Sports Notes CPL Resumes - Ultimate Fighter - August 2006

James Loving - National Radio Text Service - Monday August 28, 2006 - Update Wednesday August 30, 2006

Tennis Stars NADAL, NALBANDIAN face off - NAGA's Fickert to depart - CPL Going Through Them Changes - O' Donell Returns - Three teams level at the top of CPL table - Ultimate Fighter Championships to be televised

CPL (Cambodia Premiere League) RESUMES

The CPL (Cambodia Premiere League) will resume Saturday September 2nd after a four-month layoff. Due to the layoff the intended 18 game season will be reduced to nine.

Two games will be played every Saturday and Sunday at Olympic Stadium. Game times are 2 and 4pm.

Defending champion Khemara is level at the top of the table with PPFC (Phnom Penh Football Club) and Naga Corp....

NOTE

Former national team star Hok Sochetra is the manager of PPFC and not the coach....

DID YOU KNOW???

Bill Willis was the first black player to be enshrined into the NFL (National Football League) Hall of Fame. This year the NFL inducted Troy Aikman, Warren Moon, Rayfield Wright, Harry Carson and Reggie White.

FICKERT TO EXIT CAMBODIA

NAGA Corp coach Joachim Fickert will leave the squad shortly after this weekends game. He will be the assistant technical director of the Mali national Football Federation for five weeks.

In November he will hold the same post for the Eritrea national team until Feb 2007.

Fickert noted that when the CPL rescheduled the resumption of the season for the SECOND TIME the German Football Federation brought the positions to his attention.

The former Cambodian national team coach said he accepted the jobs in July when at that time the league was to resume from July 22 to August 26th.

O'DONELL BACK IN THE FOLD

Due to the turbulent situation at the Cambodian Football Federation part time ESPN sports analyst Scott O'Donell was without a job.

Hired to coach of the national team in July 2005 he was in limbo when the Cambodia Olympic Committee decided to replace the national squad with CPL team Khemara to represent the country at the SEA Games in the Philippines.

This occurred in November 2005 with only a few days notice as the national was preparing to leave for the games.

The bewildering situation resulted in then CFF (Cambodian Football Federation) president Ravy Khek giving O'Donell a job as the technical director of football for the federation.

After Khek was voted out of the president's position in April and replaced by military police chief Sao Sokha O'Donell was again out of sorts and out of a job.

FIFA was opposed to the election and threatened to suspend their one million dollar over a four-year period financial support to the CFF. This situation remains in limbo.

In what you could say is going full circle…. earlier this month Sokha selected O'Donell to return as the national team coach.

So what can you say about the football program in Cambodia??? Lets have a moment of silence... and bow our heads and pray.

ULTIMATE FIGHTER

It's almost all over but the shouting for the reality show Ultimate Fighter when the championship and final episode will be telecast in Southeast Asia Monday September 4 on the AXN channel.

The winners of the two divisions will receive a six-figure contract with the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Champions).

Ultimate fighting is a mix of all martial arts, wrestling and boxing. Elbows are used.

Last week the show was telecast at 7pm Cambodia/Thailand and 8pm Singapore/Hong Kong.

CHECK YOUR LOCAL LISTINGS FOR DATE AND TIME

Tennis Stars NADAL, NALBANDIAN play

In preparation for the US Open, No. 2-in the ATP rankings in the world, Rafael Nadal and the No. 4-in the ATP rankings and winner of the last edition of the Masters Cup, David Nalbandian displayed some friendly "rivalry" in the hotel's lobby.

Over the past few years, Jumeirah, the Dubai-based luxury hotel company, has been known for many of their "over-the-top" sporting stunts at the Burj Al Arab, the world's most luxurious hotel.

In 2004, professional golfer Tiger Woods hit golf balls off the Burj's helipad and just last year, professional tennis players Roger Federer and Andre Agassi played an unranked game on the helipad. FULL STORY...

FIFA'S SEPP BLATTER - MORE YELLOW CARDS?

The World Cup games were marred with yellow cards and bad calls by the referees yet FIFA president Sepp Blatter suggested a three yellow card rule. Doesn't that create more problems? Full story coming.

WORLD CUP ALL-STAR SQUAD:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Jens Lehmann (Germany), Ricardo (Portugal).

Defenders: Roberto Ayala (Argentina), John Terry (England), Lilian Thuram (France), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), Gianluca Zambrotta (Italy), Ricardo Carvalho (Portugal).

Midfielders: Ze Roberto (Brazil), Patrick Vieira (France), Zinedine Zidane (France), Michael Ballack (Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Gennaro Gattuso (Italy), Luis Figo (Portugal), Maniche (Portugal).

Forwards: Hernan Crespo (Argentina), Thierry Henry (France), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Francesco Totti and Luca Toni (Italy).

FIFA TOP 10 for AUGUST 2006

Rank/Team/Points

1. Brazil - 1649

2. Italy - 1550

3. Argentina - 1479

4. France - 1462 -

5. England - 1434

6. Netherlands - 1322

7. Spain - 1309

8. Portugal - 1301

9. Germany - 1229

10. Czech Republic - 1223

WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS

2006 Italy

2002 Brazil

1998 France

1994 Brazil

1990 West Germany

1986 Argentina

1982 Italy

1978 Argentina

1974 West Germany

1970 Brazil

1966 England

1962 Brazil

1958 Brazil

1954 West Germany

1950 Uruguay

1938 Italy

1934 Italy

1930 Uruguay

Ronaldinho Makes Deal... Full story

BRAZIL - QUE PASSA? COMING

The next FIFA World Ranking will be published on July 12, 2006.

FIFA TOP TEN

Rank/Team/Points

1. Brazil - 827

2. Czech Republic - 772

3. Netherlands - 768

4. Mexico 758 -

5. USA - 756

5. Spain - 756

7. Portugal - 750

8. France - 749

9. Argentina - 746

10. England - 741

(FIFA)

1. JIM MURRAY - 2. Kobe Bryant & NBA Trivia - 3. Zico Leads Japan To World Cup. Who is Zico? - 4. Cambodia's Royal Palace - 5. Teerathep Leads Thailand to SEA Games Title - Singapore' Coach Movia - 6. Thailand Impressive against Premiere Club Sides and Real Madrid - 7. Fox Searchlight Pictures Promotes Zola Mashariki to Vice President of Production - 8. Jerome Bettis of Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers - Kobe Bryant - 9. Cambodia's ANGKOR TEMPLES - 10. Grammy Music Awards Show

Full Story NR Top 20 for May * Note - New entries in RED

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