Pride was a theme underlined by Beitar Jerusalem's coach, Yuval Naim, before last night's encounter with Bnei Sakhnin at Teddy Stadium. Naim told his players that the fans would hate losing against Sakhnin, without spelling out the obvious reason. In retrospect, his words probably demoralized his team: Sakhnin enjoyed their evening in Jerusalem, taking the lead in the first half through a Ahmed Kasoum goal, and adding two more in the second half.

Israeli windsurfer Lee Korzits won the women's RS:X title at the Sailing World Championships in Perth, Australia, for the second time in her career and the first since 2003. An hour after the victory sail, an excited Korzits took the podium, with the flag of Israel behind her and the national anthem playing in the background. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Korzits and congratulated her on her achievements throughout the years.

Three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador emerged victorious in a short race around Jerusalem on Tuesday involving the Spaniard's new Saxo Bank team and a host of Israeli riders. On the day of his 29th birthday, Contador broke away to win the race, which took place over ten laps of a 2.8-kilometer (1.7-mile) circuit in the city's Old Town, and was dubbed the Tour de Jerusalem by local organizers. Contador and the Saxo Bank team are currently in Israel on a team-building camp ahead of the 2012 season. The Spaniard will find out in the New Year if he is to face a ban of up to two year

Omri Caspi, the first Israeli to play in the NBA, signed a contract on Tuesday with Maccabi Tel Aviv, the team he started his professional career with. The contract will come into effect in the increasingly likely event that the current labor strife leads to the cancellation of the entire NBA season. Caspi will not be able to join Maccabi until January 1, for tax reasons. Caspi was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers over the summer after two seasons with the Sacramento Kings, where he was a first round draft pick.

One of Iran's top grandmasters was expelled from an international chess tournament after he refused to play a match against an Israeli opponent, the director of the tournament said. The Iranian, Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, was scheduled to play Ehud Shachar in the fourth round of the Corsica Masters, a pairing determined by computer. The director, Leo Battesti, said in a telephone interview that Maghami had asked him to change the pairing but was told that doing so would violate tournament rules. Maghami then failed to appear at the scheduled time to play Shachar.

Alex Shatilov cemented his place as one of Israel’s best medal hopes at next summer’s London Olympics on Saturday, claiming a bronze medal in the Floor final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Tokyo. The 24-year-old Israeli won his second World Championships medal in three years after also taking a bronze in the Floor final in 2009, recording on Saturday a score of 15.466, which also secured his place at the 2012 Olympics. Shatilov, who also won a silver medal at the European Championships earlier this year, missed much of 2010 through a serious knee injury, but is n

Israeli rhythmic gymnast Neta Rivkin, 20, won a historic medal for Israel at the 2011 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Montpellier France, receiving the bronze medal in the hoop individual final with 28 points.

Under a heavy police presence the match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Turkey’s Besikats kicked off in Istanbul, with the Turkish team scoring the first point within minutes. The Turkish team went on to score their second point shortly after, and won out against Israel 5 to 1. The Israeli team and suppporters received a warm welcome in Istanbul despite the political tensions between the two countries. Thousands of police were deployed inside and outside of the Istanbul stadium filled mainly with Turkish fans wearing the black and white colors of their team.

Elite police units were the winners in a recent shooting competition between top police, Border Police and military units. Police snipers earned the three top places in the contest and even won out over the army’s elite Sayeret Matkal. The elite police counter terror Yamam unit won first place with two undercover police units including the Gideonim winning second and third places. To participate in the fourth annual competition military and police units were required to send teams of their best four snipers to compete against each other in four separate rounds.

Israel will only complete its Euro 2012 qualifying campaign in three months' time, but found out whom it will be facing for a place in the 2014 World Cup. The national team, which is dreaming of reaching its first World Cup since 1970 and its second in history, was placed in Group F with Portugal, Russia, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan and Luxembourg at the draw held in Rio de Janeiro. The group winner will progress directly to the finals in Brazil, to be held from June 12 to July 13, 2014, while the eight best runners-up from the nine groups will play off for the remaining four berths ove

American Jewish basketball player Jordan Farmar has signed up with Maccabi Tel Aviv. A former player for the New Jersey Nets, the 1.88 meter guard will play for Tel Aviv as long as the NBA lockout continues, a Maccabi spokesman said in a statement. Farmar, won two NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers before moving to the Nets in 2010. He will play alongside former Duke guard Jon Scheyer, who signed earlier this summer. Since both are Jewish, once final arrangements are made, they will be eligible to assume citizenship and play as Israelis.

Israeli swimmer Gal Nevo secured his place in the 2012 London Summer Olympics on Wednesday finishing in 15th place in the 200 meter individual medley at the FINA World Championships in Shanghai. Nevo is the second Israeli to qualify. Earlier this week Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or became the first of the Israeli team to qualify finishing in 15th place in the 200 meters freestyle event. His achievement was marred by the refusal of an Iranian competitor to compete against the Israelis earlier in the week.

Coach Erez Edelstein has returned for his second term of coaching Hapoel Tel Aviv basketball. His last term was in 2003-2004, which was one of their best seasons to date. Last night when speaking to the governing body Edelstein commented on how he was excited to get the call and he just knew he wanted to come back as coach. Edelstein has signed on for 3 years.

Hapoel Tel Aviv proved proved too strong for Maccabi Haifa last week when they won the State cup for the ninth time overall, and the fourth time in the last six years, in front of 40 000 spectators in Ramat Gan. The reds were able to put aside the public feud between their owner and that of Maccabi Haifa. One goal was enough to secure the victory and to deny the Greens the golden opportunity to win the league and cup Double for only the second time in the clubs history.

In preparation for Passover, Beitar Yerushalayim's soccer team arrived at Sirkin military base to assist soldiers in packaging holiday boxes for the needy. Along with the players, coach Roni Levy, and chairman Itzik Kornfein, arrived as well as Beitar owner Arcadi Gaydamak. Gaydamark remarked that he would be staying on with Beitar Yerushalaim despite rumors. He said he was proud to be a part of Beitar Yerushalayim and he felt the team was 'strong". Captain of the team, Aviram Broachian, blessed Gaydamark on his recent celebration for his 59th birthday