Brugge's Bosko Balaban (c) sweeps past AS Roma's Philippe Mexes (l) and Alberto Aquilani during their UEFA Cup 3rd round second leg soccer match at the Olympic stadium in Rome, Thursday. (Reuters Photo)

PARIS, Feb. 24--French and English clubs had a bitter-sweet night on Thursday as the UEFA Cup, Europe's second-tier club competition, was whittled down to the final 16 teams.
AS Roma beat Belgium's FC Bruges 4-2 on aggregate however to go through and will be confident of winning their 11th consecutive Italian league match against Lazio at the weekend to claim an all-time Serie A record.
Roma's next UEFA Cup opponents will be England's Middlesbrough who claimed an impressive scalp in VfB Stuttgart although they lost 1-0 at home.
Their 2-1 victory in Germany in the first leg was enough to see them through on away goals and ensure an English club reached the next round.
Bolton however went out at French club Marseille. Bolton manager Sam Allardyce must have been dreaming of continued interest in the competition with Stelios Giannakopoulos putting Bolton ahead in the first half.However Marseille's Franck Ribery got the equalizer just before half-time and then a Tal Ben Haim own goal with about 20 minutes left ensured Marseille earned their passage.
Of the five French clubs in action, three went through and two fell by the wayside, AFP reported.
Strasbourg managed to beat Bulgarians Litex Lovech over the two legs and Lille got the better of Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk.
Lens and Monaco were not so lucky. Lens were ousted by Italian side Udinese and Switzerland's Basel reached the last 16 at the expense of Monaco.
Middlesbrough however just did enough to make it through after Christian Tiffert's 13th-minute strike.
The visitors were in control for much of the game but McClaren's men belatedly offered a threat going forward and it needed a fine save from goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand to deny Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink a second-half equalizer.
And it needed a goal-line clearance from Markus Babbel to prevent Boro's Spanish star Gaizka Mendieta scoring in the 63rd minute.
Earlier, Stuttgart took the lead when Ljuboja played Tiffert in with a ball that unlocked the static Middlesbrough defense before the scorer skipped past Stuart Parnaby before beating Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer with a precise shot struck with the outside of his right foot.
Roma defeated Bruges 2-1 in the Italian capital to go through.

Curling
The Swedish women's curling team rock 'n' rolled its way to another heavy medal -Ñthis one Olympic gold. The Swedes played a conservative game on Thursday night to beat Switzerland 7-6 with a double-takeout on the last stone of an extra end. Canada beat Norway 11-5 in eight ends earlier to take the bronze.

Figure Skating
Japanese skater Shizuka Arakawa takes the gold medal in the most highly anticipated event of the Winter Olympics -- women's figure skating. Sasha Cohen of the United States wins the silver medal and Russia's Irina Slutskaya takes the bronze.

Snowboarding
Favorite Daniela Meuli has grabbed Switzerland's third Olympic snowboarding gold, beating German outsider Amelie Kober in the women's parallel giant slalom final. Meuli's triumph was Switzerland's fifth gold of the Turin Games and followed Philipp Schoch's victory in the men's parallel giant slalom on Wednesday and Tanja Frieden's win in the women's snowboard cross

Skeleton
It was supposed to be a friendly sliding competition for TV viewers. Instead, US skeleton racer Kevin Ellis showed a bit of the realistic dangers of his sport. Ellis broke a vertebra in his back Thursday while competing against members of the US luge team in Sestriere in the non-Olympic Snow Show that was being filmed for television. US Olympic Committee spokesman Darryl Seibel said there were no signs of paralysis. However, Ellis was taken to a hospital in Turin for further evaluation and treatment.

Russia's gold medallists (l-r) Svetlana Ishmouratova Albina Akhatova, Olga Zaitseva and Anna Bogaliy show off their gold medals for the women's 4x6 km Biathlon relay event at the Torino Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, Thursday. (Reuters Photo)

BERLIN, Feb. 24--A special workshop for the 32 World Cup teams will be held in the west German city of Duesseldorf on March 6 and 7, the World Cup Organizing Committee announced in Frankfurt on Thursday.
During the meeting in Duesseldorf, delegates of the 32 World Cup qualifying teams will be updated by FIFA and the World Cup Organizing Committee on the rules and regulations of the global football event, due to take place in 12 German cities from June 9 through July 9, IRNA reported.
Several coaches of the 32 World Cup squads are also expected to attend the workshop.

