TEHRAN. Dec. 1--Elections at Iran’s Football Federation for naming its new head and managerial board were adjourned until late December.
The exact date of holding the election, which was slated for December 6, will be announced soon, wrote ISNA.
The reason for postponing the election has been termed as providing opportunity for more scrutiny over the procedure for holding the election.
The decision came after Iran’s Transitional Committee discussed the issue with AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam.
Five members of the transitional committee will travel to AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to attend a joint meeting with Bin Hammam on Tuesday.
According to an official of the federation, Iran’s football is not presently facing any risk of suspension from international activities.

LUCERNE,
Switzerland, Dec.1--FIFA named Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Brazil’s Kaka and Argentina’s Lionel Messi on Friday as the three finalists for the 2007 World Player of the Year award.
According to Reuters,the world soccer body said the trio were confirmed after a poll of coaches and captains of national teams around the world selected them from a 30-strong shortlist.
The winner, who will succeed Fabio Cannavaro of Italy and Real Madrid from last year’s competition, will be announced at the FIFA World Player Gala in Zurich on Dec 17.
If Kaka gets the nod it is likely to mean a double triumph, with the Brazilian set to be named winner of the Ballon d’Or on Sunday.
Kaka was the inspiration behind AC Milan’s Champions League success last season, finishing top scorer in the competition with 10 goals.
The 25-year-old opted to sit out the Copa America but he was hardly missed, as Brazil went on to take the trophy with a 3-0 victory over Argentina in the final.
Messi was in the Argentina side that lost that match. The Barcelona forward, still only 20, missed out on the Spanish title last season - won by Real Madrid. Among the highlights of his year was the hat-trick he scored in a 3-3 draw with Real in the Primera Liga.
Ronaldo, 22, led Manchester United to the Premier League title last season, scoring 17 league goals.
He also helped United reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, where they lost to Milan.

DAMASCUS, Syria, Dec. 1--Iran’s Youth Gymnastics Team has bagged 10 medals (5 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze) in the Asian Gymnastics Championship held in Damascus, Syria.
The team has won the championship for the first time in the history of Iran’s gymnastics on Wednesday, reported IRNA.
Iran’s team attended the event with four participants and two coaches.
Iranian gymnasts will return on Tuesday.

DETROIT, USA,
Dec. 1--Veteran left-hander Kenny Rogers has agreed a one-year contract with the Detroit Tigers, the team said on Friday.
Terms of the deal were not released but Detroit media reported the deal was worth about $8 million, Reuters wrote.
Rogers, 43, was 3-4 with a 4.43 earned run average last season with the Tigers, his 19th season in the majors. He has a career mark of 210-143 with a 4.19 ERA.
“We are pleased to have Kenny back in a Tigers uniform for the 2008 season,“ Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said in a statement. “Kenny is a veteran presence that stabilizes our starting rotation.“
Rogers will join Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman and Nate Robertson in the Tigers’ starting rotation.
Detroit finished second in the American League’s Central Division in 2007 with a 88-74 record.

Swimmer Michael Phelps reacts after his heat in the Men's 200 Yard Freestyle at the Short Course National Championships in Atlanta, USA, Nov. 30.

ATLANTA, USA, Dec. 1--Michael Phelps lost in his first race since suffering a broken right wrist last month, taking second behind American record-setter Ryan Lochte in the 200-yard individual medley Thursday at the US Short Course Nationals.
According to AFP, Phelps, whose quest for a record eight gold medals figures to be the major story of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, suffered the injury when he slipped getting into a car last month at the University of Michigan, where he attends classes.
Lochte won the 200 IM in 1:40.08, breaking his old US mark in the event from March of 2006 by .47 of a second with Phelps the runner-up in 1:41.32.
Lochte, who out-touched Jason Lezak to with the 50-yard freestyle in 19.31 as well, jumped to the IM lead and was ahead of the US record pace after the backstroke, pulling a body-length ahead of Phelps and staying ahead to the end.
Phelps, who won seven world titles and set four world records at the FINA World Championships earlier this year, must qualify at the Olympic trials June 29-July 6 at Omaha, Nebraska, to have a chance at breaking Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals at a single Olympics in China.
Also setting a US record in Thursday’s first day of the meet was Natalie Coughlin, who won the 50-yard freestyle in 21.46, lowering the old US mark of 21.63 set by Kara Lynn Joyce in 2006.

Ted Abela, a fan of of Washington Redskins player Sean Taylor, wears a Taylor jersey and grieves his death at a makeshift memorial at the team's training facility in Ashburn, Virginia, Nov. 27.

MIAMI, USA, Dec. 1-- Tipped off by the public and armed with a confession, police in Florida arrested four young men on Friday for the murder of Sean Taylor, a star defensive player with the National Football League’s Washington Redskins.
According to Reuters, Taylor, 24, who was the Redskins’ first pick in the 2004 draft, was shot in the groin area during a home robbery on Monday, resulting in a severed femoral artery. He died the next day in hospital after losing massive amounts of blood.
The high-profile slaying stunned US football fans and the police investigation in Miami-Dade County, under intense media scrutiny, went into immediate overdrive. On Thursday, police chief Robert Parker appealed for information.
The four men, aged 17, 18, 19, and 20, were arrested after tips led police to them in the Fort Myers area on Florida’s Gulf coast, a police spokeswoman said.
Police said the men intended to burglarize Taylor’s home on the other side of the state and had not expected to find anybody there when they broke in.
“There are four people that we have in custody. There have been statements made by one or more of the subjects regarding their involvement in the case,“ said Miami-Dade Police Department spokeswoman Kathy Webb.
The men, identified by police as Eric Rivera Jr., Charles Wardlow, Jason Mitchell and Venjah Hunte, were likely to be charged with felony murder, she said.

