Kayhan Int’l Sports Desk
Heidari’s LastMinute Header
Helps Piroozi Grab IPL Glory

TEHRAN, May 17  No less than 100,000 fans packed into the Azadi Stadium to watch the championship decider between Perspolis and leaders Sepahan.
There were just two points between the two teams when the Reds’ Mohsen Khalili scored the first goal of the game in the first half. However, Sepahan’s equalizer came a bit later by Ehsan HajSafi and the two nervous contenders left the pitch 11. In the extra time, Sepehr Heidari’s header helped Piroozi to grab the IPL championship.
Sepahan were the visitors and the thought of appearing in the capital's famous old arena was a daunting one but the Isfahan outfit could console itself with the fact that a draw would be enough to win a second title in the second half of Saturday match.
Despite nonstop strikes by the Reds in the second half, Sepahan managed to hold on to the 11 draw until the extra time but efforts by the Reds paid off and a lastminute header by Heidari helped Piroozi win the title of the Iran Pro League Championships.
It was a performance that will live long in the memory  as will the atmosphere. Those who witnessed the lastminute goal described it as so loud that you couldn’t even shout to the person next to you and be heard.
The Yellows faltered in recent weeks, letting a sevenpoint gap slip down to two but Vieira and his players, who finished as runnersup in the 2007 Asian Champions League and participated in the Club World Championship, had the biggame experience to handle the Azadi Stadium  even with the injured Mahmoud Karimi and Moharam Navidkia.


Sports Roundup
 

Victory Over Japan
The national Iranian futsal team reaches the final after defeating Japan at the 2008 10th AFC Futsal Championship in Bangkok, Thailand. The eighttime champions Iran beat Japan 10 in the semifinal match on Friday. Vahid Shamsaei scored the only goal of the match in the last seconds of the first half.
Thailand managed to beat China 73 in the other semifinal match at Nimibutr gymnasium on the same day. Iran and Thailand will hold the final at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, while Japan and China are scheduled to compete for the third place on the same day. Sixteen teams have participated in the Bangkok championships, which will run until May 18, and the top four teams are to represent Asia at the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Brazil in October 2008.

Shapourzadeh Out of Hansa Rostock
Relegated first division Bundesliga team Hansa Rostock will not extend the contract of Amir Shapourzadeh at the end of this season, German television said Friday evening. Hansa coach Frank Pagelsdorf has reportedly informed Shapourzadeh of his decision. Hamburgbased second division Bundesliga squad FC St. Pauli is interested in signing Shapourzadeh, according to the sports press.
The 25yearold Iranian player who grew up in Hamburg started his football career at the amateur division of Bundesliga side Hamburger SV and later joined Hansa Rostock in 2004 as a professional footballer. Shapourzadeh who played 3 matches for Iran's B national football team during the last West Asian Games, faced an uphill battle at Rostock as a rarely used substitute forward and has yet to score a goal this season.

More Wushu Medals
The Iranian Wushu team captain, Hossein Ojaqi, has managed to win another gold medal at the 7th Asian Wushu Championships in Macau. Ojaqi defeated his Uzbek rival in the 90kg weight class to gain the second gold medal for the Iranian Wushu team on Friday.
Another Iranian Wushu athlete, Hamidreza Qolipour, in the 80kg weight category got the silver medal after he was defeated by his Chinese opponent in the final.
Meanwhile, the Iranian female Wushu athlete, Khadijeh Azadpour, won the bronze medal in the 65kg category. The Iranian Wushu team bagged two gold, two silver and eight bronze medals in the event which began in Macau on Tuesday morning and ended Friday. Wushu, which derives from a wide variety of ancient Chinese martial arts, is composed of two disciplines: Taolu (routines) and Sanshou (fight).

