ATHENS, Greece, Sept. 28--Bosnia-Herzegovina dashed the four-time champion Iran's hopes in the sitting volleyball final of the 12th Paralympic Games here Monday, IRNA reported.
Iran, which has lifted the title in 1988-2000 Paralympics, lost 3-2 and finished runner-up.
Bosnia won the first, fourth, and fifth sets 25-23 27-25 15-10 and Iran emerged victorious in the second and third sets 25-20 25-20.
Iran humbled Egypt 3-0 in the sitting volleyball semifinal here on Sunday.
Supported by fans including the world's strongest man, Hossein Rezazadeh, Iran won 25-18 25-19 25-22.
Bosnia defeated Germany in another semifinal match later on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the closing ceremony of the Athens Paralympics stripped of its festive elements after seven Greek schoolchildren were killed in a car accident Monday on their way to the competition, organizers said.
Tuesday's closing ceremony only consisted of the athletes' entry into the main Olympic stadium, the closing speech by IPC president, Phil Craven, the handover of the Paralympics flag to 2008 Paralympics organizers Beijing and the extinction of the Paralympic flame.

Charlton Athletic's Jason Euell (r) controls the ball away from Blackburn's Dominic Matteo during their Premiership match at Charlton on Monday. (AFP Photo)

LONDON, Sept. 28--A 49th-minute header by Moroccan defender Talal El Karkouri gave Charlton Athletic a 1-0 home win over Blackburn Rovers on Monday that lifted the London club to seventh in the Premier League, Reuters said
The victory, hard-won in a scrappy but intense fixture, continued Charlton's unbeaten home run and made it four defeats in four away games this season for Blackburn.
In a frenetic opening both sides had scrambling chances, Garry Flitcroft going closest when he hit the post from close range in the seventh minute, but the rest of the half was low key.
Charlton coach Alan Curbishley obviously had strong words at halftime as his team came out firing, Kevin Lisbie shooting just wide two minutes after the restart.
The pressure continued and paid of in the 49th minute when El Karkouri rose well at the near post to firmly head a Danny Murphy corner through the legs of Rovers keeper Brad Freidel.
Charlton goalkeeper Dean Kiely tipped over a Flitcroft shot and the busy visiting skipper then had a shot blocked on the line by Hermann Hreidarsson as Blackburn sought a quick
response.
The Blackburn players and new manager Mark Hughes were left fuming after 72 minutes as the referee waved away claims for a penalty after the ball struck the arm of Hreidarsson in the box.
Substitute Radostin Kishishev and Kevin Lisbie both missed late chances to settle the game for Charlton but they proved unimportant as they held out to move to seventh on 11 points from seven games.
Blackburn remain 16th with five points form seven games.

TEHRAN, Sept. 28--Khalid al-Hajari grabbed the winner for Qatar against Iran in the AFC Youth Championship in Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, Monday, IRNA reported.
Hajari headed home in the 54th minute to hand Qatar a 2-1 victory over the struggling Iran.
Qatar took an early lead as Walid Abdullah converted a penalty in the second minute.
The game was leveled in stoppage time before the break when Iran skipper Adel Kolah-Kaj's free-kick kissed the net.
Iran reduced to 10 men on 78 minutes following the expulsion of Mehdi Mohammadpour, who received his marching orders for hitting a Qatari striker in the face.
Qatar advanced to the second round on six points.

KARACHI, Pakistan, Sept. 28--Pakistan's cricketers are eagerly awaiting their tour to India early next year to settle scores against their sporting arch-rivals, captain Inzamam-ul Haq said Tuesday.
"I look forward to the tour and every player in the team anxiously waits for the tour," Inzamam told AFP.
"Since we are playing better than we did against India at home I think we will be in a better position to settle the score."
Pakistan Monday announced it will tour India in February for three Test matches and five one-day internationals, following India's tour of Pakistan earlier this year.
India's tour, their first since 1989, followed a thaw in relations between the nuclear neighbors who came close to a fourth war in 2002. India won both the one-day and Test series during the March-April tour, their first-ever victory in Pakistan.
"Cricket between Pakistan and India is the most sought after and is watched by billions and with it the quality of cricket improves. The competitive level is very high when we play India," said Inzamam.
Pakistan last toured India in 1999 despite death threats and the digging-up of a pitch in New Delhi by Hindu fundamentalists. "It's fantastic to play against India and cricket is followed like a religion there so it doubles the rivalry," said Inzamam, one of four surviving members from Pakistan's last tour.

