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...fellow Muslims around the world, Sulley Muntari began the monthlong fasting ritual of Ramadan on Aug. 22. Abstaining from food or drink during daylight hours is challenging enough for the average person, but for the Ghana-born Muntari, a professional soccer player with Italy's Serie A team Inter Milan, running more than six miles per game on an empty stomach might have proved to be too much. In his first match after the start of Ramadan, the midfielder was removed from the game after just half an hour of play. (See the top 10 most colorful religious festivals...
...Just 30 minutes into his team's disappointing 1-1 tie Sunday with Bari, Inter Milan's Portuguese-born coach Jose Mourinho pulled midfielder Sulley Muntari, a practicing Muslim, out of his home debut. "He was clearly struggling," Mourinho said of the 25-year-old Ghanaian player during the postgame press conference. "It's the month of Ramadan, and that's what affected his performance, which is why I took him out." (See pictures from Euro...
...outspoken owner of the Rome-based Lazio club added to the polemics, saying he makes a point of avoiding the "problem" of Ramadan. "I respect religious freedom and the ways that it is expressed," Claudio Lotito told reporters after a meeting of Serie A officials in Milan. "But I try to prevent things that can slow down training and the playing of matches. I've never bought players that have this problem." (See pictures marking the end of Ramadan...
...Italy's sports pages duly took note of other Muslim players who observe Ramadan with varying degrees of strictness, including Siena's Abdel Kader Ghezzal, an Algerian who scored a goal against AC Milan on Saturday. Though a practicing Muslim, Ghezzal says he does not fast on training and game days during Ramadan. Inter's Muntari is more observant, though he reportedly ate pasta at lunch on Sunday, while refusing water before the match. Most imams say there are just a few groups of people exempted from the daytime fast, including pregnant women, the sick and the elderly. Though...
...Stefano Tirelli, the Milan-based personal trainer for Muntari and several other top soccer stars from Africa and the Middle East, says that depending on the playing conditions and the individual, lack of food and water can limit performance. He recalls his experience working for the United Arab Emirates and Qatar national teams, which featured less robust players in 100°F (40°C) heat, saying their speed and stamina were indeed affected by the Ramadan fast. But Tirelli, a professor of integrated sports technique at Milan's Catholic University, warns against reducing athletic performance to a series...