BritainÕs Joe Calzaghe (l) is caught by Denmark's Mikkel Kessler right hand during a fight for three world super-middleweight titles at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Sunday.

LONDON, Nov. 4--A vintage Joe Calzaghe outpointed Mikkel Kessler and claimed the undisputed super middleweight crown at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.
As reported by BBC, Calzaghe, making the 21st defence of his WBO belt, started slowly and was hurt on a number of occasions by Denmark’s WBA and WBC title-holder. But the home favorite took control in the middle rounds and dug deep down the stretch to secure a unanimous decision.
Calzaghe, unbeaten in 44 fights, was watched by an estimated 50,000 fans. The encounter is likely to be Calzaghe’s final fling at 168lb and he could now fight American great Bernard Hopkins at light heavyweight in 2008.
The 35-year-old Welshman was forced to draw on every inch of his experience and skills to repel the Dane by scores of 117-111, 116-112 (twice) on the judges’ cards.
There were a number of anxious moments for Calzaghe in round one as Kessler, who came into the fight with a 39-fight unbeaten record, landed with some crisp left hands. Calzaghe looked to have scored a knockdown in round three but referee Mike Ortega ruled, correctly, that Kessler had slipped.
Calzaghe was stiffened by a huge right cross and a couple of booming right uppercuts in round four and it looked for a moment as if age might be catching up with him.
But the Newbridge southpaw rallied in the middle rounds, tightening up his defence and bouncing in and out of range to good effect. He enjoyed a much better sixth and landed some good combinations at the beginning of the seventh before Kessler retaliated with a long over-the-top right and some hurtful shots in round eight.
Calzaghe, however, retained his composure and it was he who looked stronger in the final third of the fight. He had Kessler back-pedaling with a flurry of punches in round nine and again in the 10th before landing with two sharp uppercuts in the 11th as Kessler began to fade.
And Calzaghe was at his best in the final round, landing with hooks off both hands and closing out the fight, despite one final effort from the Copenhagen native.

Liverpool's Steven Gerrard (l) challenges Arsenal's Tomas Rosicky during their Premier League match at Anfield, Saturday.

LONDON, Nov. 4--William Gallas equalized in injury-time to salvage a draw and keep Arsenal on top of the Premier League after an absorbing clash with Manchester United.
According to BBC, Gallas turned Wayne Rooney’s half-hit effort into his own goal on the stroke of half time to give United the lead. Cesc Fabregas’ cool finish put Arsenal level two minutes after the break, but Cristiano Ronaldo slid home Patrice Evra’s cross nine minutes from time.
But Gallas then scrambled in Gael Clichy’s cross to earn a point. The Frenchman’s equalizer allowed Arsenal to set a new club record of 25 games unbeaten in all competitions.
The opening 45 minutes proved an anti-climax until Gallas diverted Rooney’s tame shot in on the stroke of half-time. Arsenal had reasonable penalty claims ignored by referee Howard Webb after 15 minutes when Nemanja Vidic tugged Alexander Hleb’s shirt as they tangled in the area.
United had a good chance seconds later when Bacary Sagna failed to react to Ronaldo’s cross and Ryan Giggs, perhaps caught by surprise, could only turn a close-range effort wide.
Owen Hargreaves was outstanding in shielding United’s defence from Arsenal’s attacking threat, but he was powerless as the Gunners almost went ahead after 35 minutes. Gallas escaped the attentions of the United rearguard to glance Fabregas’ free-kick against the legs of Edwin van der Sar.
United’s Brazilian midfield man Anderson is clearly a talent, but he demonstrated an unsavory side to his nature that predictably infuriated the crowd. He flamboyantly demanded referee Webb show yellow cards to Arsenal players, then rolled in ridiculous fashion after a foul by Fabregas that earned the Spanish youngster a booking.
United staged a smash-and-grab in first-half stoppage time, Ronaldo crossing for Rooney, who failed to make a proper connection but saw Gallas provide a crucial deflection past Manuel Almunia. The gauntlet was thrown down to Arsenal--but they picked it up to equalize two minutes after the restart.
Emmanuel Eboue played in Emmanuel Adebayor, who was blocked by Van der Sar, but Sagna crossed the loose ball for Fabregas to slide in a composed finish. Arsenal had started to dominate possession, but it was United who had the next big chance after 63 minutes.
Giggs found Rooney in space in the area, but he headed wastefully wide when he should have at least worked keeper Almunia. Both managers made changes in the final 15 minutes, Wenger sending on Theo Walcott for Eboue, while Ferguson replaced the subdued Carlos Tevez and Anderson with Louis Saha and Michael Carrick.
The changes worked better for United as they took a vital lead with nine minutes left. Walcott failed to track Evra, and when Saha played him in he crossed perfectly for Ronaldo to score.
Evra then enjoyed a huge piece of luck when he sliced substitute Eduardo da Silva’s cross against his own bar with Van der Sar helpless. Arsenal pressed forward and got the draw they deserved when Clichy’s cross sparked a goalmouth scramble which ended with a shot from Gallas which, even though Van der Sar clawed it out, had clearly crossed the line.

