Real Madrid's Argentinian player Javier Saviola (l) fights for the ball with Almeria's Felipe Melo (r) during their Spanish league football match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Saturday.

MADRID, Spain, Sept. 16--Javier Saviola scored his first goal in the Spanish first division for Real Madrid on Saturday to lead the defending champion to a 3-1 win over promoted Almeria, reported AP.
Wesley Sneijder and substitute Gonzalo Higuain added Madrid’s other goals to seal coach Bernd Schuster’s third straight victory since joining the club from Getafe in July.
Almeria, which had Albert Crusat sent off in the 63rd minute, netted through Kalu Uche six minutes later. Madrid has nine points--three more than Valencia.
Mallorca, FC Barcelona, Murcia and Valladolid all follow with four.
Also, a late goal from David Silva gave Valencia a 2-1 win over another newcomer, Valladolid, while Athletic Bilbao drew 1-1 with Zaragoza.
Saviola, an offseason signing from Barcelona, was picked for his first league start this season to replace Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was left on the bench with a view to Madrid’s Champions League match with Werder Bremen on Tuesday.
Saviola justified his inclusion when he gave Madrid a 37th-minute lead by striking home after Almeria goalkeeper David Cobeno had pushed a low drive by captain Raul Gonzalez onto his left post.
Almeria appeared to level in the 55th minute but Uche’s goal was disallowed for offside. TV replays suggested it should have counted. Saviola then contributed to the ejection of midfielder Crusat, who was judged to have tripped the Argentine striker as he approached the goal.
Sneijder then doubled Madrid’s lead with a curling shot which gave him his fourth goal since joining Ajax in the close season. The Netherlands midfielder heads the league’s scoring charts.
Uche reduced Madrid’s lead in the 73rd when he evaded Fabio Cannavaro before steering the ball past goalkeeper Iker Casillas with his right foot.
With Almeria threatening an equalizer despite its numerical disadvantage, Higuain lobbed the ball over Cobeno for Madrid’s third goal in the 88th.
Madrid forward Arjen Robben, who has been carrying a knee injury since his arrival from Chelsea in August, was not included in the squad for the game.

CAPE TOWN,
South Africa,
Sept. 16--South Africa beat Bangladesh by 7 wickets Saturday in the World Twenty20 with Graeme Smith and Albie Morkel each scoring 41 runs for the tournament hosts, said AP.
South Africa, which won the toss and chose to field, ended with 146-3 in reply to Bangladesh’s 144 all out at the Newlands Stadium. Bangladesh lost wickets at regular intervals in an attempt to keep its run rate high, reaching 50 in only the fourth over, and 100 in the 11th. Aftab Ahmed smashed 36 off 14 balls with five 4s and two 6s.
But the run rate came at a cost, with Bangladesh reduced to 101-6 and losing its last wicket with three balls stillleft in the innings. Morne Morkel took 2-21 in his four overs.
Smith and J.P. Duminy--opening for Herschelle Gibbs who was resting a pulled hamstring--started the reply cautiously, and each scored well. Smith’s 41 took 34 balls and included six 4s, while Duminy’s 36 came off 28 balls with four 4s and one 6.
Morkel came in at No. 3 to set up the victory with 41 off 29 balls, while Abdur Razzak was the best of the Bangladesh bowlers with 2-26 off his four overs. Earlier, Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by seven wickets at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, with Sanath Jayasuriya scoring his second half-century in two days.
New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat, scoring 164-7 in its 20 overs. Sri Lanka replied with 168-3 in 18.5
overs. Jayasuriya hit 61 off 44 balls with six 4s and three 6s in the Group C match. He was caught in the 18th over by Peter Fulton off the bowling of Daniel Vettori, who finished with 2-23 in his four overs.
On Friday, Jayasuriya scored 88 when Sri Lanka scored the highest ever Twenty20 international score--260-6--against Kenya, which it beat by a record 172 runs. Both New Zealand and Sri Lanka had already advanced to the Super Eight stage of the tournament.

MADRID, Spain, Sept. 16--Pau Gasol scored 23 points and Jose Calderon made some big plays down the stretch as Spain beat defending champion Greece 82-77 Saturday to reach the final of the European Basketball Championship.
After Jorge Garbajosa hit two free throws to give Spain an 80-76 lead with 18 seconds to play, Theodoros Papaloukas jumbled the ball as he drove the lane. Juan Carlos Navarro, who also finished with 23 points, hit both fouls at the other end, said AFP.
Vassilis Spanoulis led Greece with 24 points and five assists. Calderon ended with 18 points. Later Saturday, Lithuania plays Russia in the other semifinal.

Brazilian Joao Derly (blue) fights with Cuban Yordanis Arencicia during the men's -66kg category at the 25th World Judo Championship in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. Derly won the gold medal.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil,
Sept. 16--Brazil’s Joao Derly beat Cuba’s Yordanis Arencibia in the under 66-kilogram class Saturday to win his second straight gold medal in the Judo world championships.
Derly, who also won gold in the 2005 worlds in Egypt, gave Brazil its third gold medal at in the event at Multisport Arena. Tiago Camilo and Luciano Correa also won gold earlier in the tournament, giving Brazil its best showing ever, according to AP.
In the under 73-kilo class, South Korea’s Wang Ki Chun edged Elnur Mammadli of the Azebaijan.
In the women’s competition, China’s Shi Junjie defeated Telma Monteiro of Portugal to win the title in the under 52-kilo category. In the under 57-kilo category, South Korea’s Sun Hui Kye downed Spain’s Isabel Fernandez.
The four-day competition ends Sunday.

