AS Roma capitain Francesco Totti (c) lifts up the Tim Cup flanked by teammates after winning Italian Coppa Italia second leg final football match against Inter Milan at Milan's San Siro Stadium, Thursday.

Rome, May 18--Roma lifted the Italian Cup for the eighth time despite losing 2-1 to Inter Milan in the second leg of the final at the San Siro on Thursday, reported AFP.
Roma claimed the trophy thanks to their impressive 6-2 first leg win over the Serie A champions last week, which gave them a 7-4 aggregate victory.
It was the first time Roma have won the trophy since the 1990-91 season and made up for the two defeats inflicted upon them by Inter in the past two finals.
Goals from Hernan Crespo and Julio Cruz early in the second half gave Inter hope, before the hosts had Colombian defender Ivan Cordoba sent off for two yellow cards in the 72nd minute.
Simone Perrota pulled one back for the visitors to kill off the tie before Roma defender Christian Panucci was dismissed for a professional foul.
Four other players were also cautioned, while Inter coach Roberto Mancini was banished to the stands for arguing with the referee.
Roma captain Francesco Totti was delighted to finally get his hands on the cup after losing the final to Inter for the past two seasons. “We’ve had to watch Inter take the cup for the last two years, so it’s nice to win it at last,“ he said.
“Let’s hope this is just the start and that we go on to win more trophies.
“We have grown as a team this season and this could prove to be an important stepping stone.“ Inter coach Roberto Mancini complimented his team for their refusal to give up the fight.
“They were extraordinary. We went 2-0 up and I really felt we were going to do it. Then Cordoba got sent off and it was always going to be difficult after that.“
Inter came close to a goal in the third minute when Dejan Stankovic’s delicate chip clipped the top of the crossbar. The Serbian midfielder then flashed a volley narrowly wide three minutes later as Inter applied all the early pressure.
Inter suffered a blow in the 25th minute when midfielder Patrick Vieira limped off with a right leg injury after a collision with Roma’s Rodrigo Taddei, Cruz coming on for the Frenchman. Roma were indebted to their keeper Alex Doni on the half hour, the Brazilian pulling off a superb reflex save to keep out Crespo’s bullet header.
Roma’s first effort on target almost produced a goal as Totti’s swerving free-kick was clawed away by Francesco Toldo. Cruz had the ball in the net with the last kick of the first half, but his effort was ruled out for offside.
Inter continued to pour forwards after the restart and they went ahead in the 50th minute. Maicon crossed from the right and Crespo’s flicked header flashed past Doni’s outstretched hand.

PARIS, May 18--Four weeks on from Korea Republic and Japan sealing their places in the final qualifying stage for the Olympic Football Tournament Beijing 2008, another four Asian used Wednesday’s penultimate round of matches to secure their passage to the last 12, said FIFA.com.
Those left celebrating were Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Korea DPR and Iraq, all of whom can now spare more time in preparation for the final qualifying phase, where the top twelve teams will battle it out against each other for Asia’s three allocated slots at Beijing 2008.
The Saudis stood out by asserting their supremacy on Group D with one match remaining, establish an unassailable 12-point lead thanks to a 4-1 win over Jordan on home soil. Despite losing to Australia 2-0 in their third match, the western Asian side have claimed maximum points from their other four games to comfortably clear this first hurdle.
Lebanon have proved the tournament’s surprise packages so far, and their passage was secured by a single-goal victory over an impressive Vietnam side. These same opponents had inflicted Lenbanon’s only prior defeat in qualifying with a 2-0 win in Vietnam, but revenge was eventually exacted after a tense and generally evenly-contested match.
As for Korea DPR, who have already qualified for both the FIFA U-20 and U17 World Cups, the potential of their young players was once again underlined as they advanced as Group E winners. The North Koreans had gone into Wednesday’s match as one of just three unbeaten teams left in the tournament, in fact, and they preserved that status with a goalless draw against Thailand at Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Stadium was enough to see them through.
Trailing behind Korea DPR by three points, Athens 2004 semifinalists Iraq picked up the group’s second qualifying place of the group despite only managing 1-1 draw against India.ÊÊ
While these six qualified teams are now able to put up their feet for the moment at least, those bidding to join them face quite a battle in the final round of matches on June 6.
The qualifying race in Group A still looks wide open, with only Pakistan out of the running. Kuwait lead the group following their 1-1 draw against Qatar, while Bahrain clawed their way back to the second place with a resounding 3-1 win over the pointless basement boys.

