Fiorentina sporting director Pantaleo Corvino has stated that coach Cesare Prandelli will be staying at the club.

Recent speculation in the Italian press has suggested that Prandelli could move to Juventus this summer.

But Corvino has rubbished reports and said that would not happen.

“Will Prandelli remain? For sure he will,” Corvino told Gazzetta dello Sport.

Fiorentina president Diego Della Valle last week called for Prandelli to publicly pledge his allegiance to the Viola after ongoing speculation that he is the number one candidate to replace Alberto Zaccheroni at Juve at the end of the season.

“The comments made by our president were only of affection towards Prandelli because he does not want to lose him,” Corvino added. “Prandelli has always stated he would like to continue with us.”

The 52-year-old Prandelli is the longest serving coach in Serie A after joining Fiorentina in the summer of 2005. He is under contract with the club until June 2011.

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Pato’s Agent Rules Out Milan Exit

Alexandre Pato’s agent has ruled out a move away from AC Milan for the Brazil international.

The 20-year-old has long been linked with both Real Madrid and Chelsea, but his contract with AC Milan keeps him at the club until 2014.

Pato’s agent Gilmar Veloz insists the youngster has no intention of leaving the San Siro.

“Chelsea and Real? These are only market rumours,” Veloz told calciomercato.it.

“There is nothing true. He has a deal with Milan and he feels good in Milan.”

Reports have suggested that Pato has changed his agent, but that his something Veloz denies.

“I’m happy this has been cleared up. I’m Pato’s agent and I stay with him for several years,” he added.

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Colin Edwards out of British Grand Prix

Colin Edwards will miss next weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone after he broke his right collarbone in a heavy crash during practice at the Catalunya track in Spain earlier today.

The experienced American fell heavily at Turn 5 just minutes after the field had switched to slick tyres after the Montmelo track dried rapidly following an earlier heavy downpour in the 125GP session.

Edwards had completed one run on slick rubber when he switched bikes and was an out lap when he lost control at the first left-hander. He landed heavily and was immediately attended to by trackside medical staff before being transferred to the Medical Centre where further checks revealed he’d suffered a broken right collarbone.

Edwards was later taken to the Dexeus Institute in Barcelona in Barcelona where he will undergo surgery tomorrow (Saturday) morning. The operation will be performed by Dr Xavier Mir, who has previously treated Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

Ruled out of this weekend’s Catalunya race, it will be the first time the double World Superbike champion has missed a MotoGP race since his debut for Aprilia back in 2003.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team boss Herve Poncharal said: "Unfortunately Colin has broken his right collarbone and this is a big shame for him and for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team because we were confident he was going to be very strong and competitive this weekend. Colin has been superb so far this season and he has shown that even when the competition is probably stronger than ever in MotoGP, he is still one of the fastest out there.

"It looks like he paid a heavy price for a very small mistake. He landed heavily on his shoulder and it was clear from the TV pictures that he was in a lot of pain. He will have an operation tonight, so we should have a clearer idea of how long the recovery process will be over the weekend. The important thing is now that he rests and recovers as quickly as he possibly can. We wish him a fast recovery and hope that it is not too long before we see him back in the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team garage."

With Edwards definitely out of the British round and factory Honda rider Dani Pedrosa highly unlikely to declare himself fit for Silverstone, UK fans might only see 15 bikes on the grid for the June 12 clash.

Tech 3 are working to find a partner for home favourite Cal Crutchlow, though the search has been hampered by the Misano World Superbike round, which takes place on the same weekend as Silverstone.

Former MotoGP runner-up Marco Melandri and Irish rider Eugene Laverty are ruled out, as is Yamaha World Supersport rider Chaz Davies. That leaves the likes of Tommy Hill and Michael Laverty from the Swan Yamaha British Superbike squad.

Another option could be French teenager Loris Baz, who rides for Rob McElnea’s Motorpoint Yamaha squad in BSB. (Matthew Birt)

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Catalunya MotoGP: Casey Stoner ups pressure on Jorge Lorenzo

Casey Stoner piled the pressure on reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo with a second successive dominant victory in the 2011 MotoGP world championship in Catalunya yesterday.

