NEW DELHI, India, Sept. 24--Iran defeated South Korea 89-86 in the finals of the 18th Asian Junior Basketball Championships at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka on Thursday evening, IRNA said.
Nasurollah Moini, manager of Iranian Junior men's basketball team, praised the Iranian players for their “pulsating basketball and incredible performance– against South Korea.
Moini also thanked the crowd at the stadium for supporting the Iranian team.
After being 13-29 down in the first quarter, Korea matched the Iranians in the next two quarters (28-all and 12-all) in the final session outscored the champion 33-20, but it was just not enough.
And the man who made the difference in the sides was Jabber Darrehsari who plucked rebounds at will and effected to foil the designs of Koreans.

FC Barcelona's French player Ludovic Giuly (l) fights for the ball against Zaragoza's player Delio Cesar Toledo from Paraguay during their Spanish First Division soccer match at Nou Camp Stadium in Barcelona, Thursday. (Reuters Photo)

MADRID, Spain,
Sept. 24--Barcelona produced a sparkling display at the Nou Camp to come from a goal down to roar to a 4-1 win over Real Zaragoza in the Primera Liga on Thursday, Reuters said.
The Catalans bounced back from a double injury blow that saw fullbacks Silvinho and Gabri leave the field inside the first 10 minutes to join Valencia at the top of the table on 10 points from four games.
Visitors Zaragoza went ahead in the 15th minute when striker David Villa drilled home after snapping up a poor back pass from his opposite number Samuel Eto'o.
But the African Player of the Year atoned for his error with a classy strike 10 minutes later, smashing home after controlling a fine long pass from Deco.
Eto'o added another a minute after the break and his side then turned on the style as midfielder Xavi and defender Giovanni van Bronckhorst stretched their lead with two spectacular strikes midway through the second half.

ATHENS, Greece, Sept. 24--Hungarian fencer Pal Szekeres is the only athlete on the planet who can hang both Olympics and Paralympics medals around his neck, AFP said. Szekeres severly injured his spine in a car accident in 1991, three years after finishing third with Hungary's foil team in the Seoul Olympics. "I was driving home from a World Cup round in Germany," he said. Szekeres remained in hospital for six months and left the building on a wheelchair.
His coach encouraged him to continue competing--only this time from the sitting position. "I really liked it," Szekeres remembered.
Barely a year after the accident, Szekeres picked up a gold medal in foil fencing at the Barcelona 1992 Paralympics. Another two gold medals in the foil and sabre competitions followed in the subsequent Atlanta 1996 Games. Szekeres also added a bronze medal in foil in Sydney, four years ago.
And on Wednesday, his 40th birthday, Szekeres widened his collection by winning bronze in the individual sabre competition of the Athens Paralympics.
Szekeres' father was present to applaud, alongside the champion's wife Aniko, a former fencer with whom he has two children.
The Hungarian's disappointment at his early elimination in the foil in Athens, his traditional discipline, had only hardened Szekeres' resolve to rise to the podium in the sabre.
"I wanted to leave Athens with a medal, so I concentrated on the sabre. Realistically I couldn't do better than bronze and that's what I did," said Szekeres, who competes in wheelchair fencing category B for athletes with bad or moderate sitting balance.
Category A is reserved for athletes having a good sitting balance of the trunk without support of the legs.

FARMINGTON, USA, Sept. 24--World number one Vijay Singh fired an eight-under-par 64 to take a three-shot lead when the first round was suspended for the day at the $4.2 million Pennsylvania Classic on Thursday, Reuters said.
Sweden's Richard S Johnson, Pat Perez, Cameron Beckman, Ben Curtis and Australian Robert Allenby shared second place on 67 at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort's Mystic Rock course.
South Korean Kevin Na was also five-under after 14 holes when play was halted due to darkness.
Jonathan Byrd, Lee Janzen, Tommy Armour III, John Daly, Joey Sindelar and JP Hayes were in the clubhouse on 68. Kris Cox was four-under through 14 holes.
Singh, who took over from Tiger Woods as world number one two weeks ago and promptly went out and won the Canadian Open, played almost flawless golf on Thursday.
After play began nearly 75 minutes late because of fog, Singh hit 13 of 14 fairways, 17 of 18 greens in regulation and totaled 28 putts.
Woods pulled out of the event earlier this week, citing fatigue.

