Afshin Qotbi, Persepolis head coach, directs his players from the sidelines at Azadi Stadium on Friday.

TEHRAN, Nov. 17--Persepolis head coach, Afshin Qotbi, praised his team after the late win that clinched Reds’ stance in top of table of Iran’s Professional League Friday.
“Persepolis players were lionhearted against diligent Saipa and never thought about draw. We had so many chances in the second half and finally netted the goal to earn an important win,“ according IRNA.
Asked about the secret of victory in the last minutes, Qotbi asserted that he made changes in the second half to snatch the points and that he is happy about the result of the match.
“Our players have already proved to be brave and in my opinion the team which still wins after 14 weeks can become champion of the league,“ added the coach.
Persepolis escaped from third successive draw against Saipa at Azadi Stadium. Khalili scored a late goal while Saipa players criticized severely the referee for considering more additional time.

TEHRAN, Nov. 17--Youth Gymnastics Team will travel to Syria to attend the 10th Asian Gymnastics Championship on Nov. 24.
The championship will start a day after the gymnasts arrive there, reported IRNA.
Iran will participate in the event with four athletes while a technical managerÊand a supervisor will also be accompanying the team.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Nov. 17--Brazil’s national soccer team and its star player Ronaldinho, recovering from injury, traveled on Friday to Peru to get ready to play their World Cup qualifier game against its Peruvian counterpart on Sunday. Ê
Ronaldinho, twice named Federation of International Football Associations’ (FIFA) Player of the Year, is recovering from an injury suffered in a game for Spain’s Barcelona soccer club, Xinhua wrote.Ê
“Today it is less swollen,“ the striker said in a televised interview on Friday before parting to Peru. “We’re in the final phase of treatment. I still don’t have full confidence, and in some movements it still hurts, but there’s still time until the game. I think I’m going to play.“ Ê
Brazil tied 0-0 against Colombia and defeated Ecuador 5-0 in its two previous qualifier games. Ê
Brazil’s soccer team, five times World Soccer Cup champions, trail leader Argentina by two points in the 10-nation South American qualifying tournament. Ê

England's Michael Owen (l) vies for the ball with Austria's Martin Stranzl during their friendly soccer match in Vienna, Friday.

VIENNA, Austria, Nov. 17--England secured a straightforward 1-0 friendly win over Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria on Friday but suffered the more significant loss of Michael Owen to injury.Ê
Already without Wayne Rooney for Wednesday’s potentially decisive Euro 2008 Group E qualifier against Croatia, England saw striker Owen leave the pitch in Vienna after 34 minutes, according to Reuters.Ê
Manager Steve McClaren later confirmed that Owen had been ruled out of the match at Wembley. Ê
“He won’t be fit for Wednesday,“ McClaren told a post-match news conference. “It was a strange one, it was his standing foot. He’s pulled his thigh and unfortunately he’s out.Ê
“That’s football but we do seem to be plagued with injuries at the present moment and for what I believe will be our biggest game for quite some while we’re going in without two centre halves and two centre forwards who we would pick.“Ê
England’s problems at the back revolve around injured captain John Terry and the suspended Rio Ferdinand.Ê
“It’s disappointing but I believe and hope that Wednesday will be important,“ McClaren added, “and I believe there’s enough in that dressing room and the squad has enough spirit that we will do it.“Ê
Owen indicated to the England bench that he wanted to come off after suffering the injury following a shot at goal.Ê
“It’s a huge blow because we all know what Michael can do in big games,“ England midfielder Frank Lampard said of Owen’s injury. “It’s frustrating,“ he added on Sky Sports.Ê
Jermaine Defoe replaced Owen whose strike partner Peter Crouch scored the only goal a minute before halftime when he headed in a David Beckham corner.Ê
England made three more changes at the break and took time to adjust as Austria enjoyed a few rare forays up the pitch.

