AMMAN, Jordan, Feb. 16--Iran will host the 2008 West Asian Women’s Football Championship.
The West Asian Football Federation (WAFF), in its Thursday session, also announced that Iran will host the Fifth West Asian Football Championship instead of Lebanon due to current crisis in that country.
The session was held in the presence of WAFF vice president, Hassan Ghaffari, IRNA reported.
Iran’s women’s football team was runner up in the 2007 WAFF championship held in Jordan. Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, are member states of WAFF.

Rashid Sharifi of Iran upraises his rivals' hands after winning the gold medal in the Namjoo International Weightlifting Championship at Azadi Stadium on Friday.

TEHRAN, Feb. 16--Iran won the Namjoo International Weightlifting Championship on Friday evening. The three-day tournament was held at Azadi Stadium.
Iran’s Weightlifting Team clinched the first place with a total of seven medals( 5 gold, 2 silver and one bronze) and snatched 213 points. Azerbaijan (196 points) and Saudi Arabia (167 points) came second and third respectively.Ê
Iran’s Mohsen Beyranvand was also selected as the best tournament’s lifter, Iran’s Weightlifting Federation’s website reported.
Altogether 15 teams from 13 countries took part in the Namjoo International Weightlifting Championship.

DUBAI, UAE,
Feb. 16--Iranian left midfielder, Mehrzad Madanchi, was selected as the best foreign player in the Emirates leagues by a public opinion poll. Ê
The Abu Dhabi Sports Channel designated Madanchi as the best foreign player in the UAE after conducting an opinion poll in the half season, Press TV wrote.
Meanwhile, Al-Shabab football club was chosen as the best team of the country’s league. The team also has three Iranian nationals: Iman Mobali, Mehrdad Oladi and Javad Kazemian.
Madanchi played for Fajr Sepasi of his hometown, Shiraz, then joined the most popular club in Iran, Persepolis F.C. before moving on to Al-Sha’b Football Club in the UAE league in 2007.

BRASILIA, Brazil, Feb. 16--Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday sent a letter to Ronaldo, a day after the striker had knee surgery in Paris, saying he was praying for the world champion’s recovery, AFP wrote.
“We are praying and we pass on all our energy and support, my dear Ronaldo,“ said the president.
“May God bless you,“ he added in the letter, whose contents were released by Brazilian media.
“I join millions of Brazilians in saying: Carry on, resist and don’t get down,“ said Lula, who added he was optimistic that the 31-year-old AC Milan player would return to action.
“You will come back and again be an example of courage and perseverance. As a football fan, I know you will again allow Italians and Brazilians to witness your extraordinary feats.“

DELRAY BEACH, USA, Feb. 16--Top-seeded James Blake powered into the semifinals of the 411,000-dollar ATP tournament here Friday, but Japan’s Kei Nishikori made sure the final four weren’t an all-American affair.
According to AFP, Blake, 28, cruised past Russian Igor Kunitzyn 6-2, 6-4 to book a meeting with fellow American Robby Ginepri.
Blake, who is seeking his 11th career singles title, had two aces and capitalized on five double faults by Kunitzyn in the contest.
Ginepri ousted eighth-seeded fellow American Mardy Fish 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
Ginepri, who has now defeated Fish in three of their four career meetings, had not played in a quarterfinal since October 2006.
Third-seeded Sam Querrey defeated sixth-seeded fellow American Vincent Spadea 6-2, 6-4.
Querrey ended Spadea’s record 11th run in Delray Beach.
The 20-year-old Querrey will face Japanese qualifier Nishikori, who defeated Bobby Reynolds 6-2, 6-4 to reach his first career ATP semifinal in only his sixth career tournament.
Nishikori, 18, took control early in the 65-minute match, converting four of nine break chances.
“I played well in the first and second rounds and I grew in confidence. I as relaxed,“ said Nishirkori. “I love the jumping backhand stroke, like Marcelo Rios.“
Nishikori, who came into Delray Beach ranked No. 244, will climb to around No. 175 by reaching the semis and around No. 146 if he gets to the final. He became the first Japanese player to reach an ATP semifinal since Shuzo Matsuoka in Beijing on Oct. 21, 1995.

TEHRAN, Feb. 16--Iran’s international soccer referee Masoud Moradi will attend a preliminary conference in the Canary Islands for the 2010 World Cup.
According to Press TV, Moradi is required to take some physical tests, practical training and technical sessions to judge the upcoming World Cup competitions.
The four-day conference, which starts on Tuesday, will host 54 of the world’s top referees. Eight of the referees are members of the Asian Football Confederation.
Moradi has been a FIFA international referee since 2000 and has judged various major competitions including the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, the 2004 AFC Asian Cup and the AFC Champions League 2007. He was also an official at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers as well as the final tournament of the 2007 Asian Cup.

Tanja Poutiainen of Finland celebrates on the podium after winning the women's World Cup slalom event at Zagreb on Friday, edging out Marlies Schild of Austria and Slovakia's Veronika Zuzolova to win in 1 min 53.72sec.

ZAGREB, Croatia, Feb. 16--Tanja Poutiainen of Finland on Friday won the women’s World Cup slalom event at Zagreb, edging out Marlies Schild of Austria and Slovakia’s Veronika Zuzolova to win in 1 min 53.72sec.
Schild and Zuzolova were 0.52 and 0.68 sec off the pace respectively but the former profited from the second leg woes of compatriot Nicole Hosp to take the lead in the discipline standings by 75 points.
Hosp, standing second at the end of the opening run, 0.29 sec behind Schild, before failing to finish, also lost out on the chance to make the most of the absence of overall leader Lindsey Vonn, who missed the race to prepare for next week’s test at Whistler Mountain in Canada.
Vonn and Hosp both have an overall 983 points, according to AFP.
Poutiainen was only third after the opening run but then turned on all the style in the second for her seventh career success.
This season she had managed podium finishes in slalom at Aspen and Lienz.
Schild had the benefit of extending her lead in the overall slalom standings with two rounds left.
Emerging Norwegian teen star Nina Loeseth, who turns 19 on February 27, placed fifth for her best result to date.