Basketball Win Over Kazakhstan
Iran's Saba Battery basketball team beats Kazakhstan's BK Almaty AlmaAta at the 19th edition of the Asian Clubs Basketball Championship. The Iranian team managed to beat its Kazakh rival 8877 on Friday evening. Saba Battery had earlier won against alQadsia of Kuwait, India's ONGC and alMuharraq of Bahrain at the event.
Ten strong teams, representing 10 countries from across the continent, have participated in the 19th edition of the Asian Clubs Basketball Championship, which began in Kuwait on May 8 and is scheduled to end on 16. Saba Battery had come first at the 18th FIBA Asia Champions Cup which, was held in the Iranian capital Tehran.

AFC Players of Year
AFC has released the revised second list of contenders for the coveted AFC Player of the Year award after the final AFC Cup group matches. The latest roster of 15 players is led by three players from Uzbekistan, followed by two players each from Bahrain, Iran (Sadeqi and Seyed Salehi), Kuwait and Singapore.
 

Squad for UAE Match Named

TEHRAN, May 17 (ISP)  Iran’s national football team head coach, Ali Daei, announced the 26men squad for the World Cup qualifier match against UAE on June 2nd.
Iran National team Captain, Mehdi Mahdavikia, is back to the squad following the recovery of his injury which sidelined him in Iran’s encounter against Kuwait. Fully recovered Javad Nekounam also joins Iran squad after one year injurylayoff.
Other notable additions to the new squad are inclusion of Freydun Zandi, former Iran National team left winger who has not been called up to squad since his appearance in World Cup 2006. Another notable addition is Hansa Rostock forward, Amir Shapourzadeh’s first Callup to Iran National team following his short spell at Iran B team in June 2007.
Among UAEbased players, Reza Enayati is called up to Iranian squad again since his spell at Asian Cup 2007 campaign, while UAE league’s top scorers including Mehrzad Madanchi, Iman Mobali and Javad Kazemian are missing from the list.
The list of National team invitees from Perspolis and Sepahan teams will be announced by Ali Daie after PerspolisSepahan match on Saturday.
Iran National team will commence their training camp in Ardebil on Sunday May 18th. Iranian team is also scheduled to play a friendly match against Bosnia on May 26th in Azadi Stadium, and a week later Iran will host UAE National team in Azadi stadium on June 2nd.
Iran is in Group five of Asian World Cup qualifying tournament with Kuwait, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. The full list is as follows:

The Squad:GoalKeepers: Mehdi Rahmati, Ebrahim Mirzapour
Defenders: Jalal Hosseini, Rahman Rezaei, Satar Zare, Morteza Asadi, Hashem Beikzadeh
Midfielders: Mohammad Alavi, Mojtaba Shiri, Majid Gholamnejad, Ebrahim Sadeghi, Mehdi Mahdavikia, Javad Nekounam, Freydun Zandi, Andranik Teimourian, Ali Karimi, Masoud Shojaei, Maziar Zare, Mohamadreza Khalatbari, Mojtaba Jabbari, Gholamreza Rezaei
Strikers: Amir Shapourzadeh, Reza Enayati, Hadi Asghari, Ruholah Bigdeli, Milad Meidavoudi.
 

Loeb in Early Sardinia Lead

SARDINIA, May 17 (BBC)  Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb opened up a 37second lead on the field after the opening day of the Rally of Sardinia.
World Rally championship leader Mikko Hirvonen, who won the most recent event in Jordan, lies in fourth place nearly one minute behind the leader. Loeb won two stages and could have had more had he not eased off to avoid the punctures which affected other drivers.
JariMatti Latvala won the first stage before a blowout and Italy's Gigi Galli was another victim of the gravel. Hirvonen admitted he had produced a disappointing performance and warned fans he was not sure he could improve.

