ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 12--An Iranian national won the first round of 205-kilometer Karachi to Hyderabad in the Tour de Pakistan cycling race, IRNA reported.
Seyed Javad Moussavi covered the distance in 3:42.02 hours to lead the pack of 72 cyclists in this 12-day race.
Moussavi was the first cyclist to reach the finishing point while Mohammad Asif from Pakistan Railways, and Thomas Lodburaey from Germany covered the distance in 3:42.12 and 3:42.22 and were declared second and third respectively.
Governor of Sindh Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad earlier pedalled off a cycle to inaugurate the 12th Tour de Pakistan cycle race from the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam on Friday morning.
The first stage of the 11th phase cycle race ended at Qasimabad in Hyderabad.

Boston Celtics' Tony Allen goes to the basket past Detroit Pistons' Ben Wallace during the third quarter in Boston, Friday. (AP Photo)

TORONTO,
March 12--Paul Pierce collected 38 points, including the game-winning jumper with 23 seconds left, and 12 rebounds to give the Boston Celtics a 115-113 double overtime win over the Detroit Pistons Friday, Reuters reported.
Pierce also deflected Tayshaun Prince's last-second shot that could have sent the game into triple overtime, handing the Celtics their sixth victory in seven games.
Ricky Davis had 23 points as Boston inflicted a fourth straight road loss on the Pistons and their fourth defeat in five games overall.
Prince led Detroit with 27 points while Richard Hamilton added 24. Ben Wallace tied his season-high with 19 rebounds.
In Philadelphia, Allen Iverson had 25 points and 12 assists as the 76ers beat the Charlotte Bobcats 112-80.
In Indianapolis, Stephen Jackson scored 22 points to help the Indiana Pacers edge the Golden State Warriors 101-83.
In Toronto, Tyronn Lue notched 29 points as the Atlanta Hawks ended their 23-game road losing streak with a 116-112 overtime win over the Raptors.
In Orlando, Kevin Garnett claimed 25 points, including the game-winning three-point shot, to guide the Minnesota Timberwolves past the Magic 101-96.
In Milwaukee, Dirk Nowitzki registered 29 points and nine rebounds to carry the Dallas Mavericks to a 112-110 victory over the Bucks.
In Phoenix, Tracy McGrady recorded 38 points as the Houston Rockets beat the Suns 127-107.
Yao Ming added 27 points and a career-high 22 rebounds for the Rockets. Amare Stoudemire had 31 points and 10 rebounds for Phoenix.
In Salt Lake City, Mike Miller picked up 24 points to drive the Memphis Grizzlies to a 94-82 win over the Utah Jazz.
Andrei Kirilenko had 25 points and 13 rebounds for the Jazz.
In Sacramento, Mike Bibby hit a last-second jumper to give the Kings a 113-112 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Bibby had 28 points and 12 assists. Corey Maggette posted 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Clippers.
In Seattle, Ben Gordon claimed 22 points as the Chicago Bulls overcame the SuperSonics 100-97.

TOKYO, March 12--The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) says it is too early to make a decision on Australia's request to join the AFC, Reuters reported.
Australia have asked world soccer's governing body FIFA for permission to leave the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and join the AFC in order to make World Cup qualification easier.
The AFC acknowledged talks with the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) had taken place but said no formal decision was made.
"The president of the AFC, Mohamed Bin Hammam, wishes to point out that no final decision has been taken at any level," the AFC said in a statement on Saturday.
"It is therefore premature to state that Australia has left the OFC to join the AFC. Any such decision concerning membership to the AFC must be in agreement with...FIFA." AFC officials are set to discuss in detail Australia's request for entry into the Asian confederation after 2006 at their executive committee meeting on March 23.
Australia's hopes of joining Asia are nothing new but they intensified after FIFA went back on a previous promise to award Oceania direct entry to the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.
At present, the Oceania winners, Australia or the Solomon Islands, have to face a South American team in a two-leg playoff while Asia has four automatic qualifying berths and a playoff.
Australia are the dominant force in the region but have only qualified for the World Cup finals once, in 1974.

BIRMINGHAM, UK, March 12--Champion Lin Dan of China battled into the semifinals of the All England men's singles badminton championship on Friday, Reuters said.
The 21-year-old top seed dropped a game before edging past South Korean Lee Hyun-il 15-10 13-15 15-8 in their quarterfinal clash.
With the departure of second-seeded Dane Peter Gade in a third round match on Thursday and the withdrawal of injured Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, Lin looks well set to retain his title--a feat last achieved by Denmark's Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen in 1996.
Lin's biggest danger looms from compatriot Chen Hong, the 2002 All England champion, who booked his semifinal with a 13-15 15-12 15-4 victory over countryman Bao Chunlai.
Home hopes of a title were kept alive by Olympic mixed doubles silver medallists Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms.
The British pair coasted past Indonesians Anggun Nugroho and Yunita Tetty 15-10 15-3 to set up a semi-final with Zhang Jun and Gao Ling, the Chinese who won gold in Athens.

LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland,
March 12--American Sarah Schleper held the halfway lead in the final World Cup slalom race of the women's Alpine ski season on Saturday with overall title contenders Janica Kostelic and Anja Paerson close behind, Reuters reported.
Chasing the first World Cup win of her career, the 26-year-old Schleper posted a first-run time of 41.97 seconds, 0.08 seconds ahead of second-placed Kostelic.
Sweden's Paerson, who has an 89-point lead over Kostelic in the overall women's rankings, finished the run in third place, a further 0.25 seconds back.
If Paerson is unable to overtake the Croatian in Saturday's second run, the women's overall title will go all the way to Sunday's season-ending giant slalom.
Tanja Poutiainen has already made sure of this season's slalom title after making the podium in six of the seven races to date.
The 24-year-old Finn seems unlikely to make the top three in Lenzerheide however after finishing her first run in seventh place, almost four tenths of a second behind Paerson.

