Naft&Gaz Gachsaran players try to score against Iran Tose'e Karaj in the final game at Tehran's Azadi Stadium Swimming Pool on Thursday

TEHRAN, Feb. 15--Iran Tose’e Karaj clinched the first place in the 17th edition of Iran’s Water Polo League on Thursday here at Azadi Stadium Swimming Pool.
Iran Tose’e Karaj defeated Naft & Gaz Gachsaran 7-4 in the dramatic final, Mehr News Agency wrote.
The two teams met twice last week in which won alternately by the same score of 9-6. According to the federation’s proposal, they competed for the third time to determine the top spot which Iran Tose’e Karaj took by winning two of the three matches.
Azad University Abhar and Naft Omidieh ranked third and fourth respectively.
Majid Gholami of Iran Tose’e Karaj won the league’s top scorer award with 54 goals. Jasem Mansouri (Azad University Abhar) and Meysam Jafari(Naft Omidieh) came second and third respectively.

TEHRAN, Feb. 15--Iran’s Beach Soccer Committee has called up 16 players on Thursday to participate in the training camp.
According to IRNA, the invited players have to introduce themselves to the officials on Saturday. Iran’s Beach Soccer team will take part in the Asian Beach Soccer Championship to be held in the United Arab Emirates in April.
The players are: Hamed Qorban-Pour, Mohammad Marfavi, Mehdi Bahrol-Olum, Abbas Hashem-Pour, Moslem Mesigar, Farid Bolukbashi, Hassan Abdollahi, Mohammad Ahmadzadeh, Ali Naderi, Ali Aligoli, Ali Khosravi, Ali Rahimi, Asqar Zehtab, Mehdi Davoudi, Faruq Dara and Mehdi Azari.

TEHRAN, Feb. 15--Iran’s Volleyball Federation has received invitations to participate in the Asian Beach Volleyball Championship in India as well as Thailand’s international volleyball events.
According to Mehr News Agency, Hyderabad will host the Asian Beach Volleyball Championship slated for April 4-9.
Thai cities of Phatthalung and Songkhla will also host the Asian International Invitational Championship and the Asian Beach Volleyball Tours from April 10-15, respectively. Iranian Beach Volleyball Committee plans to send two teams to compete in both events.

LONDON, Feb. 15-- For the first time in three years, a match between Manchester United and Arsenal is set to have no bearing on the Premier League title race.
Although the pair occupy the top two places in the standings, on Saturday they will be contesting one of the last eight places in this season’s FA Cup, UkPress wrote.
With just six Premier League sides having made it into this weekend’s fifth round, the meeting of the powerhouses is the only one between topflight teams.
On Saturday, Liverpool hosts Barnsley and Chelsea hosts Huddersfield, while Portsmouth is at Preston and Middlesbrough is at Sheffield United on Sunday.
It is the first time since the 2005 final that United and Arsenal have met in the FA Cup. While any win over a major rival is important and both teams want to take another step toward the trophy, the sides know the game could affect all the major competitions.
With a five-point lead over United in the Premier League, victory in the FA Cup could give Arsenal the final lift it needs to go on and win the championship.
Similarly, a win for United could give it the confidence it needs to overhaul the Gunners’ lead and maybe win both trophies.
Each has won the “double“ three times, with Arsenal the most recent in 2002.
United needs a victory at Old Trafford more than its rival after taking one point from its last two Premier League games and surrendering its advantage over Arsenal.
Both Diaby and Neville are set to miss the game because of injuries, but the top two scorers in the Premier League will be up against each other.

MARSEILLE, France, Feb. 15--Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, who suffered a crippling fever on Davis Cup duty at the weekend, slumped to defeat at the Marseille Open on Thursday.
According to AFP, the Serbian top seed, and world number three, playing his first match since suffering from flu at the Davis Cup World Group clash against Russia in Moscow, fell 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 to unseeded Frenchman Gilles Simon.
Djokovic missed three days of practice ahead of last week’s tie and was forced to skip his opening singles rubber in Moscow.
Despite opening up a two-set lead over Nikolay Davydenko in Sunday’s reverse singles, the 20-year-old was forced to retire as his legs got heavier and his body more weary.
Second-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet also made an unscheduled early exit losing to Sweden’s world number 52 Robin Soderling 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Gasquet, the world number seven, had been beaten by the Swede in the quarter-finals of the tournament last year.
Soderling will now take on Croatia’s Mario Ancic who put out Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round on Wednesday.
Simon, the world number 30, broke Djokovic in the seventh game of the first set which he took in 25 minutes. The Serb led 4-1 in the second set tie-break before having to save a match point on his way to leveling the tie.
The Serbian star was visibly weakening in the third set and at 4-1 down in the final set he was forced to call the trainer to the court.
Simon duly wrapped up the set and the match and will now face eighth-seeded compatriot Paul-Henri Mathieu, who put out another Frenchman, Michael Llodra 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/5) in the last eight.