Javier Pascual Rodriguez of Spain (l) races ahead of Ivan Parra of Colombia during the 18th stage of the Vuelta de Espana cycling race in Avila, Spain, Thursday. (AP Photo)

AVILA, Spain, Sept. 24--Spaniard Javier Pascual Rodriguez outsprinted Colombian Ivan Parra to win the 196.6km 18th stage of the Tour of Spain from Bejar to Avila on Thursday, Reuters said.
Pascual Rodriguez's victory in five hours two minutes and 59 seconds gave his Kelme team its fourth stage win of the event, while compatriot Roberto Heras retained the overall race lead.
"I knew I was stronger than Ivan in the sprint and... today was an opportunity we couldn't miss." Kelme rider Pascual Rodriguez said. "The more stage wins we take the better."
Heras crossed the line 1:24 behind Pascual Rodriguez to finish in 11th place.
Heras reacted well to attacks by fellow Spaniards Santiago Perez and Francisco Mancebo on the Navalmoral. "I wasn't worried about Mancebo and Perez's attacks," said Heras. "We had them under control." Liberty Seguros rider Heras, who won the race in 2000 and 2003, holds a 1:13 lead over Perez with just three stages remaining. Alejandro Valverde is third, trailing by 2:15.
"I'm defending the lead day by day, not looking any further ahead," Heras said.

Lleyton Hewitt plays a backhand return during practice on the eve of the Davis Cup world group play-off tie against Morocco in Perth, Thursday. (AFP Photo)

SYDNEY, Australia, Sept. 24--Lleyton Hewitt crushed Mehdi Tahiri 6-0 6-2 6-2 on Friday to claim one of the proudest records in Australian tennis and give his country a commanding 2-0 lead over Morocco in their Davis Cup World Group playoff, Reuters said.
Hewitt cruised to victory in less than an hour and a half to leave Australia in control of the relegation tie at Perth's Royal Kings Park after Wayne Arthurs beat Mounir El Aarej 7-6 6-4 6-3 in the opening singles match.
Hewitt's win was his 25th in Davis Cup singles, eclipsing Adrian Quist's Australian record of 24, established in the 1930s and 1940s.
Hewitt equaled Quist's long-standing mark during Australia's first-round loss to Sweden in February and seemed certain to establish a record after Morocco's two best players,
Hicham Arazi and Younes El Aynaoui, pulled out of the tie because of injury.
Tahiri, ranked 507th in the world, was unable to mount a serious challenge to Hewitt, who climbed back to third in the rankings after making the US Open final earlier this month.
Hewitt raced through the first set in 25 minutes, losing just three points on his serve, then broke his opponent twice to win the second set.
The former world number had a minor hiccup when he failed to serve out the match at 5-1 but immediately broke back to secure victory and leave Australia needing to win just one of the three remaining matches this weekend to keep their place in the World Group next year.
Arthurs gave Australia the perfect start when he rode his booming serve to an easy win over El Aarej, firing down 24 aces.
El Aarej, ranked 428th in the world, held a set point in the opening tiebreak but failed to convert his lone opportunity as the Australian quickly stamped his authority on the match.
Better suited by the grass surface, Arthurs broke El Aarej's serve for the first time in the second set before breaking him twice more in the third.
Arthurs will team up with Todd Woodbridge against El Aarej and Tahiri in Saturday's doubles before the concluding reverse singles on Sunday.