ATHENS, Greece, Sept. 28--Britain's Tanni Grey-Thompson collected her 11th Paralympic gold medal since making her first appearance in Seoul in 1988 when she won the women's T54 400 meters on Monday, Reuters said.
Grey-Thompson, who won the 100 meters on Thursday, almost collected another medal in the T53 400 meters final but missed out on bronze by 0.06 seconds.
The 35-year-old Welsh athlete admitted before the Games she had never felt so nervous. After winning her gold, she confessed that the nerves had remained with her throughout.
"I am normally not very emotional, but the emotions I went through in these Games, it is just amazing," she said.
She added: "If you asked me now whether I would go through to Beijing in four years time, the answer would be yes but this is not the time or the place to make a big decision like that."
She was also full of praise for the organization of the Games.
"The Greeks have done just a great job putting this on," she said. "We didn't know what to expect, but this was wonderful."
In the 400 meters she had to settle for fourth place after Canada's Chantal Petitclerc powered to her fifth gold medal of the Games. "It's unbelievable," said Petitclerc, a TV presenter.
She added: "I'm really happy. It's been an emotional week. I performed really well, I achieved everything I wanted, gold medals, world records, good races. It's really amazing."

SEOUL, South Korea, Sept. 28--Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova crushed Switzerland's Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-1 6-3 in the first round of the Hansol Korea Open WTA event on Tuesday, Reuters said.
The 17-year-old Russian broke Gagliardi's serve five times, beating her in 71 minutes in front of an enthusiastic crowd. "I thought I played quite well, although the court surface was a little bit different to China. It's a little slower and I had to adjust in the first few games," Sharapova told reporters.
Sharapova lost 6-2 6-2 to US Open champion and compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals of the China Open on Saturday. She heads for Japan after Seoul.
She hit her stride in the third game and took the first set in 37 minutes. The Russian followed that with three love games in the second set, one of them with two aces in a row.
"The only game where I felt uncomfortable was my first service game," she added.
Sharapova played Gagliardi on the centre court of Seoul's 1988 Olympic tennis complex. She will play Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia or American Sunitha Rao in the second round on Thursday. The final is on Sunday.

BERLIN, Sept. 28--Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich will not compete in Wednesday's time trial of the world cycling championships in Italy because of a stomach problem, Reuters said.
German Ullrich, twice a world time trial champion, said on Monday he would definitely not take part in the time trial in Bardolino and did not know whether he would be able to enter the road race on Sunday in Verona.
"At the moment I just can't sit on the saddle," Ullrich said on his website. "It's impossible for me to get in a condition that would allow me to be in contention for the title in just two days," he added.
"Whether I can compete in the road race will be decided later this week.
"I can't eat anything without being sick ... I don't know whether it's food poisoning or a virus."
Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France winner and an Olympic champion in 2000 in Sydney, was looking forward to the world championships starting on Monday to try to save a diappointing season.
The 30-year-old finished fourth in the Tour de France and failed to win a medal at the Athens Olympics.