CHICAGO, USA, May 18-- Richard Hamilton scored 23 points and the Detroit Pistons advanced to the Eastern Conference final for the fifth year in a row, beating Chicago 95-85, reported AP.
Chauncey Billups added 21 points for the Pistons, who eliminated the Bulls 4-2 in the best-of-seven series.
“Our goal is to win the championship. The conference finals is on the way,“ Billups said.
Cleveland, who are 3-2 up against New Jersey, will look to seal their spot in the semifinal series on Friday.
Chicago’s PJ Brown scored all of his team-high 20 points in the first half to spark the Bulls to a 48-43 half-time lead.
But Detroit opened the third quarter with a 12-1 run to seize command.
Chicago, who lost the first three games, had 19 points from Ben Gordon and 17 from Sudan-born Englishman Luol Deng.
Since 1984, when the NBA expanded the playoffs to the current 16 teams, only the Lakers have reached a conference final more consecutive seasons than Detroit’s present run.
It is the longest run in the East since Chicago’s five straight finals in 1993.
Detroit lost to Miami in last year’s conference series after falling to San Antonio in the 2005 finals, defeating the Lakers in the 2004 finals and losing to New Jersey in the 2003 eastern series.

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh, May 18--India survived a first-ball dismissal to make a strong start on the opening day of the first cricket Test against Bangladesh here on Friday, said AFP.
India, electing to bat on the dry wicket at the Ruhul Amin stadium, were stunned when paceman Mashrafe Mortaza bowled Wasim Jaffer off the first ball of the match.
Captain Rahul Dravid and Dinesh Karthick ensured there were no further setbacks as they hit a century partnership to steer India to 113-1 by lunch.
Karthick was unbeaten on 54 at the break with the help of eight boundaries. Dravid was on an unusually aggressive 52, his 47th Test half-century studded with 10 fours.
Jaffer, who was not picked for the preceding one-day series which India won 2-0, shouldered arms to a delivery that swung in sharply and shattered the stumps.
Dravid lifted the pressure with four well-timed boundaries through the covers off Mortaza and Karthick hooked seamer Shahadat Hossain to the square-leg fence.
Mortaza conceded 38 runs in his first spell of five overs as India raced to 67-1 in 11 overs by the first hour. Runs flowed freely when Bangladesh introduced its two left-arm spinners, Mohammad Rafique and Enamul Haque, into the attack.
Dravid welcomed veteran Rafique by lofting him over the mid-on fielder and later drove him for his 10th boundary.

Rome, May 18--Former champion Serena Williams beat Shahar Peer for the third time this season as she reached the Rome Open quarter-finals Thursday with a 6-3, 6-3 win, said AFP.
The eighth-seeded American, who has won two of the three events she has played in another typically light season, also defeated the world number 15 Israeli at the Australian Open and Miami.
The 2002 champion here set up a Friday match against Swiss Patty Schnyder, who cut short the giant-killing run of Australian Samantha Stosur with a 6-4, 6-4 third-round win.
Gusty conditions didn’t do any favours for Stosur, who stunned French top seed Amelie Mauresmo in three sets the day before. Schnyder was quietly grateful for the trying wind on the secondary showcase Petrangelli court at the Foro Italico.
“I’ve been shaky winning matches this season,“ said the Swiss, who lost the final two years ago to Mauresmo.
“I’m lucky that the wind was so strong at start. She couldn’t get her rhythm. I’m very, very happy to be in the quarterfinals.“ Williams and Peer started off dismally, with five breaks of serve marring the opening five games.
But the former number one American finally held on her way to lifting the set in 48 minutes. Peer lost serve twice and Williams once in the second set before a marathon final point sealed success with a huge scream from the winner.
“It was not as easy as I had expected,“ said Williams, 18-5 over her Rome career. “We had a lot of deuces and the last point was really long.
“This was a good test, she gets a lot of balls back and plays well on clay. It was a good match for me.“
Serb third seed Jelena Jankovic took a fifth victory over Ukranian Alona Bondarenko, reaching the last eight 6-4, 7-5 after losing serve three times in a rugged second set.