SHANGHAI, China Sept. 24--BAR Honda test driver Anthony Davidson upset the top drivers Friday, posting the quickest time as the British outfit took a one-two in the final Friday practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix, AFP said.
The Briton, who won't be racing Sunday, stormed to the front of the leaderboard with a last minute lap of 1 min 33.289sec, pushing his teammate Jenson Button into second, 0.885secs back.
Finn Kimi Raikkonen in the McLaren-Mercedes, who did only five laps in the morning session, was third with his partner David Coulthard racing to fourth.
World champion Michael Schumacher, who had car trouble in the morning session, bounced back in the afternoon but could only manage eighth. The winner in Monza two weeks ago, Rubens Barrichelo, was fifth.
It was a scintillating drive from Davidson who also topped the times in the morning session as he stakes his claim for a full-time Formula One seat.
BAR's other driver Takuma Sato was forced to watch him steal the show after failing to complete a single lap after being forced off when thick white smoke started belching from his car just seconds into the afternoon practice.
Davidson left his charge late, posting his time in the final minutes of the hour-long session, toppling Button who had jostled with Raikkonen for the quickest time all afternoon.
Several drivers struggled on what is a brand new track, failing to negotiate some punishing twists and turns. Juan Pablo Montoya spun his Williams as did Ricardo Zonta in the Toyota.
Davidson also had some early troubles but recovered remarkably, giving BAR a timely boost as they battle Renault for second place in the constructors championships.
BAR have 94 points and Renault 91. Ferrari have already sealed the title.

ROME, Sept. 24--AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini believes adversity will bring out the best in his faltering team when they visit high-flying Lazio on Sunday, AFP said.
Milan, the defending champions, lost 2-1 at home to promoted Sicilian side Messina on Wednesday and have accumulated just four points from a possible nine.
Carlo Ancelotti's men already trail leaders Juventus by five points, but evergreen Maldini is confident the 2003 European champions will pull through their sticky patch.
"We can't over-dramatize about the defeat against Messina because the season is long," said the 36-year-old former Italy international, the country's most capped player having made 126 appearances Maldini for the Azzurri.
"We still know we have the quality, even if it wasn't there in midweek.
"But the great thing about this sport is that every three days or so you have the opportunity to cancel out and forget setbacks.
"We have the opportunity to do this immediately at Lazio. We have to stay confident and look forward."
Maldini's defensive partner Alessandro Nesta was equally bullish about Milan's chances of ending Lazio's unbeaten run that has lifted the Rome-based club into second place.
"We need to recover in the best possible way and are ready to strike back," said the imposing center-back, who joined Milan from Lazio in the summer of 2002 after spending 10 seasons in Rome.
Milan were held by Livorno in their first match of the new season and were struggling to shake off Bologna last Sunday before snatching two goals in the last six minutes.
Wednesday's upset left them languishing in 11th place, but Ancelotti believes their shock defeat will serve as a wake-up call to his sleepy star-studded squad.

BEIJING, Sept. 24--Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova swept into the semifinals of the China Open on Friday when opponent Jelena Jankovic retired hurt in the first set with an ankle injury, Reuters said.
The 17-year-old Russian third seed will meet compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova after the US Open champion beat Argentine Gisela Dulko 6-4 6-2.
Sharapova was cruising 5-2 when Jankovic of Serbia and Montenegro took a medical time out and threw in the towel down 40-15 in the eighth game.
Jankovic, seeded seventh, said she had twisted her right ankle during her second-round win over Japan's Shinobu Asagoe on Wednesday.
"I'm really disappointed... I was hurting and couldn't play balls left and right, I couldn't really move," the former junior world number one told reporters.
"Maria did what she had to do, she moved me around."
Sharapova was lethally accurate from the baseline, pinpointing groundstrokes that Jankovic could not chase down.
"I was happy to play a very good set. Though she was injured, we did have some good points," Sharapova said, calling Jankovic's injury very unfortunate.
Looking forward to the Saturday semifinal, Kuznetsova said: "It's going to be a difficult match. Maria is playing well and so am I... It will depend on what game she plays and what I do."
The second seed produced a performance full of baseline power, strong serving and soft touch as she posted her 13th consecutive victory in just over one hour.
Down three break points at 4-4 in the first set, Kuznetsova slammed three superb winners to get herself out of trouble. The 19-year-old world number five then broke Dulko's serve to take the set.
Dulko, the sixth seed, wilted in the second set under Kuznetsova's relentless pace and meekly ended the match with a double fault.