BEIJING, Nov. 17--Iran’s Wushu athletes have bagged nine medals (one gold , 5 silver and 3 bronze) in the World Wushu Championship matches held in the Chinese capital.
Iran ranked 7th in the event while China became champion with 18 gold medals and Macau finished second with a total of 14 medals, Mehr News Agency reported.
Iran had attended the championship in two Talo and Sanshu classes with 10 men and women players.
Iran’s team already ranked 8th in previous championship competitions which were held in Vietnam as athletes bagged two gold medals, one silver medal and two bronze medals.
A total of 1,000 Wushu participants attended the 10-day championship from 88 countries.

SEOUL, South Korea, Nov. 17--Iran’s disabled table tennis team ranked third in the AsiaÐOceania Championship in Seoul on Saturday.
Two Iranian athletes succeeded to win bronze medal while the men’s team occupied third place, IRNA reported.
The women’s team also finished fourth in the event.
The table tennis teams will be back to Tehran on Sunday via Imam Khomeini international airport.

NEW YORK, Nov. 17--Jussi Jokinen scored four goals, three of them within a seven-minute span in the third period, to guide the Dallas Stars to a thumping 6-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.Ê
“I found a pretty good stick (on Thursday), that I used back home in Finland in the summer,“ Jokinen told reporters, Reuters wrote.Ê
“I don’t know if that helped, I got a couple of good shots (Thursday) in practice and this morning, so I decided to use that.Ê
“I don’t know if that’s the reason (for the four goals),“ he added, “but sometimes those little things, you feel more confident out on the ice.“Ê
The 24-year-old Finn is the first Dallas player to score four goals in a game since new Stars co-general manager Brett Hull completed the feat in 2001.Ê
Jokinen began his scoring spree with a powerplay goal 4:22 into the first period.Ê
“I got that first goal pretty early, the first goal on home ice the whole year, so it was a big relief,“ Jokinen said.Ê
He then had three of Dallas’s four goals in a decisive second period.Ê
Jokinen made it 2-0 with an even-handed score 3:47 into the second period. Then, after Jeff Halpern scored at the 5:11 mark for Dallas, Jokinen delivered two goals in less than four minutes.Ê

SHANGHAI, China, Nov. 17--Roger Federer’s place in the semifinals of the season-ending Masters Cup was decided before he had even hit a ball in anger on Friday.Ê
According to Reuters,the world number one then destroyed Andy Roddick 6-4 6-2, triggering a couple of furious outbursts from the American who smashed one of his rackets to pieces and at one point shouted over the net: “Don’t worry, I’ll get better!“Ê
Russian Nikolay Davydenko’s 6-4 6-3 victory over Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez was enough to send Federer through regardless of the result of his final Red Group match.Ê
Federer, chasing his fourth Masters Cup title in five years, now faces world number two Rafael Nadal in Saturday’s semifinals of the showcase eight-man event.Ê
“Let’s not over-rate today’s match -- we’d both qualified,“ Federer told reporters. I’m excited to play Rafa. I think if I’m on top of my game indoors I’m the favorite.“Ê
Federer has regularly tormented Roddick in their past meetings and his 14-1 head-to-head record was never under threat in a one-sided match.Ê
The Swiss breezed through the first set in 33 minutes, clinching it with a sharp forehand volley to leave his opponent in a hole.

NAGOYA, Japan,
Nov. 17--European champions Italy scratched out a tough win against the United States on Friday to win the women’s World Cup volleyball tournament for the first time.
Their 25-20, 25-18, 27-25 victory was the squad’s 11th straight win in the 12-team round-robin competition, where the top three finishers--Italy, the United States and Brazil--have qualified for the next year’s Olympics, Reuters wrote.Ê
The Americans ended with a 9-2 win-loss record for third behind Brazil, which silenced a loud partisan crowd in its defeat of Japan 2-16, 23-25, 25-18, 25-18.
Brazil ended with the same record as the Americans but took the silver medal thanks to a better points ratio.
“We made history,“ said Italy’s captain Eleonora Lo Bianco. “It was not easy, but we were able to play tenaciously till the end. Although we’ve already earned a ticket for Beijing, we wanted to finish with a win.“
Italy’s coach Massimo Barbolini attributed the victory--capping an undefeated tournament for the team--to their hard work “with a little bit of fortune.“
“For us, it was important to win the last match, because it’s a great result to win 11 matches in a row. My players have (had) a wonderful season, they wanted to finish this way.
US coach, Lang Ping, said her team did not have enough time to train together for the two-week tournament.

