CAF to support Blatter against Bin Hammam in FIFA elections

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced that it will support Sepp Blatter in FIFA's upcoming presidential elections against Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam.

Bin Hammam, president of the Asian Football Confederation, wants to run for the presidency of the world governing body but his chances seem to be slim against Blatter.

Blatter was elected as FIFA president in 1998 and has been holding the prestigious position ever since.

UEFA had earlier said it will also back the 75-year-old in the FIFA elections, which is to be held on June 1 in Zurich.

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Nadal to play Spain's opener against France in Davis Cup semi

CORDOBA, Spain -- Four days after losing the U.S. Open final, Rafael Nadal will play for Spain in Friday's opening singles match of the Davis Cup semifinal against France.

With Nadal ready to go, Spain is favoured to bounce back from last year's 5-0 loss to France at Clermont-Ferrand and extend its record run of 19 straight home wins that dates back to 1999.

Nadal, who lost to Novak Djokovic in New York in four sets on Monday, will open play Friday against Richard Gasquet.

"I am a little tired, as is logical and not in tiptop form because I haven't had much time to train on clay, around 4 1/2 hours," said Nadal, who has a 9-0 record against Gasquet. "And that is cutting it fine for a game against one of the best players in the world on clay."

Spain's second-ranked player, David Ferrer, takes on Gilles Simon in the second singles match on the outdoor court in the Los Califas bull ring.

Spain was without Nadal for last year's matchup with the French, and now not only its No. 1 back but France is missing its top-ranked player, Gael Monfils, who is out injured.

France captain Guy Forget made the surprise move of keeping his highest-ranked player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, out of the singles. He will play in Saturday's doubles with Michael Llodra against Spain's pair of Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez.

Tsonga, a Wimbledon semifinalist this year, was expected to play Nadal in a highly anticipated match of the two teams' best players.

On Sunday, Nadal is set to play Simon while Ferrer takes on Gasquet in the reverse singles.

Nadal expects to get better as the semifinal progresses.

"I haven't trained a lot and so I am a little off, but that is normal," Nadal said. "If I can have a good match on Friday, I'll be steadier for Sunday's match."

Even with Nadal at less than 100 per cent, the Spain team enters the series in excellent form.

The Spaniards didn't miss Nadal in the quarter-finals when Ferrer and Lopez led their country to its first ever win on U.S. soil in Austin, Texas.

Defending champion Serbia is playing Argentina in Belgrade in the other semifinal.

Home wins by Spain and Serbia would set up a possible rematch of Nadal and Djokovic in the final.

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Raonic named to Davis Cup team for tie against Israel

MONTREAL - Rising star Milos Raonic is set to return to competitive tennis later this month when Canada plays Israel in a Davis Cup World Group playoff tie.

The hard-serving 20-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., has been out of action since suffering a hip injury at Wimbledon in June.

Raonic was named to the Canadian team Tuesday along with Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C., and doubles star Daniel Nestor of Toronto. The Sept. 16-18 tie will be played at Canada Stadium in Ramat Hasharon, Israel.

"We have worked hard to reach this third round and we are very aware of what is at stake in this World Group playoff tie," Canadian captain Martin Laurendeau said in a release. "It is our goal this year and we are very motivated to overcome this last obstacle, but our task will be very difficult.

"We have gained a lot of confidence from our last two victories on the road which is going to be key for this next tie. I firmly believe that the players will lead us to victory in 10 days."

Canada has not played in the elite World Group since 2004 and hasn't made the playoffs since 2005.

Raonic is Canada's highest ranked singles player ever at No. 29. He quickly rose up the ranks this year after picking up his first ATP tournament victory in February at the SAP Open in San Jose.

Raonic suffered a hip injury in the second round at the All England Club and underwent surgery on July 5 in Vail, Colo. This will be his fifth official appearance with the Canadian team.

Nestor, meanwhile, made his Davis Cup debut in 1992. He holds the record for most total wins (43), doubles victories (28), and number of ties played (39) in Canadian Davis Cup history.

Pospisil qualified for the main draw of the U.S. Open last week and won his first career Grand Slam match with a first-round victory over Lukas Rosol. Pospisil recently reached a career-high No. 143 in the rankings.

Polansky has battled injuries this season and has dropped to No. 367 in the rankings.

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Prosecutors drop three charges against Bonds

SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal prosecutors dropped all the remaining charges against Barry Bonds on Wednesday, days after a judge upheld the slugger's conviction on an obstruction of justice count.

The U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco filed court papers informing U.S. District Judge Susan Illston it was dismissing the three charges of making false statements still pending against Bonds, Major League Baseball's all-time home runs leader. A jury deadlocked on the three counts at Bonds' trial in April.

The deadline for prosecutors to start the process for a retrial on those charges was about 30 days away. Now, Bonds won't face a new trial on accusations that he lied to a grand jury back in 2003 when he testified that he never knowingly received steroids or human growth hormone from trainer Greg Anderson, and that no one other than his doctors ever injected him with anything.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Parrella declined comment.

Bonds' lawyer, Allen Ruby, said that his client's legal team was focused on the slugger's sentencing hearing in December. Ruby declined to discuss whether Bonds intended to appeal the obstruction conviction.

Bonds was among the biggest stars convicted as a result of an investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) steroids ring, a probe headed by federal agent Jeff Novitzky that also ensnared Olympic gold medal-winning track star Marion Jones.

Bonds was initially charged in November 2007 with lying to the grand jury during a December 2003 appearance when he testified that his personal trainer misled him into believing the designer steroids and performance enhancing drugs he was taking were legal supplements.

A majority of jurors this year voted to acquit him on charges he lied when he denied knowingly taking steroids and human growth hormone. The jurors voted 11-1 to convict him for denying that anyone other than his doctor ever injected him.

Bonds faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, though federal guidelines recommend a sentence of 15 to 21 months.

Illston, who upheld the obstruction count last Friday, also is free to impose a lesser sentence, which she did after two previous trials involving a champion cyclist and track coach each convicted of lying in cases that grew out of the BALCO probe. Cyclist Tammy Thomas and track coach Trevor Graham each received sentences of house arrest.

Bonds, Thomas and Graham were the only three BALCO figures who pleaded not guilty and went to trial on charges of lying about performance enhancing drugs.

Prosecutors on Wednesday dismissed the counts "without prejudice," meaning they could reinstate the charges before the statute of limitations expires. However, that's a routine legal manoeuvre when dismissing criminal charges and dropped cases are rarely reinstated.

Lawyer William Keane, who represented Graham, said it's highly unlikely prosecutors will reinstate the charges, and that he expects Bonds won't go to prison even though prosecutors are expected to argue for that.

"Given that the core part of the case hung and given the other sentences in the BALCO cases," Keane said, "Bonds has a reasonably good chance of avoiding prison time."

Peter Keane, a Golden Gate University law professor, said he was "a little surprised" that prosecutors decided to drop the charge on which jurors voted 11-1 to convict Bonds.

"But at the end of the day, he's a convicted felon and was shown to have obstructed a federal grand jury," Keane said. "The prosecutors won."

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