CASABLANCA, Morroco, May 7--Morocco’s Raja Casablanca clinched the Arab Champions League title on Saturday, beating ENPPI of Egypt 1-0 in the second leg with a goal from Soufiane Alloudi in the 67th minute.
Raja won the trophy 3-1 on aggregate after a win away in Cairo in the first leg last month, Reuters said.
Success for Raja came a week after they were surprisingly eliminated in the third round of the African Champions League.

Renault Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso of Spain steers his way to take the pole position for the European Formula One Grand Prix at the Nuerburgring racing circuit in western Germany, Saturday. (Reuters Photo)

NUERBURGRING, Germany, May 7--Renault’s world champion Fernando Alonso edged out Michael Schumacher with his first pole position of the season at the European Grand Prix on Saturday.
Ferrari’s Schumacher, the seven times world champion appearing in front of his home crowd after winning the last race, will start alongside after being thwarted in his bid for a second pole in succession.
Alonso, absent from the front row since he took pole in China last October, has won two of the four races so far this season and finished second in the other two.
The 24-year-old Spaniard leads Schumacher, his closest rival in the standings after the German’s San Marino Grand Prix victory, by 15 points, reported Reuters.
“Qualifying has been a little bit difficult in the first four races, sometimes because of the traffic and sometimes because I did mistakes also,“ said Alonso after the 10th pole of his career.
“Today we had the clear laps and we managed to make some changes to the car to improve...I think we are in a much better position than the previous race.“
Felipe Massa was third fastest for Ferrari and, as at Imola two weeks ago, forms an all-Brazilian second row with Honda’s Rubens Barrichello.
“We’ve got a strong package, good race pace so it should be interesting for us,“ said Schumacher, who completed his final flying lap just after Alonso had set a new best time.
“I am pretty happy for tomorrow,“ he added.
“Honestly there is no reason why we should not be strong anywhere, any time.“
Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen qualified fifth for Mercedes-powered McLaren’s 600th race while Honda’s Jenson Button was sixth, the Briton ending his run of seven starts from the front two rows.
Alonso’s Italian teammate Giancarlo Fisichella failed to qualify in the top 10 for the second race in a row and stalked angrily down the pitlane to remonstrate with BMW Sauber’s Jacques Villeneuve.
Villeneuve set the eighth best time but was stripped of his best three laps and demoted to ninth after stewards ruled he had impeded Fisichella.

Barcelona players pose with the League Cup after beating Espanyol at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Saturday. (AFP Photo)

MADRID, Spain, May 7--Barcelona celebrated winning their second successive Primera Liga title in front of their own fans by beating city rivals Espanyol 2-0 in the Nou Camp on Saturday.
The Champions League finalists reclaimed the title away to Celta Vigo on Wednesday, but were in no mood to help out their relegation-threatened neighbors.
Espanyol defender Daniel Jarque scored an own goal after 20 minutes and Ronaldinho doubled the lead soon after the break as his side cruised to victory.
Barcelona moved on to 82 points, 13 ahead of second-placed Real Madrid who play Villarreal in the Bernabeu on Sunday, Reuters said.
Kings Cup winners Espanyol remained 15th with 38 points, two above the relegation zone with two games left.
UEFA Cup finalists Sevilla secured a comfortable 2-0 win over relegated Malaga, that put them fifth on 62 points.
Brazilian midfielder Renato scored the opener after 18 minutes with a 25-meter drive and Fernando Sales rounded off the win in the 90th minute with a goal on the break.
Later on Saturday Valencia, in third on 68 points, can climb above Real if they beat Atletico Madrid at home.
Barcelona were given a champions welcome in the Nou Camp with Espanyol lining up to applaud their opponents on to the pitch.
Coach Frank Rijkaard rested goalkeeper Victor Valdes and gave Spain midfielder Xavi his first place in the starting line up since coming back from a serious knee injury.
The home side were determined to enjoy the occasion without over-stretching themselves, and were helped by an early goal which put the pressure on a nervous-looking Espanyol.
Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o sped to the byline after 17 minutes and crossed to the near post where Jarque inadvertently chested the ball into his own goal.
Ronaldinho exhibited his full range of skills to entertain the crowd and sealed the win scoring six minutes after the restart.
Deco put Sweden striker Henrik Larsson through one-on-one with Gorka Iraizoz, and although the visiting keeper saved, the Brazilian was on hand to score his 17th goal of the season.
Barca had plenty of chances to add to the score, but did not have the game all their own way though as reserve keeper Albert Jorquera was forced to make a number of saves in both halves.
After 75 minutes Rijkaard withdrew Larsson, who was given a standing ovation in his last home game before leaving to join hometown club Helsingborg in the summer.

