SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Dec. 11--Iran’s sitting volleyball team won the International Sitting Volleyball Championship in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, on Monday. Powerhouse Iran won 3-0 over Bosnia’s B team in the final game, IRNA reported. Iran’s Ramezan Salehi has been named best libero at the end of event. A total of 10 teams participated in the Bosnia tournament.

TEHRAN, Dec. 11--Head of Iranian Basketball Federation Mahmoud Mashhoon will be awarded an international plaque in a ceremony to be held on February 11 in Italy.
According to IRNA, the plaque will be presented by the International Basketball Federations Association (FIBA) in recognition of the Iranian basketball team’s recent achievements.
Iranian basketball players won the Asia Basketball Championship held in Japan in August 2007 and qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

TEHRAN, Dec. 11--Saipa football club has no plans to replace its head coach Ali Daei.
“Despite speculations, Daei is going nowhere and will train the team. Our team needs calm, therefore we keep away from such talks,“ IRNA quoted Saeed Taqizadeh, Saipa’s spokesman, as saying.
Daei is under pressure following the team’s weak performances in the current season.
Struggling Saipa will be attending the AFC Champions League as Iran’s representative in March 2008.

TEHRAN, Dec. 11--Iran’s Manateq-e Naftkhiz (Oil Rich Regions) and Melli Haffari (National Drilling) teams will leave Tehran on Wednesday to attend the upcoming Asian Clubs Weightlifting Championship in Syria .
The championship will open on December 14 in Damascus, Mehr News Agency reported.
Iran’s Hercules, Hossein Rezazadeh, will also participate in the +105 kg category as a member of Manateq-e Naftkhiz Club.

TEHRAN, Dec. 11--Iran turned down the official request of Mali’s football federation to play a friendly match.
Mali was drawn against Sudan, Chad and Congo in Group 10 in World Cup Qualifying 2010, Mehr News Agency reported.
Iran’s football federation has not agreed with Mali’s proposal.
Mali is ranked 130 in the FIFA ranking.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees celebrates their win over the Atlanta Falcons after their NFL game in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday .

ATLANTA, USA, Dec. 11--Drew Brees passed for three touchdowns to lift the New Orleans Saints to a convincing 34-14 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Monday.
Marques Colston caught two of them as the Saints (6-7) chalked up 24 consecutive points after the scores were tied at 7-7 to keep their playoff hopes alive, Reuters wrote.
“This was a must-win game,“ Brees told reporters after completing 28 of 41 passes for 328 yards and no interceptions.
“They all are from this point on, but you can’t win four in a row until you win one in a row.“
The Falcons dropped to 3-10 on the day former quarterback Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison for his role in an illegal dog-fighting ring.
Colston wound up with nine catches for 92 yards and made touchdown catches of 15 and two yards for the Saints.
David Patten added 122 yards receiving on nine catches and the game’s first touchdown, a 25-yard pass from Brees.
Roman Harper keyed the defense with a 31-yard pass interception return that gave New Orleans a 31-7 lead.
The Saints played without running backs Reggie Bush and Deuce McAllister, who are out with knee injuries, but Aaron Stecker filled in effectively, rushing for 100 yards on 20 carriers.

LONDON, Dec. 11--British newspapers turned their focus to Italy’s Fabio Capello on Tuesday after Jose Mourinho decided he would not seek the position of England manager.
According to AFP, that did not stop some of them from criticizing Mourinho, however, for what they saw as an attempt by the former Chelsea boss to raise publicity in an effort to seek out offers from European clubs, after his resignation from the Premier League side following a fall-out with Russian owner Roman Abramovich.
Among the critics was Des Kelly of the Daily Mail, who wrote in his column that Mourinho “just wanted a bit of attention.“
“The tell-tale signs were there last week when he was asked if he would like the job.
“Mourinho sat back smugly as newspapers, columnists, phone-in hosts all screamed he was ’perfect’, while the Football Association boss Brian Barwick was roundly accused of being a complete idiot for not immediately climbing over Jose’s garden gate and forcing him to sing up there and then.“
The Guardian highlighted some positives for England arising from Mourinho’s rejection, noting that the Football Association would have had “to wonder about the ensuing furore when Mourinho dealt with defeat in his normal manner, by accusing someone of something.“
“The Special One might have needed a special unit at the Foreign Office to deal with the damage to international relations.“
Capello, one of European football’s most successful club coaches, has expressed an interest and replaced Mourinho as favorite with leading British bookmaker Ladbrokes following the withdrawal of the ’Special One’.
Marcello Lippi, who guided Italy to the 2006 World Cup title, is another possible contender.
Both men fit the FA’s bill for a “world-class“ coach.

KAPSABET, Kenya, Dec. 11--Defending champion Martin Lel is to compete in next year’s Flora London Marathon as he aims to win the race for the third time in four years.
According to BBC, the 29-year-old Kenyan, who won in 2005 and 2007, would also become the third man to win the race three times.
“I am very pleased to be able to defend my title“, said Lel, who also won the New York Marathon this year.
“I’m training hard to make sure I am in top shape. I know it’ll be tough but I’m confident I can win again.“
If Lel is to match the achievement of previous three-time winners Dionicio Ceron (1994, 1995 and 1996) and Antonio Pinto (1992, 1997 and 2000) he will have to overcome a tough field.
Olympic champion Stefano Baldini of Italy and Lel’s compatriot Luke Kibet, the world champion, have been confirmed for the race, along with former world record holder Paul Tergat and 2006 winner Felix Limo. “I believe this is one of the best fields we’ve ever assembled,“ said race director David Bedford.
“I am delighted to welcome Martin back to London. He has a fantastic record here and will be extremely hard to beat.
“But it will not be easy for him as the opposition is of the highest quality and many of these stars will be hoping to prove their fitness before the Olympic Games in Beijing.“

