NYON, Switzerland -- UEFA banned a Belgium player for 10 matches on Tuesday for making the "quenelle" gesture at a futsal European Championship match. Omar Rahou made the discriminatory gesture several times while celebrating scoring a goal against Romania at Antwerp in January, UEFA said. The sanction was double the five-match ban Nicolas Anelka received from an English Football Association independent tribunal last week for the same act. The FA is considering appealing to seek a tougher sanction against Anelka, who performed the quenelle after scoring for West Bromwich Albion in a Premier League match in December. The quenelle has been described as an "inverted Nazi salute." It involves pointing one straightened arm downward while touching the shoulder with the opposite hand. UEFA said the 21-year-old Rahou can appeal the sanction. UEFA requires a minimum 10-match sanction for racist abuse at matches it organizes after toughening its disciplinary rules last May. The following week, FIFA updated its sanctioning powers and called for minimum five-match suspensions. In the Rahou case, UEFA said one of its disciplinary inspectors "concluded that the gesture has discriminatory connotations." It was popularized by French comedian Dieudonne MBala MBala, who has been convicted multiple times for inciting racial hatred or anti-Semitism. Anelka said his gesture showed support for "anti-system" views and was not discriminatory. . -- Hal Steinbrenner says Alex Rodriguez is "a great player" and "obviously an asset," but the New York Yankees managing general partner wouldnt discuss the third basemans possible return to the team following a season-long suspension. .com) - Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James will sit out Thursdays game against the Oklahoma City Thunder with left knee soreness.
http://www.wholesaleairjordan13.com/. Karlovic of Croatia used his big serve to beat Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 7-6 (6), 7-6 (7). Kohlschreiber had lost all of his three previous matches against Istomin but the German broke serve for a decisive 3-2 lead in the third set and held on to reach his first final of the year. . Dumont, a fifth round draft pick of the Canadiens in 2009, has four assists and 20 penalty minutes in 12 games with the Bulldogs this season. The 23-year-old split last season between Hamilton and Montreal, recording 16 goals and 15 assists in 55 regular season games with the Bulldogs. . Cesar said the difficulties he went through after the 2010 World Cup helped him become "a better professional" and made him "more focused" on his career. He admitted that he took things for granted before the World Cup in South Africa, when he arrived considered the worlds top goalkeeper.LAS VEGAS -- He was the Golden Boy, a fighter who brought in fans for decades after winning a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics. Oscar De La Hoya fought 45 times in 16 years as a pro, winning 39 of them along his way to titles in six different weight classes. He made millions, and his huge fan base made other fighters who beat him stars in their own right. But success came at a price, including two stints in rehab for alcohol abuse, which De La Hoya says plagued him since his youth in East Los Angeles. Some details about De La Hoya: DRINKING: De La Hoya says he was drinking throughout much of his career, including at the Olympics and in the weeks before his final fight, a loss to Manny Pacquiao in December 2008. RETIREMENT IS TOUGH: De La Hoya fought past his prime. Most boxers do fight too long, he said, mostly because they miss the attention. "I would always ask, Now what?" De La Hoya said. "Whats going to fill the void of the adrenaline, the excitement, and the cheers in the ring? It shows you can get lost when you stop doing something you love. Youre not prepared to handle it and you can make some wrong choices." At least he kept and invested much of the $300 million he earned. De La Hoya says that was a lesson he learned from retired boxers. PAY ATTENTION TO THE BAD STUFF: De La Hoya has some advice for any athlete, not just fighters. Take a look at the bad things that happen, learn from them, and try to avoid the mistakes others have made.dddddddddddd. "Take a look at my career and look at all the negatives and just dont do what I did," he said. "Its easier said than done but its true. Dont look at the good things we did because thats too easy. Take the bad and what happens in our lives and learn from it." MAYWEATHER ISNT UNBEATABLE: De La Hoya might have won his 2007 fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. if he would have kept using his jab late in the fight. Age and a bad rotator cuff prevented that, but De La Hoya says Mayweather can be had if fighters keep calm and follow a good game plan. "What happens now is they lose before they step into the ring," he said. "Mayweather outsmarts them." BOXING ISNT DEAD: The problems with boxing are simple and easily solved, De La Hoya says. Top boxers like Mayweather need to fight more often, and different promoters have to match their best fighters against boxers with other promoters to make more big fights. De La Hoya says he is all in now on his promotional company, Golden Boy Promotions, and believes the seemingly insatiable demand by sports programmers for live content will keep boxing popular for years to come. "We havent even scratched the surface," he said. "This is a business that maybe one day, 20 or 30 years from now, I will sell and it will be big." ' ' '