ATHENS, Greece,
May 7--Russia won the men’s team event at the European championships in Volos on Saturday.
Russia, who last won the title in 2000, took gold with a total of 272.225 points.
The silver medal went to Romania, winners of the last two events in 2002 and 2004, with a score of 270.325. Belarus, silver medalists two years ago, edged out Ukraine for the bronze with 268.975.
Russia got off to a poor start when Anatoli Vasiliev stumbled in the floor exercise and scored a below-par 13.925, said Reuters.
However, solid performances from Sergei Khorokhordin, Maxim Deviatovski and Anton Golotsutskov, all of whom scored over 16 on the vault, took Russia to victory and confirmed their coach Andrey Rodionenko’s pre-competition assertion that the team had come to Volos to win.
“Our goal is always to be on top,“ Rodionenko told reporters on Saturday.
Romania had only just qualified for the finals in seventh position but Marian Dragulescu produced the top individual score of Saturday, with 16.750 on the vault, to help them earn silver.
“We tried to defend our title but unfortunately we could only take second place,“ said Dragulescu.
“We need to train even more for the next European championships.“
Belarus captain Ivan Ivankov was happy with his team’s third place finish.
“Each medal is a big success no matter if it’s gold, silver or bronze because it entails a lot of effort and work,“ he said.
Frenchman Dimitri Karbanenko produced the best all round performance with a total of 90.075 points from the six disciplines.

LAS VEGAS, USA,
May 7--American Oscar De La Hoya, who took 20 months off from boxing to learn the business side of the sweet science, dominated the brash Ricardo Mayorga to seize the World Boxing Council 154-pound title.
De La Hoya recorded three knockdowns, including two in the final round before the referee Jay Nady stepped in and stopped it at 1:25 of the sixth round on Saturday at the MGM Grand casino.
“This ranks right up there in my top five,“ De La Hoya said.
“Just the fact that he talked so much, even about my wife.
“The message was I am going to stand up to the bully.“
De La Hoya looked impressive in his first fight following the longest layoff of his glorious career, AFP reported.
The fight ended with De La Hoya raining punches down on a helpless Mayorga who he managed to corner on the ropes.
De La Hoya knocked him down for the first time halfway through the opening round with a left hook that was set up by a stinging right hand. The second knockdown also took place with De La Hoya swarming Mayorga near the ropes.
The chain-smoking, tough talking Mayorga (28-6-1, 23 KOs) looked awkward and heavier than he had in his previous title fights. The 33-year-old Nicaraguan fought with his hands low, allowing De La Hoya to score with jabs and a crushing left hook.
De La Hoya (38-4, 30 KOs) last fought in September 2004, when he was dropped by a body shot in losing a ninth-round TKO against then-middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins.
“There was a plan behind taking (the) Mayorga (fight) five months ago,“ De La Hoya said. “We knew he would talk bad about me and insult me and I needed that.“
However, De La Hoya did his talking with his fists.
De La Hoya continued to school Mayorga, knocking him down again in the first two minutes of the sixth round.

BERLIN, May 7--World number one Amelie Mauresmo begins a significant new stage in her campaign to become a tennis legend when she tries to regain the title at the German Open which begins on Monday.
It will be the French heroine’s first clay court match of the year, and therefore also her first in the build-up to the French Open and all the torment and dreams it brings, AFP said.
Mauresmo has taken a five-week break to prepare for a campaign which she hopes will end with her becoming the first home woman for 34 years and only the second since Suzanne Lenglen to win the Grand Slam at Roland Garros.
All but seven of the 38 women’s singles open era champions in Paris have won a tournament in the clay court build-up, and so another success for Mauresmo at Berlin’s famous Rot-Weiss club is an important feature in the overall picture.
The lady from St Germains-en-Laye may not have a better opportunity than now. Mauresmo has never come to this stage of the season as world number one before and her confidence is at an all-time high.
“Having the kind of wins I have had has put me in a position where I’m pretty relaxed now in the way I handle every tournament,“
she said, referring to her successes in the year-end WTA Championships at Los Angeles in November and in the Australian Open at Melbourne in January.
If this is true, it would be hugely significant for the brilliant and popular but sometimes dramatically fragile player whose talents have too often been frustrated by the cumulative pressure of expectations during the clay court season.
“At least I’m not going to have those sort of questions any more,“ she says, referring to the capture of her first Grand Slam title. She did not add however that an entirely different sort will be revived by the French Open and its build-up and whether she can handle it.

SERAING, Belgium, May 7--Defending champion Paolo Savoldelli started his 33rd birthday celebrations a day early with victory in the opening time trial stage of the Giro d’Italia.
The Discovery Channel rider set a time of seven minutes and 50 seconds for the hilly 6.2-km course around Seraing in Belgium on Saturday.
Australia’s Bradley McGee was second, 11 seconds slower and Jose Enrique Gutierrez of Spain was third, Reuters said.
The Giro is expected to be a battle between Savoldelli and compatriots Danilo Di Luca, Ivan Basso, Damiano Cunego and two-times winner Gilberto Simoni.
Di Luca was 10th, 19 seconds slower than Savoldelli, Basso was 13th, Cunego was 15th and Simoni was 16th, 26 seconds adrift.
“Winning on the first day is good for my and the team’s morale but the time bonuses (20, 12 and eight seconds) awarded to the first three riders on each road stage mean it’s easy to lose the lead,“ he said.
“There is a long way to go before we get to Milan but hopefully I’ll get it back before then.“
After the opening four stages in Belgium, the Giro transfers to Italy on Wednesday and ends in Milan on May 28.