Ismaily announced on Monday that the club has received the approval of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) to participate in the upcoming CAF Confederation Cup. "Ismaily’s board thanks the EFA for approving the club's participation in the Confederation Cup," read a statement on the club’s official website. The EFA had revealed two weeks earlier, that the Egypt Cup winner ENPPI will represent Egypt in the continental competition. The decision angered Ismaily’s board, who demanded the club's participation, as they had finished third in the 2010-2011 Egyptian Premier League season. The EFA initially rejected the demand before giving their approval on Monday. Meanwhile, Cairo giants Ahly and Zamalek were chosen to represent Egypt at next year’s African Champions League. More»

Mesmerizing Ahly defied the odds to win a record-extending seventh Champions League title after beating Tunisia’s Esperance 2-1 in Tunis for a 3-2 aggregate victory on Saturday. Defending champions Esperance were deemed favourites to retain their title after holding Ahly to a 1-1 draw in Alexandria two weeks ago but they were outplayed by the ruthless Cairo giants. Forward Mohamed Nagy ‘Gedo’, who enjoyed a new lease of life under coach Hossam El-Badry, gave Ahly a deserved lead two minutes before the break with a neat finish after some fine individual work from deep-lying forward El-Sayed Hamdi. A superb piece of skill saw Walid Soliman extend the gap just past the hour mark, silencing around 35,000 fans at Rades Stadium and leaving Esperance with an uphill climb as they needed three goals to overturn the deficit. Esperance’s Cameroonian striker Yannick N'Djeng pulled one back with five minutes remaining but it was too little, too late. The visitors could have added a third in the dying minutes but substitute Mohamed Abou-Treika had a penalty saved by Esperance keeper Moez Ben Cherifia. More»

Roger Federer provided an emphatic reminder that he will be chasing more major titles next year with a vintage display to outclass Britain's Andy Murray on Sunday and set up a season-ending blockbuster with Novak Djokovic. The Swiss 17-times grand slam champion, who will turn 32 next year, continued his dominance of the ATP World Tour Finals with a 7-6 6-2 victory over the man who deprived him of Olympic singles gold at Wimbledon. In his eighth final in 11 years at the ATP's blue-riband tournament, Federer will face world number one Djokovic after the Serb's granite-like defences helped repel the brute force of Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro for a 4-6 6-3 6-2 victory. Neither semi-final lived up to their pre-match billing although Federer's majestic form after a slow start against Murray had a sell-out crowd at the O2 Arena in raptures even if he was playing a home favourite. Murray, who bounced back to win Olympic gold and then the U.S. Open after the heartache of losing to Federer in this year's Wimbledon final, made a lightning start, breaking in the opening game, but ultimately played second fiddle to the master. More»

The New York Knicks remain the only unbeaten team in the National Basketball Association (NBA) after an impressive 104-94 win over the in-form Dallas Mavericks at Madison Square Garden on Friday. The Knicks were led by five-time all-star Carmelo Anthony who top scored with 31 points and bench man J.R. Smith who added 22, nine of them during a third quarter surge in which the home team broke clear. This is the first time since the 1993-94 season the Knicks have started perfect through four games, halting a three-game winning streak for the Mavericks who dropped to 4-2. "I thought (in) the second half, we kind of settled in and our defense began to click a little bit," Knicks coach Mike Woodson told reporters. "We held them to 37 points in the second half and we've had four straight games where no one has scored 40 points in the second half, so that's locking in and taking pride in defending the ball." It was just the fourth loss in the last 22 meetings against the Knicks for Dallas, who missed injured stars Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion. O.J. Mayo top scored for the Mavericks with 23 but had eight turnovers in a mixed night. Knicks players Jason Kidd and Tyson Chandler played important support roles in the win against their former team with Chandler adding 11 points with nine rebounds. Kidd enjoyed the victory but refused to get overly personal. More»

Substitute Al Sayed Hamdi scored four minutes from time to earn hosts Al Ahli a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the African Champions League final against holders Esperance on Sunday. Esperance, who had gone in front through Walid Hichri in the 49th minute, will still be the favourites going into the second leg in Tunis on Nov. 17. Sunday's game represented the first time that home fans were allowed in to watch Egyptian giants Al Ahli since 74 people died in a stadium riot in Port Said in February. Officials allowed a limited crowd of 15,000 for Sunday's first leg but moved the game from Cairo to the port city of Alexandria. Al Ahli, who have kept themselves competitive on a diet of friendly matches and training camps, missed several scoring chances against Esperance. The Egyptians have lifted a record six Champions League titles while Esperance won for the second time last year. More»