Elena Dementieva of Russia hits a forehand against first round opponent Abigal Spears of the US at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Friday. (Reuters Photo)

INDIAN WELLS, USA, March 12--The Russian assault on the WTA Tour continued unabated at the 4.8- million-dollar Indian Wells WTA/ATP Masters Series tournament on Friday as two high seeds cruised into the third round, AFP reported.
Fourth seed Elena Dementieva overpowered American Abigail Spears 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), and reigning US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova crushed Czech Eva Birnerova 6-3, 6-2 in second round matches.
Dementieva had more double faults (11-5) and fewer aces (0-2) than Spears, but she managed to cover a lot of ground with her superior groundstrokes.
Dementieva moves on to face France's Severine Beltrame who beat German Anna-Lena Groenfeld 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) on Friday.
World number five Kuznetsova is making her third consecutive appearance in Indian Wells but it was her first meeting against Birnerova.
Kuznetsova, a former doubles partner of Martina Navratilova, reached the quarter-finals here last year.
Second seed and former world number one Amelie Mauresmo breezed past Tathiana Garbin 6-2, 6-1
The 25-year-old Frenchwoman advances to the third round, where she will face Russia's Evgenia Linetskaya who beat American Laura Granville 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).
Mauresmo needed just 61 minutes to dispatch Italy's Garbin.
Mauresmo is trying to improve on her best result in Indian Wells, which was a quarter-final berth in 2003.
Unseeded Kim Clijsters also advanced, hammering 22 winners and three aces to beat Shinobu Asagoe 6-3, 6-3.
In other women's second round matches on Friday, young Russian Maria Kirilenko posted the first upset of the tournament, beating eighth-seeded compatriot Elena Bovina 6-3, 6-1.
The 96-player men's event got underway Friday with France's Gael Monfils making his US professional debut a successful one, defeating American Jeff Morrison 7-5, 6-4.
Juan Carlos Ferrero set up a second round clash with another former Spanish number one by beating Russia's Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-3.
Ferrero next faces Carlos Moya. The Spanish duo were teammates on Spain's winning Davis Cup team in 2004. Moya became number one in the world when he reached the finals here five years ago.
Sweden's Thomas Enqvist beat Karol Beck 6-0, 7-5 and Armenian Sargis Sargsian stopped Bobby Reynolds of the United States 6-3, 6-2.

TORONTO, March 12--Brett Wetterich carded his second successive six-under 66 to seize a one-shot lead over twice former U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen after the second round of the $5.5 million Honda Classic in Florida on Friday, Reuters reported.
The unheralded Wetterich, a resident of nearby Jupiter, has certainly made himself at home at the Country Club at Mirasol in Palm Beach Gardens, two error-free rounds giving him a 12-under total of 132.
"I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now, I've had two solid rounds of golf," said Wetterich, 31, who has never won on the PGA Tour and has only one top-10 finish in 48 starts.
"It's nice, obviously, to be in a position where you have a chance to shoot a couple of good rounds and maybe change your life.
"But I'm going to go out there and try to play and stay focused like I did the last two days. Winning on the PGA Tour, and all of the benefits that come with that, would definitely be a life-changing style for me."
The US Open champion in 1992 and 1998 and a winner of six other PGA Tour titles, Janzen is without a victory in almost seven years.
He started out five shots behind overnight leader Chad Campbell but rocketed up the leaderboard with the round of the day, an eight-under 64.
Playing the back nine first on the Sunrise course, Janzen caught fire after the turn with five birdies and an eagle.
In one blistering stretch, the 40-year-old American was six-under through five holes, giving him the nine-hole course record with a seven-under 29.
"I don't think I've ever done anything better than that," said Janzen. "I had good vibes coming into this tournament.
"I've never really lost the desire. It's just a matter of confidence and I feel like I've gotten some confidence back.
"I certainly think I can win still."
After opening with a 64, Campbell returned a one-under 71 to join Robert Damron in third place on nine-under 135. Nick Watney was fifth on 136.
Sweden's Jesper Parnevik, who has not won a title since his 2001 Honda Classic victory, was tied with Patrick Sheehan and Brett Quigley on 137.
Last year's winner Todd Hamilton was back on four-under 140 in a 15-man group which included Fiji's Vijay Singh, who surrendered the world number one ranking to Tiger Woods last Sunday.

LONDON, March 12--Leicester on Friday maintained their 4-month unbeaten home league record with a gritty 15-6 Zurich remiership victory over London Irish, AFP reported.
Leicester, missing a raft of internationals, absorbed long periods of pressure and succeeded in catching the Irish on the break with two opportunist tries.
For London Irish, it was a sixth defeat in eight league games and, with only four rounds of matches remaining it can only have increased their relegation concerns.
Former England winger Austin Healey was pressed into service as an emergency fly-half for Leicester, and while he had a poor kicking game, his willingness to run the ball at every opportunity created attacking openings.
It was Healey who conjured up the first try with a superb darting run that gave left winger Alesana Tuilagi space to squeeze over.
Tuilagi then set up the 75th-minute decider by harrying former Leicester full-back Michael Horak, charging down his clearance kick and setting up young flanker Luke Abraham for his first senior try.
All the Irish had to show for their efforts in difficult wet conditions were two penalties from fly-half Barry Everitt.