Italian rider Valentino Rossi arrives at a hospital after been injured during the qualifying practice at the Cheste racetrack near Valencia, Saturday.

VALENCIA, Spain, Nov. 4--Valentino Rossi broke three bones in his right hand and is unlikely to race in the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix after a heavy crash in qualifying.
The 28-year-old Italian lost control of his Yamaha after the first curve at the Ricardo Tormo circuit and was eventually thrown off into the gravel. He walked away from the crash but his bike was almost totally destroyed, AFP wrote.
Dani Pedrosa took pole on his Honda, finishing 0.086 seconds ahead of newly-crowned champion Casey Stoner. It was Pedrosa’s fourth pole position in row and gives the Spaniard a great chance of overtaking Rossi in the standings.
Rossi needs a point to secure the runners-up spot for the second season in a row but is struggling to take his place on the grid.
“I’ll see how it goes with the doctors (on Sunday),“ he said. “I’ve never missed a race in my 11-year career and I don’t want that to happen because I just need one point to ensure second place.“
If Rossi does make the grid, he will start 17th and only needs to move up two places during the race to gain that point. He has not finished outside the top two in any class since his rookie season in the 125cc category in 1996.
Australian Stoner has already clinched the title and is chasing his 11th win of the season in Valencia.

Polo is globally viewed as an Iranian sport. Historians say that there exists a 6,000-year-old handwritten script about polo games played between the Persians and the Turanids.
Polo is mentioned on many occasions in ancient Iran writings. Even in Ferdowsi’s masterpiece ’Shahnameh’ there is a section about how polo is played. In this book it is said that each team has seven players.
This ancient sport has been neglected in Iran for many years. Among the new generation may be only a few people know about polo and its past. This is while other Asian states, Europeans and Americans have seriously attended to this sport. History recalls that during the Mughal rule in India, polo was for the first time discovered at the international level. At the beginning of the 19th century this ancient sport was completely ignored by the Persian monarchs of the time. At present, British, Argentines, Americans and Pakistanis have excellent polo teams.
In a bid to shed some light on the present status of polo in the country, the Persian daily Iran interviewed Head of Polo Federation Hamzeh Ilkhanizadeh who himself has played polo for some 40 years. He talked about the shortcomings that he encountered. Excerpts follow.

Iran: You have been chosen as the chief of Polo Federation for another four years. You were the only candidate in the elections. How is it that nobody else wants to take charge at this federation?
Ilkhanizadeh: Well, people can take charge of any sport federation they want, but in this federation things are different. Whoever becomes the boss must bring with himself all the needed facilities. Last year I spent over 10 billion rials for the federation. It must be understood that this federation is very costly. Most people do not really know how this federation is run. Our earnings and our expenditures do not match at all. Last year our official budget was only 160 million rials, which is nothing for a polo federation. In fact, I procured the funds from my own pocket.

But the rumor is that oil companies sponsor the federation.
No, this is not true. I have not received a penny from any organization. We have so far procured the financial sources ourselves. If anybody has evidence that we have received money from oil companies he or she should show it to us. From day one the Physical Education Organization (PEO) told us that we should not ask for money. We promised that we hold games and take care of horses and also prepare the fields. Polo is an expensive sport. The person who wants to play polo must be well off. Buying and keeping horses is very expensive. Polo is indeed similar to golf and skiing. The point is that PEO provides financial resources for golf and skiing, but not for polo. Of course, the organization vowed to help us in creating the infrastructures, but it has not fulfilled its promise yet.

