BANEPA, Oct 7: A dispute over organizing a football tournament turned ghastly where shots were fired last night in Roshi Village Development Committee (VDC) 11 according to information provided by sources in the police department.

” There was a dispute regarding where the football tournament was going to be held, and one round was fired, we are looking for the culprit,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police Deepak Giri of the District Police of Kavrepalanchowk.

The bullet that was fired didn’t cause injury, yet we are further investigating the case said the DSP. The Pancha Buddha Youth Club is planning to organize a football tournament titled the “Roshi Cup” on the occasion of the Dashain festivals, and this was a topic of heated discussion between the locals. (Translation from RSS Feed)

NEPALGUNJ, Sept 4: A football academy is to be set up at Bishalnagar, Dhamboji in Nepalgunj sub-metropolitan city.

The local Gokuleshwar Mahadev Temple Management Committee has provided 23 kaththas plot to the Banke District Football Association for this purpose.

All Nepal Football Association has provided Rs 500 thousand to the Banke district football association for the construction of the academy, said the association district president Bhojraj Shahi.

The goal is to train around 600 children between eight to ten years of age. Nepalgunj Sub-metropolitan City, Ward No 1 chairperson Pramod Rijal has committed all types of support on behalf the ward office for construction of the football academy. RSS

(CNN) — The heat is on.

Qatar will discover its World Cup fate in October after FIFA revealed it will make a decision over whether to move the tournament from summer to winter. Traditionally the event has been staged in June and the early part of July.

FIFA, football’s world governing body, is set to discuss the proposal at an executive committee meeting scheduled for the beginning of October.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter revealed fears Tuesday that the heat of the Qatari summer which reaches temperatures from 104 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit, would have detrimental health effects on players and quality of football at the tournament.

A spokesman for FIFA told CNN: “As mentioned by the FIFA President yesterday, he will bring forward the matter of playing the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar in winter to the FIFA Executive Committee on the occasion of their next meeting scheduled for October 2013.

“Please understand that this matter will now be with the Executive Committee and that we can therefore not comment further before the meeting has taken place.”

The announcement comes 24 hours after Blatter told a news conference in Kitzbuehel, Austria, that the players would not be able to play in such hot and humid conditions whereas Qatar’s average winter temperature of 68 degrees Farenheit would be much more feasible.

“The World Cup must be a festival of the people. But for it to be such a festival, you can’t play football in the summer,” Blatter told reporters.

“You can cool down the stadiums but you can’t cool down the whole country and you can’t simply cool down the ambiance of a World Cup.

“The players must be able to play in the best conditions to play a good World Cup.”

Hassan Al-Thawadi, head of the Qatar 2022 organizing committee, has not ruled out the prospect of holding the tournament in the winter — despite expected opposition from Europe’s top clubs.

A winter competition would wreak havoc with domestic fixture lists and could create tensions with television companies.

But Al-Thawadi says Qatar is open to all suggestions from FIFA.

“If it’s a wish of the football community to have the World Cup in winter, then we are open to that,” he told reporters.

(CNN) — Over a billion dollars was spent, the English Premier League title was won, its neighbors’ feathers were duly ruffled, but the pressure to adapt to European football proved too much for Manchester City says Carlos Tevez.

Tevez, who signed for Juventus in a $13 million deal last month, enjoyed four years at City where he helped the club win the FA Cup and a first league title in 44 years, when they pipped rivals Manchester United on the last day of the 2011/2012 season.

But it was the club’s failure in European competition which left a sour taste in Tevez’s mouth with City failing to in their bid to compete with the continent’s biggest clubs.

City has failed to progress from the Group Stage of Europe’s elite competition in each of the past two seasons and the Argentine striker says the pressure and expectation on the players proved too great for the team to handle.

“Yes, there was way too much pressure,” Tevez told CNN.
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“It came from everyone — the club, the fans. I think that too much pressure just hurts the team.

“What happened was that there so much hype and pressure to be one of the giants of Europe and we didn’t do it.

“We dropped out in the first round of the Champions League on both occasions.”

City will now hope that new manager Manuel Pellegrini will help to turn its fortunes around following the departure of Roberto Mancini.

City’s former Italian coach and Tevez endured a difficult relationship with the Argentine’s apparent refusal to warm up during a Champions League tie at Bayern Munich in September 2011.

Subsequently the Italian announced that Tevez would never play for the club again before finally relenting, but the Argentine says he only has respect for his former manager.

“He’s a winner,” added Tevez.

