at least 75 people that day, sparking clashes for the next week across the country.

The event also saw security forces stand on the sidelines as the violence began, not intervening to stop the fans from attacking. Also, they were reported to have locked the gates so fleeing fans could not escape.

Eyewitnesses said fans even threw others from the top of the stadium.

The association said the Port Said stadium would be closed for three years.

Earlier this month, the association cancelled the Egyptian Premier League for the rest of the season.

75 people, including 9 policemen, are to go on trial over the deadly violence, including three al-Masry club officials.

Opposition activists accused the ruling military council of having orchestrated the deaths, allegedly to prolong its stay in power.

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The plans for Real Madrid's new island resort in UAE.

DUBAI: Spain’s Real Madrid football club has announced that it will develop a 4.6 million square foot resort island in the United Arab Emirates. The club showed plans on Thursday for the luxury facility.

It will include a number of sporting facilities, a marina, luxury hotels and villas, an amusement park, a club museum and a 10,000-seat stadium, with one of the sides open to the sea.

It is an impressive, $1 billion operation, the club said.

“It is a decisive and strategic step that will strengthen our institution in the Middle East and Asia,” said Real president Florentino Perez.

The project is a joint venture partnership with the government of the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah and is expected to attract at least one million visitors in its first year of operation.

The prospects already have sports fans in the UAE excited over having one of the world’s most prestigious clubs so close to home.

Abdullah, a Dubai-based banker an avid football fan, told Bikyamasr.com that he hopes they hold exhibition matches at the stadium.

“It’s going to be so wonderful and hopefully the costs for people to go will not be too expensive. The museum and all that history in the UAE, I can’t wait,” he said.

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Clashes erupted following the Ahly and Masry football match in Port Said.

CAIRO: At least one protester in Egypt’s Port Said city was shot dead on Friday night as fans of the local club team clashed with security forces after the club was banned for two seasons.

One eyewitness told Bikyamasr.com that “it was really chaos and scary as the guns were heard. I thought we all were going to be killed.”

The banning of the al-Masry club team for two years comes after its fans on February 1 stormed the field following a 3-1 victory against giants al-Ahly and attacked the opposing fans with clubs, knives and batons, killing at least 75 people that day, sparking clashes for the next week across the country.

The event also saw security forces stand on the sidelines as the violence began, not intervening to stop the fans from attacking. Also, they were reported to have locked the gates so fleeing fans could not escape.

Eyewitnesses said fans even threw others from the top of the stadium.

The association said the Port Said stadium would be closed for three years.

Earlier this month, the association cancelled the Egyptian Premier League for the rest of the season.

75 people, including 9policemen, are to go on trial over the deadly violence, including three al-Masry club officials.

Opposition activists accused the ruling military council of having orchestrated the deaths, allegedly to prolong its stay in power.

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Syria hopes to qualify for London Olympics.

Damascus (dpa)- Syria’s Olympic team, led by Portuguese coach Rui Almeida, will be trying to put the country’s political troubles behind them by taking a step next week towards qualification for the Olympic Games in London.

The squad is on its way to Vietnam where they will take on Oman on Sunday in the Asian play-off qualifiers for the Games.

Four days later, Syria play Uzbekistan. The top team will encounter Africa?s fourth-placed side, Senegal, on April 12 in England.

Almeida is confident the Syrian team will overcome the hardships they have faced due to the security situation in their homeland.

“The players will put on a different performance on the pitch,” he told dpa.

The Syrian Football Association had re-contracted Almeida to coach the Syrian Olympic team after his Syrian predecessor Haitham Jatl quit.

Almeida had guided the team in the early qualification stage before he decided to resign due to the deteriorating situation in Syria.

“The team have an edge. They have not stopped playing games for nearly a year,” said Almeida, who has seen the most recent games by Oman and Uzbekistan as well as most of those played by the Syrian team when he was away.

“We are prepared for the qualifiers having a lot of hopes,” said Syria captain Ahmed al-Saleh.

“We have no alternative to qualify for the make-or-break match against Senegal. But we will think of this match later.”

Al-Saleh believes that Almeida’s return to coach the team is a big gain. “He led the team before and knows almost all players,” he said.

The Syrian team comprises four professionals playing in Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq.

While arguing that the team has a short time for preparations, midfielder Mahmoud Mawas said: “The team have all what it takes to surmount hardships and qualify.”