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■BRAZIL

Flamengo take derby honors

Adriano struck twice as Flamengo beat Fluminense 2-0 in their Rio derby in front of a record Maracana crowd while leaders Palmeiras won 3-1 at Santos in the Brazilian championship on Sunday. Adriano, who has revived his career at home in Brazil since leaving Inter in April, took his leading scorer’s tally to 15 at the Maracana, where 78,409 fans set a Brazilian championship record for the season. “The Emperor” scored twice in 12 minutes early in the second half to lift Flamengo into sixth place and push their “Fla-Flu” derby rivals deeper into relegation danger. Fluminense forward Alan was taken from the pitch in an ambulance in the second half after a clash with Flamengo defender David but the club later said he was not seriously hurt. Palmeiras coach Muricy Ramalho, whose side are five points clear, is dreaming of a fourth successive title having steered Sao Paulo to the championship in the last three years. “We don’t have a super team but we have very determined athletes who never give up,” Ramalho told reporters after Palmeiras came from a goal down for the win.



■ARGENTINA

Palermo heads Boca to win

Striker Martin Palermo headed a remarkable winner in Boca Juniors’ 3-2 victory over Velez Sarsfield on Sunday. Boca ended a run of four defeats to give coach Alfio Basile a boost while arch-rivals River Plate’s coach Nestor Gorosito resigned after his team lost 2-1 at San Lorenzo. Argentina’s big two clubs are well off the championship pace, with Boca eight points behind leaders Estudiantes, who have 16 after seven matches, and River 11 adrift. Estudiantes are a point clear despite Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Argentinos Juniors, who climbed to second, while title holders Velez dropped to third a point further back, level with Banfield. Boca twice equalized after goals by Velez forward Leandro Caruso early in each half — first with midfielder Sebastian Battaglia’s diving header after half an hour, then with Juan Roman Riquelme’s exquisitely placed drive into the top right corner in the 64th minute. Ten minutes later Velez goalkeeper German Montoya cleared weakly from the edge of his box down the middle where Palermo headed straight back from more than 35m into the unguarded net.



■NEW ZEALAND

Skipper should be fit

New Zealand assistant coach Brian Turner is confident captain Ryan Nelsen will be fit for the crucial first leg of their World Cup qualifying playoff against Bahrain on Saturday. Nelsen missed Blackburn Rovers’ 6-2 defeat by Arsenal in the English Premier League on Sunday with a back injury, but Turner said he expected Nelsen would lead his country in Manama. Turner and several New Zealand based players joined coach Ricki Herbert and his A-League Wellington Phoenix players already in Dubai yesterday, where they will prepare for the game before traveling to Bahrain on Friday.



■BOSNIA

Fight leaves one dead

Media reports say one person was killed and several injured when rival fans fought before the start of a game. Bosnian TV said the fight erupted as soon as Sarajevo fans arrived in the southern town of Siroki Brijeg on Sunday. The station quoted witnesses as saying that shots could be heard and several vehicles were set on fire, including a police car. Windows of nearby shops and private homes were smashed by stones the rival groups threw at each other. Sarajevo fans are predominantly Muslim Bosnian, and fans of the Siroki Brijeg team are Catholic Croats.



■MOTOGP

Lorenzo closes gap on Rossi

Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo, riding a Yamaha, moved to within 18 points of MotoGP championship leader Valentino Rossi after winning the Portuguese Grand Prix on Sunday. Australian Casey Stoner and another Spaniard, Dani Pedrosa, finished second and third respectively. Lorenzo’s fourth win of the season means he has closed the gap to Rossi, his teammate at Yamaha, with just three races left. Lorenzo overcame the early surges of Pedrosa to take control of the race on the first lap and went on to lead almost from start to finish, with Rossi coming in fourth. He finished 6.3 seconds ahead of Stoner and 10 seconds in front of Pedrosa, with Rossi a huge 23.4 seconds behind. “I didn’t expect to win with such a gap. It was a perfect weekend as we dominated in practice, feeling great on the bike and also in the race. I think it was one of the best performances in my life,” Lorenzo said. “At the beginning, it was a little bit difficult to open a big gap because I could only do it one 10th of a second at a time, but then Casey’s rhythm dropped and I was able to maintain my pace.”



■RALLYING

Loeb sets up tense finale

France’s Sebastien Loeb set-up a tense last race world title decider with Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen after the five-time world champion won the Catalunya Rally for the fifth year in a row on Sunday. In finishing one-two, Loeb and Spaniard Dani Sordo assured the constructors’ world title for Citroen. Loeb finished the weekend 12 seconds ahead of Citroen teammate Sordo and a massive 54 seconds ahead of title rival Hirvonen in a Ford Focus. It was Loeb’s sixth win of the season and the 53rd of his career. Hirvonen finished third to retain the championship lead, but he now has only a one-point lead going into the 12th and final race at the Rally of Britain in Wales from Oct. 23 to Oct. 25. “This one was tough because Dani was pushing very hard at the start, so we tried to fight, but we knew also that we mustn’t make any mistakes just fighting together — it was so important for us to finish, but we were really confident,” Loeb said. “It was really a pleasure to drive again on tarmac — for me it’s been a long time since we did it and the result now should be perfect. It was a fantastic weekend for the team and crucial both to win the constructors’ title and get closer to Mikko.”



■HORSE RACING

Sea The Stars wins the Arc

Christopher Tsui, Hong Kong owner of super-horse Sea The Stars, recalled another Parisian triumph after watching his colt seal a place in racing’s firmament of greats with a brilliant Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe win on Sunday. Sea The Stars is a son of Urban Sea, who won the Arc in 1993 for Christopher’s father David Tsui and French trainer Jean Lesbordes, before a highly successful career as a broodmare. Tsui, who runs a nightclub in Hong Kong, told a news conference after Sea The Stars’ decisive two-length win: “I was here for Urban Sea’s victory in the Arc in 1993 with Mr Lesbordes and my father, and was only about 12 at the time. This experience is very different, but does bring back good memories.”



■CYCLING

Farrar wins Franco-Belge

The Garmin team’s Tyler Farrar, of the US, won the Franco-Belge race after the fourth and final stage on Sunday. Farrar had held the overall lead after winning the first two stages. In Sunday’s last 147.1km run, between Mons and Tournai, Argentina’s Juan Jose Haedo of Saxo Bank finished in front of Yauheni Hutarovich of Belarus and Roger Hammond of Britain.
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