ANTWERP, Belgium, Feb. 16--Home favorite Justine Henin eased past Russian qualifier Alisa Kleybanova 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semifinals of the WTA Diamond Games on Friday.
According to AFP, the world number one, who is playing for the final time in Belgium as the tournament ends its run due to a calendar change, faced off on Saturday against another outsider in the shape of Timea Bacsinszky.
The Swiss qualifier progressed when third seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova pulled out of their quarterfinal suffering from a heavy cold while trailing 6-2, 4-6, 4-1.
Top seed Henin reached a set and 5-2 against her opponent, only to drop serve while trying to close out victory. But she managed it a game later with a break-back to advance in front of a sell-out 13,000 crowd.
Henin is trying to win a title at home for the first time to add to her career total of 40 including seven at Grand Slam level.
Henin last played in Belgium five years ago when she reached the semifinals here.
Bacinszky went into Friday’s match having only once previously beaten a top 20 player and that was in Zurich in 2006 when she saw off former French Open champion Anastasia Myskina.
The second set of Friday’s error-strewn match featured breaks in seven of ten games, with the Swiss earning a break early in the third before Hantuchova finally stopped.
Italian outsider Karin Knapp upset Swiss fourth seed Patty Schnyder 6-2, 6-7 (1/7), 7-6 (7/2).
The 20-year-old, ranked 47th, will face Chinese ninth seed Li Na, who saw off Swedish lucky loser Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 7-5, 6-4, in the other semifinal.

LIVERPOOL, UK, Feb. 16--Plans to stage English Premier League (EPL) games overseas are not a good idea, according to Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez.
According to AFP, the Premier League announced last week it was considering plans to extend the season to 39 games with the extra matches taking place in five cities overseas, starting in 2011.
But the idea has met with resistance from fans in England, the British media and football federations in Asia and Australia, as well as FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Benitez has become the first coach of one of the Premier League’s so-called ’big four’ of Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool, to firmly oppose proposals to play matches overseas when he revealed that both he and club chief executive Rick Parry believed the concept to extend the season to 39 games from 2010-11 was flawed.
Parry told Liverpool’s official website later Friday: “Our goal remains to build a bigger stadium in Liverpool to enable more of our supporters to watch.“
The draft proposal, which all 20 Premier League clubs have voted to consider, could see the top-five teams from the previous season seeded to avoid one another.
Benitez, whose side would be expected to be one of those seeds, dismissed the plan as inherently unfair.
Blatter has vowed to torpedo the plans, saying the so-called ’international round’ will never take place while he remains in office.

Wallace Spearmon

FAYETTEVILLE, USA, Feb. 16--American Wallace Spearmon posted the fifth-fastest time in history in the indoor 200m here Friday, clocking 20.19sec at the Tyson Invitational indoor athletics meeting.
Spearmon, who had already run 20.10sec on the same track in 2005, was 27-hundredths outside the world record held by Namibian Frankie Fredericks since 1996, AFP said.
The two men have produced the six best times at the distance indoors ever.
Spearmon, who was third in the 200m at the world championships last summer, was also fourth in the 60m in 6.73sec.
Fellow American Adam Nelson turned in a sparkling shot put performance.
The world and Olympic runner-up posted a throw of 22.40m, becoming the third-best indoor performer ever.
Only his compatriot Randy Barnes (22.66m in 1989) and Germany’s Ulf Timmermann (22.55 in 1987) have done better.
Outdoors, Nelson owns a personal record of 22.51m.

NEW ORLEANS, USA, Feb. 16--Cleveland Cavaliers guard Daniel Gibson scored 33 points to lead the Sophomores past the Rookies 136-109 Friday in the National Basketball Association Rookie Challenge.
Gibson the Challenge Most Valuable Player, came off the bench and made 11-of-20 shots, all of them from beyond the 3-point arc, to ignite the NBA’s second-year players to their sixth victory in a row over league newcomers, according to AFP.
“It was unbelievable. It was special,“ Gibson said. “I never dreamed I would shoot the ball as well as I did.“
Cavaliers teammate LeBron James told Gibson before the game, “If you get an open look take it.“ Gibson looked at James after each of his 3-pointers.
All other players on both teams were a combined 10-of-21 from 3-point range.
“When you hit 11 3s, that’s hard to stop,“ Seattle rookie guard Kevin Durant said. “Once he gets it going, he makes a lot.“
Memphis forward Rudy Gay added 22 points while Portland forward LaMarcus Aldridge added 18 and Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Farmar had 17 points and a game-high 12 assists.
Durant led the Rookies with 23 points while Al Horford added 19.
Spanish rookie Juan Carlos Navarro, a Memphis Grizzlies guard, led the international players participating with 14 points.
Chinese rookie forward Yi Jianlian of Milwaukee scored eight points in just under 24 minutes, hitting 3-of-8 shots from the field.
Italian forward Andrea Bargnani of Toronto scored eight points for the Sophomores while Argentina forward Luis Scola of the Houston Rockets scored four points.
The game was among the events here ahead of Sunday’s 57th NBA All-Star Game.