Andy Murray

MEMPHIS, USA,
Feb. 24--Andy Murray of Scotland mustered another three-set victory Thursday, booking a quarterfinal berth at the ATP Tennis tournament here with a 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 7-5 win over Rik de Voest.
Murray, 18, arrived in Memphis fresh from winning his first ATP title in San Jose last Sunday.
Despite some speedbumps, he has managed to maintain his momentum, and his win over de Voest, the lucky loser who replaced injured second seed Nicholas Kiefer in the draw, will earn enough ranking points to displace Tim Henman as the top British player when the new rankings are released on Monday.
In the quarterfinals he'll face Sweden's Robin Soderling for the second straight week, reported AFP.
Soderling ousted defending champion Kenneth Carlsen 7-6 (7/3) 6-4.
French qualifier Julien Benneteau set up a quarter-final showdown with top seed Andy Roddick by beating Belgian eighth seed Xavier Malisse 7-6 (7/4), 6-4. Benneteau reached the third round of the Australian Open, where he was dismissed by Roddick in straight sets.
Kristof Vliegen also reached the quarterfinals, beating American Paul Goldstein 6-1, 6-4, while Chilean qualifier Paul Capdeville withstood 19 aces from Croatian Ivo Karlovic to triumph 7-5, 6-3, (7-1) 7-6
Russian Dmitry Tursunov continued his best-ever start to a season with a 6-0, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3 victory over France's Cyril Saulnier.
Tursunov will next meet German Tommy Haas, who beat Vincent Spadea 7-6 (9/7), 6-1.
The semifinal lineup was set in the 175,000-dollar WTA tour event that runs concurrently with the men's tournament.
Third-seeded Swede Sofia Arvidsson led the way into the final four with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over 15-year-old Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.
Arvidsson will face 33-year-old American Amy Frazier, the seventh seed, who beat compatriot Shenay Perry 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/3).
In another meeting of Americans, eight-seeded Jill Craybas cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Lilia Osterloh.
She'll face Poland's sixth-seeded Marta Domachowska, who beat fourth-seeded American Laura Granville 6-4, 6-4.

SINGAPORE, Feb. 24--The AFC Champions League was thrown into disarray Friday with two clubs from Thailand and two from Indonesia barred from the competition for failing to submit their paperwork on time.
The severe punishment was dished out to Thai clubs Provincial Electricity Authority and Thailand Tobacco Monopoly, and Indonesia's Arema Malang and Persipura Jayapura, AFP reported.
Two clubs--Al Hilal from Yemen and Dhofar from Oman-Ðwere also turfed out of the AFC Cup, a tournament for teams from AsiaÕs "emerging" football associations, for the same reason.
They will have no right of appeal after failing to fill in their player registration forms by the February 12 deadline.
"It is essential that clubs comply with the regulations that govern AFC competitions, and failing to meet a registration deadline represents a serious breach of these regulations," AFC president Mohammed bin Hammam said in a statement.
"The AFC Champions League is AsiaÕs premier club competition and we simply cannot have clubs in this flagship event who show such disregard for the regulations.
"Clubs who pay little attention to such basic administrative matters have no place in the continents premier club competition."
The tournament for the league and cup champions of the top 14 national associations in the AFC gets underway on March 8 and will retain its format despite the disqualification of the clubs.
It means two groups will contain just two teams each, with the top one going through to the quarterfinals.
Now only Tokyo Verdy of Japan and Ulsan Horang-I of South Korea are left in Group F, while Shanghai Shenhua of China and Dong Tam Long An of Vietnam will be fighting for the group honors in Group Saudi giants Al Ittihad are the defending champions.

DALLAS, USA, Feb. 24--Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 points, Jason Terry added 23 here Thursday as the Dallas Mavericks beat Memphis to extend their home winning streak to a club record 13 game, AFP said.
The Mavericks limited the Grizzlies to 27 percent shooting in the second half as they posted a 97-87 National Basketball Association victory.
One of the top defensive teams in the NBA, the Grizzlies came out firing as they shot a blistering 61 percent (23-of-38) in the opening half and led by as many as 19 points, AFP reported.
All-Star Pau Gasol, who scored 18 points, gave the visitors a 56-40 advantage with 1:37 remaining.
But Terry sparked a 23-4 run over the next seven minutes with a jumper, steal and 3-pointer before Nowitzki added a jumper to get the Mavericks within 56-47 at the break.
The onslaught continued after intermission as Nowitzki scored seven and Terry added five in an early surge. The burst was capped by a jumper from Jerry Stackhouse that gave Dallas a 63-60 advantage.
Dallas coach Avery Johnson has emphasized defense since taking over late last season. Holding an 83-82 lead with seven minutes to go, the Mavericks clamped down, holding the Grizzlies to just five points thereafter.
Meanwhile, Nowitzki scored six points over the final four minutes as the Mavericks eclipsed its previous record for home wins set in the first 12 contests of the 2002-03 season, when they reached the Western Conference finals.

MADRID, Spain, Feb. 24--Real Madrid captain Raul believes his strike partner Ronaldo must work hard to win back the fans' affections after the Brazilian criticized their attitude towards him the day before the Champions League defeat by Arsenal.
"He is loved in the Bernabeu when he does things well and scores goals," Raul told a news conference on Thursday, Reuters reported.
"The fans are demanding with everyone, and we will help him in every way we can. But he must do his part as well. We need Ronaldo at his best."
The Brazil striker, Real's top scorer with 10 goals this season, surprised everyone with his outburst on Monday as he complained about being whistled off the pitch after not scoring during the previous weekend's 3-0 win over Alaves.
"The fans have never accepted me and their reaction is something to take into account when thinking about my future," the three times World Player of the Year said.
"I've always said that I don't want to be where I'm not loved. I've never felt at home at the Bernabeu, the fans have never treated me with affection.
"I will make a decision at the end of the season." Raul, who in contrast was given a standing ovation by the crowd as he returned against Alaves after three months out through injury, chided Ronaldo for his timing.
"The only thing he did wrong was to say what he did when he did," Raul added.
"I won't make a judgement on whether what he said was right or not, but it did cast a cloud over the magic of a Champions League game thinking more of himself than the team."
Real lost their round of 16 first leg 1-0 to Arsenal, and must turn the tie round in London on March 8 to avoid exiting the competition.
Their next game is against lowly Real Mallorca in the Primera Liga on Sunday.