“I think he’s a winner because he always wants to win and he takes his team to the maximum place to be able to win. Everyone who knows Mancini knows that he’s a winner from birth.”

The 23-year-old defender has penned a five-year deal with the Europa League finalists, after being persuaded to join by compatriot Pablo Aimar

Benfica have completed the signing of Lisandro Lopez from Argentina outfit Arsenal de Sarandi.

The 23-year-old defender has signed a five-year deal for an undisclosed fee, with his contract believed to include a €35 million buy-out clause.

Lopez has frequently been overlooked for Argentina duty by coach Alejandro Sabella despite impressive performances for Arsenal, and he admitted his desire to break into the Albiceleste coach’s plans was a significant factor in his decision to move.

“I have chosen Benfica because they are one of the biggest clubs in Europe and many Argentines have succeeded here,” Lopez told Benfica’s official website.

“I am anxious to start. If I play well here I may get a chance in my country’s national team.”

Lopez revealed he had been persuaded to join the Europa League finalists after compatriot Pablo Aimar had extolled the benefits of life in the Portuguese capital.

“He said Lisbon was beautiful and Benfica was huge and magical. He told me to enjoy my stay here to the full,” Lopez added.

Lopez becomes Benfica’s seventh signing of a busy summer so far, following Stefan Mitrovic, Lazar Markovic, Miralem Sulejmani, Filip Djuricic and Uros Matic – as well as central defender Steven Vitoria.

Lopez’s arrival could cast further doubt over the future of Ezequiel Garay, who has been linked with a move to Manchester United this summer.

LONDON (Reuters) – Champions Manchester City climbed to second in the Premier League table after Carlos Tevez’s fierce strike in the second half gave them a 1-0 win over Swansea City on Saturday.

Unbeaten in the Premier League, City moved on to 21 points from nine games, a point behind leaders Chelsea who play Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

United slipped to third on 18 points but they and Chelsea have a game in hand on City who needed a boost after a 3-1 defeat by Ajax Amsterdam in midweek left their Champions League hopes hanging by a thread.

Arsenal, who also needed a win after two defeats in the last week, beat bottom club Queens Park Rangers 1-0 with a late winner from Mikel Arteta while Reading and Fulham fought out a 3-3 draw at the Madejski Stadium.

In Saturday’s other games, Wigan Athletic beat West Ham United 2-1 while Aston Villa drew 1-1 with Norwich City and Stoke City and Sunderland ground out an uninspiring 0-0 draw.

City midfielder Gareth Barry told ESPN afterwards: “It was a massive three points. Three games in seven days is always tough. It wasn’t a great performance but the manager said at halftime to stay calm and we’ll find our way and get a goal and Carlos came up with the goods.”

The champions failed to impress against a Swansea side who enjoyed the better chances in the first half, most notably when Spanish striker Michu forced a sharp save from City keeper Joe Hart shortly after he had a goal disallowed for offside.

City improved after the break and Tevez struck with a venomous angled shot from 25 metres which nestled in the corner of Swansea keeper Michel Vorm’s net.

Vorm injured himself while diving for the ball and after a lengthy stoppage for treatment he was replaced by German Gerhard Tremmel. Another long stoppage followed soon after when City defender Micah Richards went down in agony clutching his knee with no-one near him.

He was taken off on a stretcher and the match ended after almost 103 minutes, including nearly 13 minutes of stoppage time — the longest in the league’s 20-year-history.

ARTETA WINNER

Arsenal rose from ninth to fourth after Arteta’s 84th minute goal secured the points for Arsene Wenger’s men against QPR.

They have 15 points from their nine games but could end the weekend in sixth place if Everton beat Liverpool in Sunday’s Merseyside derby at Goodison Park and Tottenham Hotspur win their match on Sunday at Southampton.

Arteta struck from close range, turning the ball in from the rebound after he had hit the bar.

The goal came soon after Rangers’ Stephane Mbia was sent off for lashing out at Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen, QPR’s ninth red card during 2012.

Arsenal’s win halted a run of two successive defeats to Norwich City in the Premier League and Schalke 04 in the Champions League over the last seven days.

The Gunners welcomed back Jack Wilshere after the England midfielder missed the last 17 months with ankle problems and he played well for the 67 minutes he was on.

Arsenal manager Wenger told Sky Sports the victory came as a relief after a difficult week.

“When you lose two games the confidence goes quickly and for us today the most important thing was to win the game,” he said.

“It was a fight against a good QPR side and a fight against our nerves. But QPR are a good team and they will not stay bottom of the league.”

QPR manager Mark Hughes though, was far from happy as his side stayed bottom without a win from their nine games.