KAHUKU, USA,
Feb. 15--Kelli Kuehne shot a bogey-free 5-under 67 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the LPGA Tour’s season-opening SBS Open.
Annika Sorenstam, coming off an injury-shortened season where she failed to win for the first time since her rookie season in 1994, opened with a 70--matching playing partner and defending champion Paula Creamer, according to AP.
South Korea’s Jacqueline Yang had a 68, and 10-time winner Cristie Kerr was another stroke back along with Meena Lee, Lindsey Wright, Wendy Ward, Erica Blasberg, Ji-Young Oh and 45-year-old Sherri Steinhauer.
The 30-year-old Kuehne attacked the pins with several strong wedge shots from about 100 yards and made a move just before the turn by birdieing Nos. 16-18. She made a 60-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fourth to reach 5 under.
Kuehne credited her preparation heading into the season and her caddie, Tracy Phillips, who also serves as a short game coach.
It was overcast and mostly calm on the Palmer Course, except for the raging surf on the North Shore.
The 37-year-old Sorenstam was playing at Turtle Bay for the first time and beginning her season a month earlier than usual. She is making her first appearance in Hawaii since winning the 2002 LPGA Takefuji Classic at Waikoloa.
The Swede opened her round with a birdie and three-putted the next hole for bogey. She also missed several makable birdie putts, including a 4-footer on the par-5 14th that lipped out.
Creamer won the SBS last year for her first victory since 2005, holing a long birdie putt on the 17th hole to beat Julieta Granada by a stroke. Creamer also won the Tournament of Champions in November and finished third on the money list.

TEHRAN, Feb. 15--Persepolis Football Team returned to top spot of Iran’s Professional League after defeating Peykan 2-1 here at the Azadi Stadium on Friday.
Drage Chovic’s Header goal in the 19th minute led the team to win in the first half, IRNA wrote.
Mostapha Mehdizadeh equalized the game in the 65th minute with a long shot which passed through Persepolis’ goalkeeper’s hands to goal.
The giant scored its second goal as Chovic dribbled some Peykan’s players and passed the ball to Abbas Aqae’s and he also passed the ball across the face of goal and unmarked Mohsen Khalili scored his 10th goal of the season concurrent with his birthday.

21st week results:
* Rah Ahan 0-Sepahan 1
*Moqavemat Sepasi 3- Saba Battery 1
* Esteqlal Ahvaz 2 Ð Mes 2
* Abu Moslem 3- Pegah 1
* Malavan 0- San’at Naft 0
* Pas Ð Barq (Postponed)

DAYTONA BEACH, USA, Feb. 15--They showed up as favorites, endured their share of failures and found a way to stay at the front of the Daytona 500.
There’s a reason Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing are the ones to beat in NASCAR. Now, they’ll try to beat each other in a super showdown in the biggest race of the year, reported AP.
Stewart was of course overplaying the magnitude of Sunday’s season-opener. But when Hendrick driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Gibbs driver Denny Hamlin each won a qualifying race Thursday, it set the stage for a fabulous battle.
Six of the top nine starting spots will be filled by drivers from both teams, while Gibbs driver Kyle Busch rolls off from the 24th position. Hendrick driver Jimmie Johnson, the two-time defending Cup series champion, will start from the pole.
It makes either team the obvious favorite to win the 50th running of The Great American Race. But Stewart, who finished second to teammate Hamlin in Thursday’s second qualifier, said it wasn’t that simple.
That’s certainly the way it looked after all four Hendrick cars and two of the three Gibbs cars overcame engine problems that forced them to swap their motors before Thursday’s races. Just the day before, Gibbs had four motors traveling up I-95 as four motors headed down to Daytona, and the two truck drivers honked as they passed each other on the busy road.
After years of playing second fiddle to Hendrick as the top team for General Motors--Hendrick drivers won 18 of 36 races last season--Gibbs will try to dethrone the powerful team with its new Toyota support. Hamlin drove a Camry to its first win in NASCAR’s top series by working with Stewart, then ultimately passed his teammate for the qualifying race victory.

AC Milan's Brazilian forward Ronaldo holds his face while is carried out during their "Serie A" football match AC Milan vs Livorno at San Siro Stadium in Milan, on February 13.

ROME, Feb. 15--Brazilian striker Ronaldo, who faces a major battle to save his career, underwent his third knee operation in Paris on Thursday.
According to AFP, the 31-year-old now faces at least nine months on the sidelines and will only be able to think about returning to action with AC Milan at the end of the year.
Ronaldo flew to Paris after rupturing a tendon in his right knee during AC Milan’s 1-1 draw with Livorno on Wednesday.
The veteran, all-time top World Cup scorer with 15 goals, has played just six matches this term after thigh and calf problems and now has another even worse setback to contend with.
Italian media speculated whether, after the catalogue of knee injuries that ’Il Fenomeno’ has suffered in the past, Ronaldo’s latest setback might spell the end of the world champion’s career.
In November 1999 and again five months later, he suffered similar problems but returned after the best part of two years on the sidelines following surgery to lift the World Cup with Brazil, scoring in the final win over Germany and finishing tournament top scorer.
With Ronaldo having suffered the bulk of his previous serious injuries playing for Inter before joining Real Madrid, his latest setback has found sympathy on the black and blue half of town and Inter chairman Massimo Moratti on wished him well.
Ronaldo was injured just minutes after entering the fray as a second-half substitute and was taken to hospital.
Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti refused overnight to call time on Ronaldo’s career.