Joe Calzaghe
The Welshman was crowned undisputed world super-middleweight champion in Cardiff after a victory over Mikkel Kessler, who was previously unbeaten. It put him up there with the greats.

Premier League Finale
Manchester United had snatched the title from Chelsea, winning in style. Then, a Carlos Tevez-inspired West Ham won at Old Trafford to complete the most unlikely of relegation escapes.

Lewis Hamilton Maiden Win
A star was born after podium finishes in his first five races as a rookie in Formula One. His maiden victory, in Montreal, raised hope of the drivers’ championship, hope the nation held going into the final Grand Prix of the year.

Shane Warne Quits Tests
England batsmen will want to forget him, but cricket will miss him. He went out at the top, helping Australia win the Ashes back with a 5-0 whitewash.

Real Madrid Win Title
Real Madrid ended their four-year trophy drought when they won the league title for the 30th time after a dramatic 3-1 comeback victory over Real Mallorca at the Bernabeu on June 17.

Paula Radcliffe’s Comeback
Radcliffe issued a statement of intent for the 2008 Olympics as she marked her comeback from injury and childbirth with a memorable win in the New York City Marathon.

France v England
Written off after one game of the World Cup, England’s rugby heroes earned a place in the final of the tournament thanks to an early Josh Lewsey try and the boot of Jonny Wilkinson. Sebastien Chabal and co were deflated.

James McFadden
McFadden’s stunning goal, a 30-yard drive that Mickael Landreau could only help into the top corner, gave Scotland real hope of reaching the European Championships next year.

Justin Rose
Rose won the European Order of Merit and the Volvo Masters after a dramatic final day at Valderrama. Four clear with eight to play, Rose had to come through two holes of a play-off with Simon Dyson and Soren Kjeldsen.

England v Croatia
Having been given a second chance they barely merited by Israel’s win over Russia the previous Saturday, England proceed to stuff things up royally on their own time. The Croats played beautifully on a woeful pitch. England were merely woeful as a 3-2 win for the visitors eliminated them from Euro 2008 qualification.

Sheis Rezaei (l) of Persepolis struggles to grab the ball from Sepahan's Jaba Mojiri in the Hazfi Cup at Tehran's Azadi Stadium on June.

ISFAHAN, Dec. 30--Sepahan football team is ready to face Persepolis in the 17th week of Iran’s Professional League.
Stating the above, Majid Basirat, Sepahan football team’s supervisor, added that the team is ready to defeat Persepolis.
“This is a vital game and we are going to prove ourselves in the match,“ Basirat told IRNA.
Announcing that key players, namely Abbas Mohammadi, Mahmoud Karimi and Mohsen Hamidi, would not be available for this match, he said, “Karimi and Hamidi are injured but we hope the disciplinary committee will lift Mohammadi’s suspension and allow our keeper to play.“
Admitting that the team could not get good results in recent weeks because of players’ exhaustion and injuries suffered in the FIFA Clubs World Cup match, Basirat said, “Unfortunately, referees’ mistakes also prevented Sepahan from getting a better result.“
Sepahan will play against leading Persepolis at Isfahan’s Foulad-Shahr Stadium on Monday.
Persepolis are on top of the table with 36 points, with Sepahan trailing with 31 points.

Tour de France
The reputation of the “greatest cycle race on earth’’ was in tatters after this year’s Tour was hit by drug controversies.

Puerta Dies
Spain international Antonio Puerta has died after suffering a heart attack in his club side Sevilla’s 4-1 win against Getafe on August 28, 2007.

Marion Jones
Jones handed back the medals she won at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney after she admitted taking steroids. Athletics, like cycling, had its reputation tarnished.

Lewis Hamilton in Brazil
Hamilton started the day on course for the drivers’ championship but then hit problems at the start of the race and found himself at the back of the field. He got up to seventh but it was not enough to prevent Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen taking the title.

Cricket World Cup
Bob Woolmer’s death put the “Fredalo’’ incident in perspective. The tournament itself was farcical, with empty stands and dull matches.

Jelly Beans
India’s Zaheer Khan felt insulted by England’s behavior at Trent Bridge, with home players throwing sweets on the wicket. He responded with a nine-wicket haul as the tourists won the second Test easily.

Autobiographies
Duncan Fletcher’s revelations about Andrew Flintoff left a sour taste from his time as England’s coach. Lawrence Dallaglio and Mike Catt criticising Brian Ashton highlighted the demands on sportsmen who want to write.

Carlos Tevez Saga
Tevez inspired West Ham in their amazing relegation campaign - but was he eligible to play? Sheffield United went down and the messy saga continued.

The Ashes
Australia showed how much England had hurt them in 2005. They scented a whitewash and completed the 5-0 humiliation in Sydney at the start of the year.

Juande Ramos’ Meeting
Tottenham officials met Ramos at the Alfonso XIII hotel in Sevilla while Martin Jol was still in charge at White Hart Lane, and the Dutchman was a “dead man walking’’ from then.