“The referee has absolutely killed it to allow their winning goal because Arteta was clearly offside on two occasions,” he told the BBC.

SIX-GOAL THRILLER

Reading and Fulham shared the points in a six-goal thriller which left Reading still looking for their first win of the season, although they moved up a place from 19th to 18th, ahead of Southampton.

Mikele Leigertwood put Reading ahead with a long range shot after 26 minutes before Brian Ruiz equalised for Fulham in the 61st minute, three minutes after coming on as a substitute.

Chris Baird headed Fulham 2-1 up after 77 minutes but had to go off after injuring himself on the advertising hoardings as he celebrated his goal.

Three goals then followed in the closing stages as Reading substitute Gareth McCleary made it 2-2 after 85 minutes before Dimitar Berbatov looked to have scored Fulham’s winner two minutes from time with a thunderous drive.

Then, almost with the last kick, Reading’s second sub, Hal Robson-Kanu earned his side a point, scrambling home from close range 12 minutes after coming on.

(Reporting by Mike Collett; editing by Martyn Herman)

London, October 19 (ANI): Former football stars have ousted the incredible diet secrets of their sports fraternity. Caffeine tablets and sleeping pills in tandem with energy drinks, bars, protein shakes and even seemingly unhealthy dishes like banoffee pie and pizza are fuelling the players in the high-speed world of modern football.

Glen Johnson opened the window into the highs and lows of the international game, revealing how England’s players were given caffeine tablets to get pumped up for the delayed World Cup qualifier against Poland in midweek and that some then needed sleeping pills to bring them back down again when the first match was postponed.

After Liverpool full-back, Johnson provided an insight into football’s pill-popping world, his former international team-mate Rio Ferdinand expressed his surprise that people were surprised.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has been at the vanguard of the revolution in players’ diets over the past decade and a favourite among his players is banoffee pie – the bananas and sugar contained in the gooey treat boost energy levels.

At another Premier League club, pizzas are always on the post-match menu, with boxes arriving in the dressing room for players to munch after matches in an effort to load up with carbs and quickly regain energy.

Pasta is a favourite the night before games, although the notion of players needing pills to get hyped up for an England game may seem strange to fans.

“It was a kinda crazy couple of days – preparing to play, then living exactly the same day the next day,” the Mirror quoted Johnson as saying.

“It’s been a bit strange and I don’t think anyone has had to go through that before – but it’s part and parcel of being a professional.

“It’s obviously not done you any favours. For example, a lot of the lads take Pro Plus (caffeine) tablets before the game and we all took that for the (first) game, then the game is off and no one can sleep,” he said.

Ferdinand admitted that he has problems sleeping after games.

“What’s all the fuss with caffeine/sleeping tablets?? Players have used them for yrs before + after games without any fuss,” he tweeted.

Everton’s ex-England regular Phil Neville tweeted “Throughout my career players have taken sleeping pills night be4 game and caffeine tablets day of game never been a problem in media be4”, and later deleted it.

Caffeine – or at least a certain amount of it – was on the World Anti Doping Agency’s banned list until 2004, so athletes had to watch how many cans of caffeine-loaded energy drink Red Bull they drank before a race.

One Premier League physio claimed on Thursday, that caffeine pills are available in every dressing room but would never be forced on players.

Players talk about caffeine not being used for energy but more to help with focus.

Herbal sleeping pills, in contrast, are used to try to take the edge off players who are high on adrenalin – particularly after games.

UK Athletics is believed to have a rule that no athlete should use sleeping pills within 48 hours of a race.

Former athletes still remember one sprinter going into a Championship in the 1990s hoping to break the 20-second barrier in the 200m. He could not sleep and persuaded the reluctant team doctor to give him a sleeping pill the night before his big race.

Instead of cracking 20 seconds, he came home in over 21.5 seconds.

One well known British athlete was known for eating small doses of rat poison as it contained the stimulant strychnine.

Scientists are split over whether caffeine makes a real impact when players use it.

One athlete said that he has been advised never to drink more than 12 cappuccinos, as it could cause a suspicious caffeine reading. But other experts insist it would not boost performance.

Caffeine is not on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list, but Dr Neil Chester, a researcher at Liverpool John Moores University, says it could potentially be more effective than some banned substances.

“Scientific literature unquestionably backs up the idea that caffeine is a performance enhancer,” Chester said.

“It certainly seems to be more effective than something like ephedrine, which is banned by WADA.

“There is, without doubt, a moral and ethical issue surrounding caffeine’s misuse in sport,” he added. (ANI)