US player Tiger Woods reacts after a missed birdie putt during his foursomes match at the 35th Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills Country Club. (AFP File Photo)

LONDON, Sept. 28--Three-times winner Tiger Woods bids for a third successive title at this week's WGC-American Express Championship in Kilkenny, Ireland, Reuters said.
The American, still searching for the dominant form that allowed him to collect eight majors, has been aided in his quest by the late withdrawal of world number one Vijay Singh.
The Fijian, who would have started red-hot favorite after recently ending Woods's five-year reign as the game's leading player, pulled out after his home in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida was hit by Hurricane Jeanne.
Singh had won five of his last six tournaments, including the Pennsylvania Classic on Sunday where he took his 2004 tour earnings to a record $9,455,566, breaking the previous mark set by Woods in 2000.
His absence is a blow for tournament organizers, who had hoped for a showdown between the world's two top-ranked players, although Woods will have to raise his game if he is to repeat his two-shot victory at last year's American Express Championship at Woodstock, Georgia.
Woods has not won a strokeplay title since then and despite being the best player in the world since Jack Nicklaus his dominance has waned.
The last of his eight majors came at the US Open in mid-2002.
The 28-year-old American has had problems with his driving and the accuracy of his approach play over the last two years but relishes the prospect of being back at Mount Juliet, where he won the 2002 American Express Championship.
"The fans were ecstatic, they were happy," Woods recalled of his one-stroke victory there over South Africa's Retief Goosen.
"They were so enthusiastic about us being there and playing."
Woods, who won the inaugural American Express Championship at Valderrama in 1999, is upbeat about his title defense.
"The things I'm working on are starting to come together and I'm very excited about it," he said.
"I have certainly not played up to the level that I know I can play at, but the things that I'm working on will hopefully kick in and will take me to another level.
"Overall, I'm very pleased with the way my game is progressing and coming together," added Woods, who has produced eight top-10 finishes in his last 10 PGA Tour starts.

NEW YORK, Sept. 28--Olympic all-round champion Paul Hamm said on Monday he would return his gold medal if the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rules a judging error denied South Korea's Yang Tae-young the title, Reuters said.
"If it is determined by the rules of gymnastics that I should give back my medal I will," said Hamm, during a teleconference at the end of the 12-hour hearing at a hotel near CAS's Lausanne headquarters.
"I thought everything went very smoothly today. It was a very fair hearing and everyone got a chance to say what they thought and we are looking forward to the decision.
"I'm just going to try and forget about it until the decision is made.
"Yang is a great athlete and the dispute doesn't involve his or my actions. I empathize with him and prefer that this could be resolved on the field of play."
In one of the biggest controversies of the Athens Games, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) said Yang should have won the gold but was incorrectly docked a 10th of a point from his parallel bars routine in the final.
The federation suspended three judges but said it had no mechanism to overturn the final standings. Hamm kept the gold medal despite suggestions from the FIG that he should give it to Yang.
The South Korean Olympic Committee filed an appeal with CAS, which is expected to announce their ruling within two weeks. Hamm, the first American to win the coveted Olympic all-round title, was accompanied to the hearing by a large delegation that included members of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), lawyers and witnesses. USOC general counsel Jeff Benz told the three-member CAS panel that their were several compelling reasons to let the result stand, including the judicial review of field of play decision making.

SEATTLE, USA,
Sept. 28--Australia's Lauren Jackson played with a heavy heart but managed to score 18 points as the Seattle Storm defeated Minnesota 64-54 to reach the WNBA's Western Conference basketball finals, AFP reported.
Jackson's Storm teammate Sue Bird watched from the sidelines after suffering a broken nose less than three minutes into Monday's game.
The win gave Seattle a 2-0 series win, advancing the club to the Western Conference Finals where it will meet either Sacramento or Los Angeles.
Storm forward Lauren Jackson received word of a devastating loss last Friday. The death of her 83-year-old Australian grandmother shrouded the Minnesota series in heartache.
The playoffs offer the 6ft 5in Jackson offers Jackson the chance to lose herself in what she loves doing most.
"When I'm on the court it makes a whole lot of difference just to get away from it," Jackson said.
Bird, who finished second in the league with a 5.4 assists per game during the regular season, collided with Teresa Edwards just 2:23 into the contest.
Although Tully Bevilaqua did a fine job replacing Bird - scoring nine points and dishing out four assists - the game was in question until the Storm's closing run.
Sheri Sam provided a layup to give the Storm the lead for good 49-48.