NEW YORK, Dec. 11--Japanese free agent Kosuke Fukudome is attracting interest from several US teams, Major League Baseball (MLB) said on Monday.
The 30-year-old outfielder has turned down a four-year, $30 million deal from the Yomiuri Giants and is evaluating offers from the San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox, Reuters said.
An injury to his right elbow sidelined Fukudome’s season with the Chunichi Dragons after he sparkled in 2006 by belting 31 homers, driving in 104 runs and batting a career-high .351.
Padres general manager Kevin Towers told the San Diego Union-Tribune he expected to learn soon whether Fukudome would accept their multi-year offer.
Fukudome, a career .305 hitter over nine seasons with the Dragons, averaged 29 homers a season from 2003 to 2006.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland,
Dec. 11--The International Olympic Committee delayed a decision to reallocate medals won by Marion Jones at the 2000 Olympics because more athletes may be involved in the BALCO doping affair, an IOC official said on Monday.
The IOC executive board meeting that started on Monday was set to strip Jones’s five medals, including three golds, after the US sprinter confessed in October to taking banned substances, Reuters reported.
It will further investigate the case for fear that more Olympic athletes, who could be upgraded, may be involved in the BALCO affair.
Several prominent athletes have been embroiled in the doping scandal involving the San Francisco-based BALCO laboratory, the latest being baseball player Barry Bonds who has been charged with perjury over alleged drugs use.
Jones faces potential jail time for lying to federal agents.
“We feel that some names of athletes may still appear (in the BALCO case),“ disciplinary commission member Denis Oswald told reporters. “We know there were more athletes-clients.

Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki (r) shoots for two of his 36 points past New York Knicks' Zach Randolf in the second half of their NBA game in New York, on Wednesday.

NEW YORK, Dec. 11--Dirk Nowitzki scored a season-high 36 points to steer the Dallas Mavericks to a 99-89 win over the New York Knicks on Monday.
According to Reuters, Nowitzki hit 14 of 23 field-goal attempts, including three of five three-pointers, and was five of seven from the line as the Mavericks continued their domination of the Knicks.
He had 15 points in the first quarter to propel the Mavericks to a 28-19 lead.
“I was fortunate enough to find my rhythm very quickly,“ Nowitzki told reporters.
Josh Howard added 22 and Jerry Stackhouse had 13.
But Dallas coach Avery Johnson was not happy with how some of the other Mavericks played as Dallas blew a large portion of a 23-point third quarter lead.
“The last three minutes in the third quarter were absolutely pathetic,“ Johnson told reporters. “We had some guys in there that let the team down, and we had to go back with Dirk, but give the Knicks some credit.“
Zach Randolph scored all 24 of his points in the second half to pace New York. He also had 11 rebounds.
Jamal Crawford added 19 and Fred Jones 16 for the Knicks, who lost their third successive game.

BEIJING, Dec. 11--Chinese traditional medicines do not contain banned substances, a Beijing Olympics medical official said Tuesday. However, as a precaution they will not be used to treat the athletes during the games.
“We know there is no relationship with doping and Chinese traditional medicine,“ Dr. Dai Jianping told AP.
“The Chinese traditional herbal medicine has enjoyed a process of several thousand years. It is very healthy for the body.“
Dai is one of the top medical officials for next year’s Olympics and a deputy director with the Games Services department of the Beijing organizing committee.
He likened the traditional medicines to vitamins.
“We cannot regard vitamin C as a kind of doping,“ he said.
However, over the weekend Dai was quoted by the official state-run Xinhua news agency saying Chinese medicine would not be used to treat athletes during the Aug. 8-24 games.
“To avoid the doping problem, the clinic will not provide Chinese medicine,“ Dai said, after attending a medical forum. He said the decision not to use traditional remedies was made because the medicines had not been used in other Olympics.
“We hope you will not relate traditional Chinese medicine with doping,“ he added.
One of China’s most respected physicians, he said ingredients in Chinese herbal remedies were clearly labeled and the medicines underwent strict government analysis.
“If there were forbidden ingredients it would say on the label,“ he said.
China has been at the forefront of recent anti-doping efforts, not wanting a drug scandal to soil the Olympics. However, in the early ’90s Chinese distance runners coached by Ma Junren broke several world records, and credited their performances to traditional products.
Many were later found to be using banned western drugs.

Ronaldinho

BARCELONA, Spain, Dec. 11--Barcelona president Joan Laporta said that Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho was not for sale and quashed reports that the club was negotiating with English giants Chelsea or European champions AC Milan.
Speaking after Barcelona’s 2-1 win over Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday Laporta said: “We are not going to sell Ronaldinho. We are not in contact with Chelsea, Milan or any other team.
“We are counting on Ronaldinho and you could see tonight that he fought like all the rest of the players.“
According to AFP, Chelsea, bankrolled by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, have been mooted as potential suitors along with Milan who have several of Ronaldinho’s Brazilian international team-mates in their ranks.
Ronaldinho has cut a forlorn figure this season with the 27-year-old Brazilian, contracted until June 2010, struggling to recapture his form and Barcelona’s demanding fans have jeered their idol.
There have been reports that Ronaldinho’s penchant for late-night partying is behind his below-par displays although the club have tried to keep a lid on the whole affair.