LUZERN, Switzerland, Dec. 1-- A reform of the European Champions League for the period 2009/12 was agreed by the UEFA executive committee on Friday night.
The idea of UEFA president Michel Platini to include Cup winners in a preliminary competition was thrown out but his plans to help the smaller nations make their mark on the event were kept, AFP wrote.
“I’m happy we were able to come to this decision,“ Platini said. “It’s a good compromise and means we will welcome six new nation champions into the event.“
Platini’s plans to have the Cup winners of the top 16 European nations playing in a preliminary competition for a total of four Champions League places was not agreed on.
Instead there will be a two-round preliminary phase compromising 15 clubs fighting for five group berths.
Platini said the new plans would mean countries such as Romania or Albania would be able to benefit from money from Champions League television rights meaning they could hang on to their best players.
“Certain people have said allowing smaller nations in would weaken the competition,“ Platini added. “Perhaps that will be so in the early years but after that the difference will be less and less.“

YOKOHAMA, Japan, Dec. 1--Urawa Reds surrendered their Japanese title to Kashima Antlers after slumping to a 1-0 defeat at relegated Yokohama FC on Saturday.
According to Reuters, Kashima took full advantage by thrashing Shimizu S-Pulse 3-0 at home for their ninth successive win to snatch the J-League title from under Urawa’s noses on the final day of the season.
Having started the day a point behind the Reds, it was Kashima’s fifth Japanese championship after lifting the trophy in 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2001.
There was nothing but misery for Urawa, who have been in free-fall since winning the Asian Champions League last month. They have not managed a win in their last five J-League games.
Japan’s best-supported club had suffered a humiliating Emperor’s Cup exit against
second division Ehime FC in midweek and they never looked like beating Yokohama FC, who were relegated in record time this year.
Midfielder Shingo Nejime slotted home the winner after 18 minutes for Yokohama FC, who had won just three of their previous 33 league games.
Reds were given a let-off when former Japan international Kazuyoshi Miura astonishingly missed an open goal from one meter out. But events further north quickly turned bad for Urawa.
In Kashima, Antlers captain Mitsuo Ogasawara converted a penalty to give his side the lead before Masashi Motoyama blasted a second from 20 meters five minutes into the second half.
Brazilian striker Marquinhos scored Kashima’s third just before the hour mark, while Urawa continued to struggle at Nissan Stadium, venue for the 2002 World Cup final.
Kashima, who beat Urawa 1-0 in Saitama last weekend to send the title race to the wire, finished with 72 points from 34 games with the Reds runners-up on 70.

Brazilian volleyball players celebrate their victory over Russia in Tokyo on Saturday.

TOKYO, Dec. 1--World champions Brazil became the first team to qualify for the Olympics when they defeated Russia in the men’s World Cup volleyball tournament on Saturday.
With a 25-22, 25-22, 25-18 victory over the Athens Olympic bronze medalists, Brazil chalked up a ninth win against one defeat to secure one of the top three places in the 12-team round robin competition, AFP wrote.
The top three finishers in the tournament qualify for the Beijing Olympics next year.
Russia, the United States and Bulgaria will battle for the remaining two tickets for Beijing with the same 8-2 record after the Americans beat Argentina 25-16, 25-19, 25-18, and Bulgaria topped Japan 22-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-20.
“Even if we lose to Japan, we’ve already qualified, because one of the two teams (either Russia or the United States) will get three defeats,“ said Brazilian coach Bernardo Resende.
He said he thought the fact that his team lost its first match in the tournament--a surprise loss to the United States--may have helped his team.
“It was the first time we lost the first match in a big tournament . We lost to the United States and we won the 2002 world championships. We also lost to them in the Olympics and we won the Olympics.
“We lost to France in the world championships last year and we won. Maybe this team needs something like that. In the first match, there’s a lot of pressure, so a lot of things happen.
“But my players always responded so well, so we have to continue to put on them pressure. That’s the most important thing as the champions. So I’m very happy to have a team like this,“ Resende said.
As for the match, Dante Guimaraes Amaral said the key to their victory was that they could handle the Russian serves.
“Russia are one of the best teams in the world who have so many big servers. Our strategy was to control their serves. When we had several big chances, we took them and we got into our rhythm. That’s why we won today,“ said Amaral.
Brazil takes on Japan Sunday on the final day to defend the World Cup.
US captain Thomas Hoff said he hoped his squad could continue their strong play.
“It was nice to do that right before our last match, and hopefully we can continue that,“ he added.
In other matches, European champions Spain defeated South Korea 25-22, 25-17, 28-26, while African champions Egypt downed Tunisia 25-21, 18-25, 25-21, 25-22. Asian champions Australia were 25-21, 15-25, 25-18, 25-21 winners over Puerto Rico.

ST. PETERSBURG, USA, Dec. 1--Daredevil Evel Knievel, who dodged death in spectacular motorcycle leaps and crashes in a life full of showmanship, died on Friday at age 69, according to his lawyer and a message on his Web site.
“I just spoke with him Thursday night. He seemed to be in good spirits,“ said Knievel’s lawyer, Richard Fee, adding he died in the Tampa Bay area of Florida where he recently made his home, according to Reuters.
“Anybody can jump a motorcycle,“ he once told Esquire magazine. “The trouble begins when you try to land it.“
Knievel--who retired in 1981 after breaking more than 40 bones in his body, including his back seven times--had been ill for some time, suffering from a lung disease.