PARIS, Sept. 16--France’s Romain Feillu beat Spain’s Adrian Palomares in Saturday’s final stage to clinch a narrow overall victory in the Tour of Britain.
According to AFP, the times were dead level at the end of the race, forcing officials to look back at last Sunday’s prologue times.
And Feillu was confirmed as the yellow jersey winner by just 0.49 seconds.
Birmingham’s Paul Manning broke for home in the final mile to take the stage win from Dumfries to Glasgow in his final Tour of Britain appearance.
The 32-year-old, who has two Olympic medals in the team pursuit, will retire from cycling after Beijing next year.
Mark Cavendish capped a fantastic week by winning the sprints competition and the green jersey.
The Isle of Man rider, who won the prologue and the first stage in Southampton, said: “I was really motivated to do something for the home crowds this week.
“To win the prologue, the first stage and the two competitions is a fantastic feeling.
“It would have been nice to take another stage but I’m delighted Paul has got one and it’s been a good week for British cycling.“
Rotherham’s Ben Swift sealed the dream day when he secured the king of the mountains prize, with Manning four points back in second.
But the day belonged to Feillu, and the Agritubel rider paid tribute to the rest of his six-man team for helping him achieve the biggest win of his career.
“After I won the first sprint I knew I was in a great position and my team worked so hard for me,“ he said.
“It was really tight but I was kept up to date by the team who knew what was happening and I felt in control.
“It’s a great win for the team and a huge honor for me to win the yellow jersey and now I’ve got to build on it.“

Luiz Felipe Scolari

LISBON, Portugal, Sept. 16--Portugal’s Brazilian Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari apologizes for lashing out and assaulting the Serbian defender, Ivica ’Drago’ Dragutinovic.
“I would like to apologize to my players, the people of Portugal, the FPF and UEFA,“ said Portugal’s coach.
According to Reuters, Scolari appeared to punch Dragutinovic towards the end of Portugal-Serbia Euro 2008 clash on Wednesday.
“I’m not perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, and I lost my head here. But it was because I was protecting my player,“ said Felipe Scolari at a press conference at the Portuguese Football Federation.
Scolari said he was prepared to face the consequences of his action. However, the Portuguese Football Federation has ruled out terminating the Brazilian coach’s contract.

MOSCOW, Sept. 16--With Maria Sharapova cheering from the bench, Russia moved within one victory of its third Fed Cup title.
According to AP, Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Mara Santangelo of Italy 6-1, 6-2 Saturday to the put the Russians ahead 2-0 in the top team event in women’s tennis. Anna Chakvetadze struggled past Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the opener. Reverse singles and doubles in the best-of-five format are Sunday.
Sharapova has never played for Russia in the Fed Cup because of injuries and is still bothered by an ailing right shoulder. She was invited by Russia captain Shamil Tarpischev to practice with the team, and threw her support behind her teammates Saturday.
Russian media reports have suggested that Sharapova’s presence was a source of tension for the team, and that she was not part of the Fed Cup lineup because of friction with other players. But Kuznetsova said “there is no problem between us and Maria Sharapova. ... She’s an absolutely OK girl.“
Russia is unbeaten in three matches against Italy, and won the Fed Cup title in 2004 and ’05. Italy defeated Belgium to win its first Fed Cup title last season.
Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, dispatched Santangelo in 57 minutes, closing the match with three consecutive aces.
Chakvetadze, a US Open semifinalist, won only two points in the first two games as she fell behind 2-0 in the first set. But she broke back immediately, capitalizing on Schiavone’s three double-faults, and a second break in the seventh game was enough to win the set.

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium, Sept. 16--Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen led practice early Saturday for the Belgian Grand Prix ahead of teammate Felipe Massa and the two McLaren drivers, reported AP.
Behind the red Ferrari cars, world champion Fernando Alonso edged overall leader Lewis Hamilton, setting up a close qualifying session for Saturday afternoon. After the Formula One spying scandal involving McLaren took center stage for two days, racing took again on Saturday.
Raikkonen, who won here when the Grand Prix was last contested in 2005, lapped the scenic 7.004-kilometer (4.325-mile) track in 1 minute, 46.137 seconds, holding an edge of .251 seconds over Brazil’s Massa.
Behind them, the McLaren drivers were in just as tough a battle, with Alonso using a late run to edge past Hamilton in 1:46.507, for a .275 margin over his rookie teammate.
The standings in the driver’s championship are almost as close. After winning the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, Alonso is only three points behind Hamilton, 92-89, compared to a 14-point gap after the French Grand Prix on July 11.
Raikkonen is in third place with 74 points. He will need to confirm Saturday’s form to maintain an outside chance of coming back and grab the title. After Spa, there are only three races remaining--in Japan, China and Brazil.
Alonso is seeking his third title in a row. If that is not enough pressure, his involvement in the highly publicized spy scandal has added to it. McLaren was fined US$100 million on Thursday and kicked out of the constructors’ championship. The sport’s governing body FIA then published e-mails from Alonso on Friday which it said directly implicated him.
FIA quoted exchanges it said proved that Alonso and McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa were in unauthorized possession of secret technical information belonging to F1 rival Ferrari.