TEHRAN, Dec. 30--The current year was not good for Iran’s football and some players failed to take advantage of their positions.
According to Goal, on and off the field, it has not been a great year for Iran.
Stars such as Ali Karimi, Mehdi Mahdavikia and Vahid Hashemian struggled in the Bundesliga.
Javad Nekounam was much more impressive in Spain with Osasuna before sustaining major ligament damage that has kept him out of action this season.
The national team bowed out of the Asian Cup at the quarterfinal stage and a number of European coaches turned down a position which remains vacant just weeks ahead of the start of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

TEHRAN, Dec. 30--Following Aidin Nikkhah Bahrami’s death, Iran’s National Basketball Team player, the basketball league suspended activities for two weeks.
“The league’s ninth and tenth weeks will not be held due to Aidin’s departure. The championship matches have been postponed until next Friday,“ IRNA quoted Nosratollah Jafarian, the federation’s secretary, as saying.
Nikkhah Bahrami, 25, died in a car accident on Friday in Chalous, northern Iran.

Phil O'Donnell

GLASGOW, Scotland, Dec. 30--Motherwell owner John Boyle described the death of club captain Phil O’Donnell as an unspeakable tragedy after the 35-year-old collapsed on the pitch during a Scottish Premier league match on Saturday.
O’Donnell, who won one cap for Scotland in 1993, was taken off the pitch on a stretcher 12 minutes from the end of the game against Dundee United, which third-placed Motherwell won 5-3, Reuters reported.
“Phil was rushed to Wishaw General Hospital by ambulance after collapsing during today’s game,“ the club said in a statement on their Web site.
“Motherwell and Dundee United medical staff believe he suffered a seizure and efforts were made to revive him en route to hospital.
“Despite the efforts of the two club’s medical staff and medical staff at the hospital Phil did not regain consciousness and was pronounced dead.“
“This is an unspeakable tragedy for Phil’s family,“ Boyle said. “At this stage we do not know the exact cause of death.
“Everyone at Motherwell is shocked to the core and we are sure that everyone involved in Scottish football will feel the same.
Phil was not only an inspirational player for Motherwell and club captain, but was an inspirational person.
“All of us at Motherwell are thinking of his wife Eileen and their four children.“

PERTH, Australia, Dec. 30--Serena Williams made a belated arrival at the Hopman Cup on Sunday, pronouncing herself ready to go for her first match against the Czech Republic on Monday.
According to Reuters, the world number seven missed the United States’ first match because of illness, with stand-in Meghann Shaughnessy and Mardy Fish winning their singles matches to seal a 2-1 win over India.
Williams, who will defend her Australian Open title in Melbourne next month, said she was ready to win the Hopman Cup for the second time, having teamed with James Blake to lift the trophy in 2003.
“I just had the stomach flu I was really sick, that’s not fun to have but I am fine now,“ Williams told reporters after a one-hour practice session, having arrived in the early hours of Sunday after flying from Miami via New York and Dubai.
“I’m feeling really good, I recovered really fast.
“I really wanted to come. Luckily Paul McNamee (the tournament director), was able to figure something out (by bringing in Shaughnessy) and it worked out well.
“I was so glad when I heard that she won and Mardy won on Saturday. I was really excited. I owe her a big thank you.“
Last year, Williams played in the WTA event in Hobart the week before the Australian Open, losing to Sybille Bammer of Austria in the quarter-finals.
Ranked 86, she was given little chance at the Australian Open but stormed through the draw to win her eighth grand-slam title.
This time, though, the American said she was leaving nothing to chance.
“Last year was cutting it close,“ she said.
“I never really like to play a week before a grand slam. Especially as defending champion, I really want to make sure I am here, trying to get ready. I feel really prepared and am here to win it like everyone else in the draw.“

Arsenal's Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky is congratulated after scoring against Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday.

LIVERPOOL, UK, Dec. 30--Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger praised his players’ character after they returned to the top of the Premier League table following a 4-1 victory over Everton at Goodison Park.
According to AFP, the London club will start 2008 two points ahead of nearest rivals Manchester United at the summit following a gripping game.
Both teams finished with 10 men while Everton manager David Moyes said Arsenal’s second goal should not have been allowed.
However, Wenger insisted his players deserved to be where they are and that they had it in them to win the English title for the first time since 2004.
“We have a great spirit in the dressing room as we have shown here,“ said Wenger. “We have shown that we can cope with all kinds of problems that come our way,“ the Frenchman added.
“We started slowly and looked nervous. We gave the ball away too much in the first half but I was pleased with the response after half time.
“If you don’t win then people start questioning you and the way that you play. But we have worked hard for this win.
“Everton stopped us from playing our normal game and they played well.
“The turning point was that we made the most of our set-pieces in the second half.
“It was important we didn’t concede after we went down to 10 men. But when we scored another goal and Everton had a player sent off then I knew we would win.
“Last season Everton played a very physical game when we lost here 1-0. I’m not surprised that they played that way again.“

TEHRAN, Dec. 30--Isfahan motocross team won the Third Motocross Championship in Kerman province.
Yazd motocross team and Tehran motorcycling school ranked second and third respectively, IRNA reported on Sunday.
Some 120 motorcyclists participated in the tourney in several motocross classes. The results are as follows:

50cc class:
Reza Darsara

80cc class:
Reza Pour-Heidari

125cc class:
Mojtaba Amir-Mohammadi

125cc senior motocross class:
Qasem Mehr-Alizadeh

250cc class:
Hamid Reza Houshmand

250cc senior motocross class:
Mehrab Raeesi