Stoner’s third win of the campaign saw him cut Lorenzo’s lead to seven-points, with the Spaniard putting up a gallant fight in second position.

Lorenzo got the holeshot but was quickly passed by Stoner’s Repsol Honda RC212V machine as the Australian surged to his 26th MotoGP victory.

Stoner, who has now won three out of five races in 2011, said: "I got a reasonably good start but not as good as Jorge. I wanted to try to pass him early on but had to wait until the end of the first lap. From this point I just tried to put in the consistent laps as we did in the practice sessions to see if he could stay with me. Fortunately I was able to open up an advantage without pushing too hard or feeling too much pressure."

Stoner had little trouble streaking away from Lorenzo and his only nervous moments came when rain started to fall on lap 13.

He added: "The rain was only falling at the last three corners, but being the first one to arrive on track is always a perilous situation and Stoner said: "When you get an advantage in the race you don’t really want to go and put it in the gravel. I saw the white flags basically round the whole circuit but it was only really raining in the last section. It wasn’t nice seeing the spots and it doesn’t do a lot for your confidence, so I tried to back it off a little bit to see what everybody else thought of those flags and if they were going to keep pushing then so would I. It is definitely not the best to be first so I tried to pace myself against everybody else to make sure I didn’t take any risks."

Stoner now heads to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend chasing a hat-trick of wins for the first time in his HRC career.

He had a nightmare on Ducati’s GP10 at the Northamptonshire track a year ago and finished fifth.

But he’s confident he will be fighting for another win in Sunday’s race, which is the sixth round of the 2011 campaign and the second of a run of six races in eight weeks.

"Last year at Silverstone was a disastrous weekend; the bike just fell to pieces on the start with the clutch and wouldn't get off the line. I was bit worried the first couple of laps that there would be oil coming out of the clutch. But as I got going I was really fast but I started to get some arm pump and struggled although I set one of the fastest laps of the race towards the end.

"I was very happy from how far back I came last year so for this year I hope I don't have a start like I did last year and I think I can be pretty competitive there. The circuit is nice and the Honda works well there."

For a 24-page guide to the Silverstone MotoGP race, see the June 8 issue of Motor Cycle News. (Matthew Birt)

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Dani Pedrosa out of British Grand Prix

Dani Pedrosa has confirmed he will not contest this weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone as he struggles to regain full fitness from a broken right collarbone he suffered in Le Mans last month.

The Spaniard was injured when he was involved in a controversial collision with San Carlo Gresini Honda rider Marco Simoncelli and doubts over his Silverstone appearance intensified when he withdrew from his home race in Catalunya last weekend.

Pedrosa is currently the subject of intense speculation over his current absence with speculation rife in Barcelona that he’d aggravated the recovering right shoulder in a supermoto training accident while testing the strength in the collarbone.

HRC has flatly denied any additional incident took place and their official line is that Pedrosa's recovery is taking longer than anticipated because he had a smaller plate inserted to avoid a recurrence of a complication caused when he had surgery on his left shoulder last October.

It was discovered months later that the plate was actually pinching an artery when his arm was in a certain position, causing a numbness issue in his arm and hand.
The triple world champion said: "After dedicating some time entirely to recover, I have decided not to take part in the British Grand Prix this week. I've done everything I could to be fit in time for Silverstone, but the conditions are not right to return to compete with guarantees."

"I need to feel 100 per cent fit before I get on the bike again and to be sure I can fight for the victory, I don't want to go out there just to do laps. I've raced many times with pain and the experience tells me I'm still not ready to be competitive. I've decided not to take further risks and will instead continue my recovery process so I may return in the best possible way. It's time for me to be logical and not only follow what my heart says, or my desire to return. I want to return as soon as possible, but I want to do it when I have ability to fight to win. It's not the time yet."

Honda is expected to confirm that Hiroshi Aoyama will move into the Repsol squad with Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso at Silverstone with test rider Kousuke Akiyoshi joining Simoncelli in Fausto Gresini’s squad. (Matthew Birt)

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Maluku to continue supporting George Toisutta for PSSI chief

Ambon, Maluku - Indonesia may still have to overcome some hurdles before it can elect a new chief for its football association.

