-- TEHRAN TIMES
"Kuerten Beats Sargsian to Capture St. Petersburg Crown"
Brazil's third seed Gustavo Kuerten easily held off unseeded Armenian Sargis Sargsian 6-4 6-3 in Sunday's final to capture the St. Petersburg Open crown on his first visit to Russia's second city. Kuerten, who was by far the more consistent player from the baseline, earned a decisive break in the 10th game to grab the first set, then broke again in the sixth game of the second before clinching his second title this year.
-- IRAN NEWS
"Marlins Win World Series"
Marlins ace Josh Beckett pitched a 2-0 complete game shutout Saturday night against the New York Yankees to win baseball's 2003 World Series. The 23-year-old Beckett held the American League champion Yankees to only five hits in the nine-inning contest. The National League champion Marlins scored two runs on seven hits to upset the heavily favored Yankees and win the Series, four games to two.
-- IRAN DAILY
"Japan Cycling Title for Italian"
Defending champion Sergio Barbero of Italy won a close three-way battle in the final lap to capture his third Japan Cup cycling road race here on Sunday. The Lampre team rider, who also won the 151.3-kilometer (94.6 mile) race here in 1999, took charge with fellow Italian Guido Trentin and Patrik Sinkewitz of Germany in the final lap of the 14.1km course north of Tokyo.
-- KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL
"Luizao Lifts Gloom for Stevens"
Hertha Berlin eased the pressure on coach Huub Stevens with their first victory of the season, triumphing 1-0 over Hansa Rostock at the Ostseestadion on Saturday. The three points lifted Hertha off the bottom of the German top-flight, with Hansa replacing them, and completed the first part of Steven's two-match ultimatum.
-- JAAM-E JAM
"Iran Garners Four Golds in World U-21, Youth Karate Events"
Iran has collected four glittering golds in the world under-21 and youth karate competitions in Marseille, France, Saturday night. In the u-21 meet, Mohammad-Reza Aref-Asl representing the country in -65kg was eliminated as he lost to his German rival 7-2. Hassan Rowhani snatched a gold for Iran in -60kg class, beating a Belgian finalist
2-0 and Hossein Rowhani added another gold by defeating a Kuwaiti karateka in the 65kg final 2-1. In the youth event, Mohammad-Hossein Fikouhi hammered a French rival to grab -55kg gold and Hassan Ghaffari managed to overcome his Turkish opponent in -60 final.
-- YAS-E NO
"Fulham Crush Manchester United 3-1"
Fulham stunned Manchester United 3-1 at Old Trafford in the English premier league on Saturday, a result which allowed Fulham's archrivals Chelsea to take over top spot in the table. Goals from Lee Clark (3), Steed Malbranque (66) and substitute Junichi Inamoto (79) sent United crashing to their first league defeat at home since September 2002 and gave Fulham their first win over United since 1964. Diego Forlan scored for United on the stroke of halftime.
-- HAMBASTEGI
"Hamburg, Schalke Tie"
New Hamburg SV coach Klaus Toppmoeller looked set to start with a victory when Austrian striker Edi Glieder equalized in the last minute for the visitors, who fought from two goals down for a share of the points. Hamburg were 2-0 up after as many goals from Argentine striker Bernardo Romeo when his compatriot, defender Anibal Matellan, restored Schalke's hopes in the 73rd minute.
-- SIASSAT-E ROUZ
"Eleven Wounded in Attack on Kurdish Sports Team in Iraq"
Eleven members of a martial arts team were wounded, three of them seriously, when unknown gunmen opened fire on their bus near the northern oil center of Kirkuk, the head of the Kurdistan Olympic Club told AFP Saturday. The Kurdish taekwondo team was heading back to Kirkuk Friday from a Baghdad tournament when their bus was raked with gunfire, seriously wounding Ibrahim Rashid, 19, Diyar Jabbar, 22, and Ribas Admor, 25, said club president Harbi Khaled.
-- ENTEKHAB
"Malavan, Zimbabwe Fight to 1-1 Tie"
Malavan, representative of Iran in the first Afro-Asian football event, struggled against Zimbabwe to 1-1 draw in Hyderabad, India, Saturday. In another match, Uzbekistan which had already defeated Malavan 1-0 managed to win its second clash against Burkina Faso 1-0, leading the table with six points. Malavan meets Burkina Faso Monday. The Afro-Asian event started Friday and runs through next Saturday.
-- NASSIM-E SABA
"Real Continue Perfect Start With 1-0 Win Over Partizan"
Real Madrid continued their smooth progress towards the knockout stages of the Champions League by easing to a third victory in three games with a 1-0 win over Partizan Belgrade in Group F on Wednesday. Real cruised in the first half as Partizan sat back and concentrated on getting men behind the ball, but still managed to go in front six
minutes before the break when Raul got the faintest of touches to a Luis Figo header after a David Beckham corner.
KK/IS
End
MNA