PARIS, Nov. 17--Disgraced cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz has been handed a one-year suspension after admitting taking banned substances, AFP wrote.
Sinkewitz was sacked by T-Mobile during the Tour de France after a failed test.
He later admitted using blood-booster erythropoietin (EPO) since 2003 and having undergone blood transfusions, adding: “I felt guilty about it all.“
And the 27-year-old’s co-operation with the enquiry helped ensure an expected two-year ban was reduced, though he was also fined 40,000 euros. The ban takes into account Sinkewitz’s sacking from T-Mobile so he will be allowed to race again on 17 July, 2008.
The German recently spent five hours giving evidence to the German Cycling Federation’s (BDR) disciplinary committee, during which he claimed to have stopped using EPO in 2006. “It was no secret then that EPO made you faster,“ he said.
However, he actually blamed his failed drugs test on 8 June on a testosterone gel he applied to his arm to help his recovery after training and added the quantity was “the bare minimum“.

Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius, who had both legs amputated below the knee as a child and runs on carbon fiber blades, awaits the International Amateur Athletics Federation decision.

LONDON, Nov. 17--Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius will find out before the end of 2007 if he can continue to compete against able-bodied athletes in the 400m.
The 20-year-old had both legs amputated below the knee as a child and runs on carbon fiber blades. But the International Amateur Athletics Federation wants to ensure the blades do not give him an unfair advantage.
“We’re very happy with how the tests went,“ Pistorius’s agent Peet van Zyl told BBC Sport. “And if the tests come out in his favour, then the Olympic Games in Beijing will be a big goal and aim next year for Oscar.“
The tests were conducted at the Cologne Sports University this week, with professor Peter Bruggemann, an expert in athletics biomechanics, in charge of the arrangements.
Pistorius ran alongside six able-bodied athletes who have similar 400m personal bests to him, in order to establish whether his blades counted as “technical aids“, which are forbidden in competition.
The IAAF is paying for the research, with Bruggermann’s report expected to be completed by the middle of December - at which point the IAAF will make a judgement about Pistorius’s eligibility based on those findings. However, Van Zyl has said that regardless of the outcome of the tests, Pistorius continues to target success at the 2008 Paralympic Games.

SAO PAULO, Brazil, Nov. 17--McLaren’s Brazilian Grand Prix appeal has been rejected by the International Automobile Federation (FIA).
According to AFP, the decision confirmed Kimi Raikkonen as world champion, dashing Briton Lewis Hamilton’s title hopes. The FIA ruled the appeal--against the decision of the Brazilian GP stewards not to punish the BMW Sauber and Williams teams--was inadmissible.
McLaren had objected to Williams and BMW avoiding punishment for using fuel that was too cool in Brazil. The FIA’s independent court of appeal, comprising four judges, met in London for a four-hour hearing on Thursday, but did not announce the decision until late on Friday.
If Williams’ Nico Rosberg and BMW Sauber pair Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld had been disqualified, Hamilton could have moved up to fourth and gained enough points to overtake Raikkonen, who won the race and therefore the title. Hamilton was seventh in Brazil behind Rosberg and both BMWs.
McLaren’s F1 chief executive officer Martin Whitmarsh said: “In the interests of rule clarification and rule consistency we lodged our appeal. We hope this fuel temperature issue does not remain unresolved in Formula One next year. But we look forward to working with the FIA and the teams on clarifying matters to avoid a similar situation occurring again.“
Lawyers for McLaren had called for a reclassification of the championship, a move that angered Ferrari. Williams and BMW Sauber argued McLaren’s appeal was inadmissible because Hamilton’s team had not been an interested party in the stewards’ initial inquiry, and had not appealed against the race classification immediately after the event.
Ferrari accused McLaren of being “naked opportunists“, after the English team’s previous claims that the championship should not be decided in the courtroom.