So given all the financial shortfalls, why have you accepted to run a federation using private funds?
I am a polo player myself. I love this sport in the same way that I love my motherland. I have chosen to accept this responsibility and I am accountable for it. This ancient Iranian sport must be promoted at the international level. So somebody had to start the drive forward and I accepted to be the man for this cause.

What have you done to promote polo nationwide?
The sad part is that we do not have the proper quantitative means, but we have rather acceptable qualitative means. We did not have the tools for running advertisements in order to appeal to the public. We did not have sufficient number of players before, but we managed to make many people interested in this unique sport. Now we have 100 players. We have also bred 150 horses particularly for our own purposes. We must make reasonable investments if we want to see improvements. Please allow me to recall that a country like UAE has allocated about 500 million dollars for its polo program. They have also imported 18 good players and are advancing quite rapidly. We are still grappling with problems while newspaper or TV coverage is not enough for us.

Have you had any plans for expanding clubs?
At the moment we have Qasr-e Firouzeh Club, which belongs to the PEO. We have made some investments in this club. The good news is that the Army has built green fields for its own teams. We also can use Norouzabad Club, which belongs to PEO. There is another place, which is my personal property. It is called the Polo Center and is located in Karaj. This club’s professional level is higher than the others and foreign coaches train the national team members there.

What are your future plans?
No polo is played in winters. Not much can be done till early spring either. We have limited resources. We usually play from late March till mid November. At any rate, we can always work on breeding horses. Our theoretical classes are also active.

BERLIN, Nov. 4--Disgraced cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz has admitted using illegal blood-booster erythropoietin (EPO) and undergoing banned blood transfusions in the past.
According to AFP, Sinkewitz was sacked by T-Mobile during this year’s Tour de France after failing a pre-race drugs test.
“I felt guilty about it all,“ the 27-year-old told the German magazine Der Speigel in an interview for Monday. However, he said he stopped using EPO in 2006 and still blamed his result on a testosterone gel used in training.
The German cyclist was suspended during the Tour de France after testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone on 8 June. He recently spent five hours giving evidence to the German Cycling Federation’s (BDR) disciplinary committee in an effort to get his expected two-year ban reduced.
But he told Der Speigel he first started taking EPO in 2003 when he rode for Team Quick-Step and continued the practice at T-Mobile until 2006. “It was no secret then that EPO made you faster,“ he said.
He said he had blood transfusions--a practice banned by the sports governing body--to improve his blood’s oxygenation and increase red cells, administered by team doctors Lothar Heinrich and Andreas Schmid, who were sacked in May after admitting giving cyclists EPO.

PARIS, Nov. 4--World number two Rafael Nadal came from a set down to beat Marco Baghdatis in the semi-finals of the Paris Masters, AFP reported.
Nadal lost the first set 6-4 after leading it 3-0, but won the next two 6-4 6-3 to book his place in the final. The loss ended any hopes that Baghdatis may have had of qualifying for the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai.
It also means France’s Richard Gasquet gets the eighth and final berth. He lost 6-2 6-4 in the second semifinal to unseeded Argentine David Nalbandian.
After his loss to Nadal, a gracious Baghdatis said: “I know I did Gasquet a big favor, but he deserves it. He’s played good the whole year, he’s playing big tennis. You cannot say it’s luck. It’s (Shanghai) people who deserve it, and I think he does.“
Nadal said: “Marcos played really well but I managed to find the solution by being more aggressive and showing more initiative. I love this city, and not only because I keep winning here. It’s the nicest place in the world after Mallorca.“
Nalbandian extended his brilliant run of form by crushing local favorite Gasquet in just over an hour. His record against him is now 5-0. After being dogged by injuries and indifferent form earlier in the season, he is now firing on all cylinders, beating world number one Roger Federer in the Madrid Masters final two weeks ago and again in the third round in Paris.

Firooz Karimi

TEHRAN, Nov. 4--Firooz Karimi was selected as Esteqlal’s coach by the club’s board of directors on Sunday.
According to Mehr News Agency, Nasser Hejazi, who was replaced by Karimi, will continue his job as technical manager in the Esteqlal team.
The new head coach will be introduced to the team during Esteqlal’s training session on Monday.
Esteqlal ranks 11th after four defeats in the current season under Hejazi’s reign.