The Brooklyn Nets baptized their new Barclays Center home with a 107-100 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Saturday as the first major professional sports team in 55 years to call Brooklyn their home. The Nets led by 13 points in the third quarter, but had to hold off the Raptors, who closed within 97-95 with 75 seconds left before a three-point play by Brook Lopez gave Brooklyn the necessary cushion in their first game of the season. "The experience was just absolutely amazing," said Lopez. "The crowd brought so much energy, its Brooklyn energy." Center Lopez led the Nets with 27 points, while Kyle Lowry scored 28 points and DeMar DeRozan had 25 for Toronto, who fell to 0-2 after an opening home loss to the Indiana Pacers. The Nets, who moved to Brooklyn from New Jersey, had been scheduled to play their home opener on Thursday against cross-city rivals the Knicks, but the game was postponed because of mass transit problems due to damage by the superstorm Sandy that hit the area on Monday. National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern greeted the crowd, expressing concern for storm victims before declaring: "Welcome Brooklyn, USA, to the NBA." More»

Carmelo Anthony helped lead the New York Knicks to a rousing 104-84 win over the NBA champions Miami Heat on Friday in New York City's first sporting event since the devastating impact of the powerful superstorm Sandy. Anthony topped all scorers with 30 points and hauled in a team-high 10 rebounds, while long-range shooter Steve Novak had 17 points in New York's season opener. LeBron James scored 23 points to pace Miami, who dropped to 1-1 after an opening win against the Boston Celtics. It was the Knicks' first home game since last season's opening-round playoff series against the Heat, which they lost in five games. The Heat also beat New York three times during the regular season, so the Knicks had something to prove. "You always want to have good game, no matter what," said Knicks point guard Raymond, who scored 14 points and had a game-high nine assists. "But it's always good to beat the defending champs." More»

The San Francisco Giants overcame injuries and potentially devastating roster changes to claim their second World Series crown in three years because they are an unselfish club with a common goal, pitcher Matt Cain says. "A lot of guys are loose and relaxed, and it just seemed like all the pieces fit together," Cain said after the Giants completed their four-game blowout of the Detroit Tigers. The Giants lost closer Brian Wilson during the first week of the season and then endured the 50-game, drug-related suspension of All-Star game MVP Melky Cabrera in August. But the distractions did not matter as the club unexpectedly won the National League West before going on a wild postseason ride that included victories in six do-or-die games. "A lot of us kind of had the same mentality about the game," said Cain. "Nobody really stood out and wanted to steal the spotlight, and I think that's what helped us. More»

Pablo Sandoval blasted a record-tying three home runs to power the San Francisco Giants to a surprising 8-3 win over the Detroit Tigers and ace Justin Verlander in the opening game of the World Series on Wednesday. Sandoval became just the fourth player to hit three homers in a World Series game with his solo shot in the first inning and a two-run blast in the third off Verlander, and a roundtripper in the fifth off reliever Al Alburquerque. The Venezuelan joined Babe Ruth (1926, 1928), Reggie Jackson (1977) and Albert Pujols (2011) in accomplishing the feat. Verlander had yielded only two runs in more than 24 innings in three playoff wins this postseason but on Wednesday, he gave up five runs on six hits in four innings. "Obviously the big guy (Sandoval) had one of those unbelievable nights that happens once in a while in a World Series," Detroit manager Jim Leyland told reporters. "What a night for him." More»

A protest by Egyptian soccer players angered at the suspension of their domestic league briefly prevented Nigerian side Sunshine Stars from leaving their Cairo hotel on Sunday for an African Champions League match against local side Al Ahli. Domestic leagues were suspended after a Feb. 1 soccer stadium disaster in which 74 people were killed. The latest postponement was announced last week by the Egyptian Football Association, the second delay to the new season which should have started in September. Witnesses said the players and their supporters had marched to the Egyptian presidential palace to press their demand for a resumption of the league before heading to a nearby hotel where the visiting Nigerian team were staying. They clashed with Al Ahli fans who arrived at the scene in an effort to make sure the Nigerian players could get to the ground, witnesses said, fearing otherwise Al Ahli would be automatically disqualified. More»