The chief of the Muluku provincial PSSI chapter, Dirk Soplanit, said to ANTARA here on Friday, Maluku would not change its stand and would continue to support George Toisutta to become the new chief of the All Indonesia Football Association in the next congress on June 30.

"We will not change and will continue to support George Toisutta as the Group 78 has so far also been fighting for it," he said.

Dirk admitted a representative of Group 78 was still trying to meet FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke to ask about FIFA`s reasons for not accepting George Toisutta and Arifin Panigoro as candidates for the PSSI chief`s post.

"Hopefully the envoy can meet with the FIFA secretary general and if necessary with FIFA chief (Sepp Blatter) and they would tell the reasons for the Normalization Commission to reject Toisutta and Panigoro," he said.

Dirk said the explanation of the FIFA secretary general and chief would settle doubt about the performance of the Normalization Commission that had also met with Sepp Blatter over the issue.

"We have been monitoring that the Normalization Commission envoys would arrive here on Friday so that the results of their mission could be matched with those of Group 78," he said.

FIFA has set up the Normalization Commission to hold the congress to elect new PSSI leadership following a crisis in the organization.

Maluku in the last PSSI congress on May 20, 2011 sent two representatives out of 100. "I was representing the provincial PSSI chapter while the other one was from Nusa Ina Club. We both proposed George Toisutta to become the new PSSI chief," he said.

George Toisutta will continue to run for PSSI leadership with the support of Group 78 who have rights to choose PSSI leadership.

George Toisutta who is currently an army`s chief of staff has said that no one has ever asked him to withdraw including the minister of youth and sports.

"I will continue to run. Ever onward no retreat," he said.

Normalization Commission spokesman Azhari Nasution meanwhile said Commission chairman Agum Gumelar and member Joko Driyono had met with FIFA leadership on May 30 and are scheduled to arrive home on Friday.

He said Agum Gumelar had told him that FIFA was serious that it would give a sanction to Indonesia if it fails to elect new PSSI chairmanship by July 1, 2011.

"FIFA has also deplored the incident in the congress on May 20, which was triggered by voters` behavior," he said quoting Agum in a recent communication with him.

Ashari said FIFA`s seriousness to give a sanction to Indonesia was put in a letter signed by Jerome Valcke.

"Therefore, Agum Gumelar expressed the hope that the next congress could run smoothly. Because if FIFA finally gives a sanction all rights held by PSSI would be gone such as an Indonesian team (including from clubs) would not be able to participate in the prequalification round of the World Cup or SEA Games. PSSI will also not receive a subsidy from FIFA and AFC for football development," he said. (H-YH/HAJM/B003)

Source: http://www.antaranews.com
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RI hopes to become sixth Asean Para-games overall champion

Solo, C. Java - Indonesia has set itself the target of becoming the overall champion of the 6th ASEAN Para-games to be held here in December 2011, head of the Gold Indonesia Program training center organizing committee said.

"Indonesia as the host definitely wished to be the best," Tono Suratman, head of the Gold Indonesia Program training center organizing committee, said on Monday after opening the ASEAN Para-games training center at the group-II Army`s Special Strike Force (Kopassus) headquarters at Kandang Menjangan Kartasura in Sukoharjo district.

The ASEAN Para-games training center is to prepare 300 physically impaired athletes in the 11 sports branches the 6th ASEAN Paragames will feature.

Prior to admission to the training center in Solo, the athletes and their coaches had gone through a week-long character building coaching program at the group-II Army`s Special Strike Force (Kopassus) headquarters at Kandang Menjangan Kartasura in Sukoharjo district.

Suratman said that the most important thing in the character building coaching program was how to focus the activity for the mentality improvement of the athletes concerned.

The Gold Indonesia Program training center was previously scheduled to be held in April 2011.

The ASEAN Para Games is a biennial multi-sport event held after every Southeast Asian Games for athletes with physical disabilities.

The games are participated by the 11 countries located in Southeast Asia.

The 1st ASEAN Paragames, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on October 25, 2001 to October 30, 2001, was the initial major sports event of the ASEAN Para Sports Federation (APSF). (B003/O001)

Source: http://www.antaranews.com
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