Sport-Motors

(ANSA) - Rome, November 13 - MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi has organised a motocross charity competition for this weekend, 30 years after his father Graziano Rossi put together a similar event at the same venue.

The competition will be held Sunday at the Cavallara 'cross drome', in the town of Mondavio between Pesaro and Urbino, which was inaugurated 30 years ago with the charity event organised by Graziano Rossi with the participation of his rivals at the time in the 500cc Grand Prix premier class Franco Uncini and Marco Lucchinelli.

(ANSA) - Pescara, November 13 - Italy coach Marcello Lippi is using Saturday's friendly against Netherlands to look at a couple of players who could join his World Cup winning stalwarts when the Azzurri defend their crown in South Africa next year.

Lippi has said his mind is made up about most of the squad but a handful of players have a chance of joining them.

The Netherlands test in Pescara, and Wednesday's game against Sweden in Cesena, will help him make up his mind, he said.

(ANSA) - Milan, November 13 - Italy captain Sergio Parisse said Friday the Azzurri were ready to take on the All Blacks at San Siro on Saturday.

"We're ready and I've told the lads to give their all," he said.

Parisse said the first 20 minutes would be "fundamental" because New Zealand, the world's No.2 team behind world champions South Africa, would want to get off to a flying start.

"If we don't give away too many points the match will be more manageable".

(ANSA) - Pescara, November 13 - Livorno midfielder Antonio Candreva will get his first cap in Italy's friendly against the Netherlands in Pescara Saturday, coach Marcello Lippi said in announcing the side.

Genoa winger Raffaele Palladino is handed his first start since Roberto Donadoni was coach.

Candreva, 22, who has played four times for Italy's Undeer-21 side, is expected to play in a three-man midfield alongside Andrea Pirlo and Angelo Palombo.

(ANSA) - Lausanne, November 12 - Italian cyclist Matteo Priamo on Thursday received a four-year ban for his part in a doping case involving former team mate Emanuele Sella.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld an appeal from the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) against an earlier CONI acquittal which cleared Priamo for lack of evidence.

Priamo, 27, has had all his results since the end of February annulled.

The ban expires on February 26, 2013.

(ANSA) - Milan, November 12 - Italy are fired up to meet the mighty All Blacks in a sell-out match at San Siro on Saturday, the first of their three autumn tests.

Coach Nick Mallett has confirmed 13 of the 15 that went down only 27-6 to the world's No.2 team after an aggressive display in Christchurch in June and thinks Italy has a chance of giving New Zealand another run for their money.

''We have to play to win against them, even though it will be almost impossible,'' Mallett said.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 12 - International Olympic Committee Vice President Mario Pescante has been chosen to be the IOC's first permanent observer to the United Nations.

The IOC was unanimously granted observer status by the UN General Assembly on October 19 in recognition of its contributions to the UN's Millennium Development goals and using sport in support of humanitarian activities, peace-building, education, gender equality and the environment.

(ANSA) - London, November 12 - Former Renault Formula One team supremo Flavio Briatore has launched a counterattack against his life ban from the sport and not only wants this lifted but is also seeking one million euros from the international racing federation FIA.

Briatore, 59, was banned by FIA on September 21 for allegedly ordering driver Nelson Piquet Jr to crash out of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix so teammate Fernando Alonso could win.

(ANSA) - Siena, November 12 - Siena is poised to bring back ex-coach Mario Beretta, club sources said Thursday.

Beretta, 50, has agreed terms to replace caretaker coach, youth team manager Marco Baroni, who came in for Marco Giampaolo on October 29.

Giampaolo was sacked after a 2-1 defeat at fellow strugglers Bologna left the Tuscans bottom of Serie A with seven losses in ten games.

They drew their next match 1-1 with Lazio but lost their last match 4-2 at Genoa and are still bottom, two points behind Catania.

(ANSA) - Milan, November 11 - Inter Milan boss Jose' Mourinho on Wednesday paid tribute to Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke who committed suicide by walking in front of a train Tuesday.

The Portuguese coach, who was in charge of Enke for a few months at Benfica in 2000, said the late Hannover captain was a model professional who tried to make a difference on and off the field.

"I recall his serenity, likeability, politeness, professionalism and social conscience," Mourinho told Portuguese news agency Lusa.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 11 - The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) on Wednesday formally quashed Bari's hopes of bidding for the 2020 Olympics, confirming Rome and Venice as the contestants to become Italy's bidder.

In a letter to the mayor of the southern Adriatic city, Michele Emiliano, CONI chief Gianni Petrucci said Bari did not have the requisites to mount a bid.

He pointed out that CONI had already tried to make this clear last month when it ruled out Palermo.

Despite this, Emiliano wrote to CONI earlier this week confirming the southeastern city wanted to launch a bid.

(ANSA) - Reggio Calabria, November 11 - A Calabrian soccer team's deputy chairman was banned from the stadium for a year on Wednesday after players made a show of mourning for a deceased mob boss.

The police said Carmelo Casabona, vice president of the San Luca soccer club in the town of the same name, allowed the "morally reprehensible display," a violation of the "noble values" of the sport.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 11 - Soccer players on the hometown team of a late 'Ndrangheta superboss took the field wearing black armbands last weekend to mourn his death, the club admitted Wednesday.

According to the chairman of the San Luca Calcio club, Father Pino Strangio, the team's management knew nothing about three players' intention to wear the bands until they saw them sporting them on the field.

(ANSA) - Milan, November 10 - Italy's test match against the All Blacks at the San Siro on Saturday has set a record for rugby games in Italy, officials said Tuesday.

The few remaining tickets were gobbled up at the weekend, raising the gate from 75,000 to a sell-out 80,018, they said.

The iconic Milanese soccer stadium was chosen to accommodate the interest from northern Italy, where Italian rugby's fan base comes from.

However, even optimists did not think the game would be sold out, despite the massive lure of the All Blacks, world rugby's biggest draw.

(ANSA) - Valencia, November 9 - Seven-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi says he may leave his Yamaha team after next season and join Ducati if his current team decides to pin its future hopes on his younger teammate Jorge Lorenzo.

Speaking to the BBC after the season's last race here on Sunday, Rossi said ''Yamaha have to decide between me and Jorge for 2011. I have a great offer from Ducati''.