 World champion driver Sebastien Loeb
 

Bosisio Break Yields Giro Glory

ROME, May 17 (BBC)  Italian Gabriele Bosisio broke away to claim victory on the 180km seventh stage of the Giro d'Italia.
The LPR Brakes team rider was part of a decisive sevenrider attack on the leg from Vasto to Pescocostanzo. Bosisio then made a charge on his own 8km from the finish and held out to win. Vasil Kiryienka was 46 seconds behind and Emanuele Sella was third.
Compatriot Giovanni Visconti finished 3:52 minutes behind but retained the overall race lead. Bosisio, 27, climbed to third with his first ever Giro win, while defending champion Danilo Di Luca rose to fourth place after finishing fifth in Friday's stage.
 Italy's Gabriele Bosisio
 

Federer Into Hamburg Semis

HAMBURG, May 17 (AP)  Defending champion Roger Federer kept up his good form on clay with a comfortable win over Spain's Fernando Verdasco at the Hamburg Masters.
The world number one, who has won in Estoril and finished runnerup in Monte Carlo in the last month, won 63 63. Federer will face Andres Seppi, who beat Nicolas Kiefer 63 57 75.
Third seed Novak Djokovic saw off Albert Montanes 62 63 and will now take on Rafael Nadal, who thumped fellow Mallorcan Carlos Moya 61 63. The inform Serb will take over Nadal's number two world ranking if he wins. "I'll just play the match as any other one and try to stay focused," said Djokovic.
Nadal, the French Open champion the past three years, has spent a record 147 weeks ranked second behind Federer dating back to July 2005. "If you want it's a little bit more important than a normal Masters semi but it's not as special as if you were playing for the number one," said the Spaniard.
Federer is a fourtime champion in Hamburg and got his only win to date over Nadal on clay in last year's final. In a straightforward quarterfinal, Federer benefited from a Verdasco ankle injury midway through the second set and the Spaniard gave up a doublefault on match point.
 Roger Federer from Switzerland
 

Cavaliers Beat Celtics in NBA Playoffs

CLEVELAND, May 17 (AFP)  Cleveland superstar LeBron James had 32 points and 12 rebounds as the Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics 7469 to force a deciding game seven in their National Basketball Association playoff series.
Needing a win to stay alive, the Cavaliers used a 190 run bridging the second and third quarters to take control of the contest and keep topseeded Boston without a victory on the road this postseason.
Now the Celtics will host the Cavaliers on Sunday to decide the Eastern Conference secondround series, the winner of which will face the Detroit Pistons in the conference finals.
The Celtics scored six straight points to get within three before Joe Smith sank two free throws with 14 seconds remaining to seal the victory. The Celtics, who fell to 06 on the road in the playoffs, have never lost a playoff series after leading 32, in 28 opportunities.
Kevin Garnett finished with 25 points and eight rebounds for the Celtics. Paul Pierce had 16 points and Ray Allen, who is shooting 19of55 for the series, had another lackluster game with nine points.
The Cavaliers, who shot just 33 percent from the field, compensated by outscoring the Celtics 2111 at the freethrow line and bringing down 16 offensive rebounds to Boston's seven.
Delonte West had 10 points and Szczerbiak added nine for the Cavaliers. Smith had nine points and five rebounds while Zydrunas Ilgauskas chipped in seven points with 10 rebounds.
Two James jump shots opened the fourth quarter and closed a 10scoring run that gave Cleveland a 6350 lead.
The Cavaliers won the decisive game 7469.
 

Ronaldinho Out of Brazil Qualifiers

SAO PAOLO, May 17 (Goal)  Barcelona's Ronaldinho has not been selected to play for the Brazilian national team for the next round of 2010 World Cup qualifiers.
"Ronaldinho was not called because he is injured, he has not been training, and he has been away from the pitch for a long time. It will probably take him a while to get back his form and the rhythm of play," said the Brazilian national coach Carlos Dunga.
Inter Milan's Adriano has instead been added to the 25man squad for the games against Paraguay and Argentina. Brazil is scheduled to play against Paraguay on June 15 in Asuncion before they face archrivals Argentina on June 18 in Belo Horizonte in south east Brazil. Ronaldinho also missed out on selection for the last two qualifiers against Peru and Uruguay in November 2007.