Blatter condemns ‘racist’ chants

* Roger Federer should play until he is 60 if he wants to,according to Romanian former world number one Ilie Nastase. The Swiss 17-times grand-slam champion has slipped down to sixth in the world rankings and won only one title this year,prompting many to suggest he is a spent force at 32. Nastase believes Federer should not listen to the naysayers. “I wish people wouldn’t say that Roger Federer has to retire,” the 67-year-old former French Open and U.S. Open champion was quoted as saying. “I think he should play for as long as he wants. Federer doesn’t have to prove anything,he can play to 60 if he wants to.”

Baines fractures toe

* Everton and England left back Leighton Baines faces up to six weeks on the sidelines after fracturing his toe in the 3-3 draw with Liverpool on Saturday,his club said. Everton manager Roberto Martinez,however,hopes Baines will be back sooner. “It has been confirmed that Leighton has got a fracture in one of the bones in his right foot,which is the phalange,” Martinez said. “We need to treat that now and see how it develops. It could mean anything from missing six weeks to being back in 10 days because it depends how the fracture heals.”

FIFA reject Burkina Faso protest

* FIFA says it dismissed Burkina Faso’s protest that World Cup playoff opponent Algeria’s decisive goal-scorer was ineligible last week. Burkina Faso sought to replace Algeria in the 32-team World Cup draw in Brazil next week. The Burkinabe Football Federation claimed former Rangers defender Majid Bougherra,the goalscorer in Blida,received a yellow card in the first leg and should have been suspended for the return. FIFA says “no breach of the FIFA regulations has been committed by the Algerian FA”.

Keshavan 27th at World Cup

* Indian luge pilot Shiva Keshavan looked in good form as he finished a creditable 27th in the World Cup at Innsbruck,Austria. During the race,Keshavan clocked 51.640 seconds,0.8 seconds behind the winner earning him a 27th place in the competition besides bagging 14 Nations Cup points. He also gained a valuable point for the Olympic qualification criteria taking his overall points to three and placing him at the 33rd position in the Olympic rankings. Shiva must remain in the top 40 to qualify for the Olympic games,which he is confident of achieving. “I hope to gradually move up the rankings as some of the experiments I am conducting with the equipment begin to pay off. In this race I covered up another three tenths of a second from the winner as compared to the last world cup,” said Shiva from Innsbruck.

Five Indians in ASEAN Cup Race

* Five Indian riders are among the 41 competitors who will vying for top honours at the 10th Yamaha ASEAN Cup Race,starting November 30 at the Sentul International Circuit in Jakarta. The riders were shortlisted from the four rounds of the National level R15 One Make Race Championship 2013,recently held at the Madras Motor Race Track in Chennai. Vivek Pillai (Chennai),Ananth Raj (Chennai),Shyam Shankar (Chennai),Akash Dingare (Pune) and Lal Rindika (Mizoram) will race. The two-day event is an international one-make championship competition to crown the number one rider in the ASEAN region.

Mandzukic out of CSKA clash

* Bayern Munich forward Mario Mandzukic will miss his team’s Champions League game against CSKA Moscow in Russia on Wednesday after failing to recover in time from a calf muscle injury. The Croat,who has scored eight goals in the Bundesliga and another two in Europe this season,remained in Munich for treatment as the holders seek to seal top spot in Group D after already booking their ticket for the knockout stage. Mandzukic is the latest to join Bayern’s injury list with Franck Ribery,Bastian Schweinsteiger,Xherdan Shaqiri,Claudio Pizarro and Diego Contento already ruled out.

Brown wins appeal over card

* sunderland defender Wes Brown’s red card in Saturday’s Premier League defeat by Stoke City has been rescinded by the Football Association. Brown was shown a straight red card by referee Kevin Friend despite winning the ball cleanly from Charlie Adam,leading to a furious reaction by Sunderland manager Gus Poyet. “I would like to express my thanks to the panel for giving the matter their consideration. Naturally we are delighted with their decision,which is fair and just,” Poyet said. “Of course it was hugely frustrating to have Wes sent off,but we accept that officials are only human and like everyone,they can make mistakes.” Brown’s three-match ban has been dropped so he will be available for the bottom club against Aston Villa on Saturday.”