The Palestine Football Assocation is competing to host FIFA's annual congress in 2017.

FIFA says Palestine is among 10 members expressing interest in hosting in 2017, and 14 have proposed hosting the 2016 congress.

Gold medal favorites Chen Ruolin and Liu Huixia of China topped the preliminaries of the women's 10-meter synchronized platform diving at the world championships on Monday.

Chen is a three-time defending world champion in the event and a four-time Olympics gold medalist.

The national basketball team urged on Sunday the federation to resign after it returned to Beirut from the Philippines following Lebanon's suspension by FIBA.

During a press conference he held at Rafik Hariri International Airport, the team's coach Ghassan Sarkis said: “The team was very close to achieving the dream” of victory.

It is probably the last thing you would expect to come across in the capital of the Islamic republic of Iran: a polo club, more commonly associated with the aristocracy.

Nestling in the foothills of the Alborz mountains on the southeastern edge of heavily polluted Tehran, the Qasr-e Firouze Chowgan Club is surrounded by greenery and shielded from view by a military camp.

Less than three weeks after the spectacular exploding tire failures seen at the British Grand Prix led to calls for a drivers' strike, the same men this week praised Pirelli for their latest racing rubber.

A week ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, and back on the same Silverstone circuit that saw four violent blowouts in the June 30 race, some of Pirelli's leading critics were forced to change their tune.

Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina is to be loaned out to Serie A side Napoli next season where he'll be reunited with former Reds coach Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool Echo reported Friday.

The 30-year-old Spaniard has spent eight years at Anfield but the arrival of Simon Mignolet from Sunderland has meant he has lost his first-choice status.

Athletics received just the tonic it needed at a thrilling Diamond League meet in Monaco on Friday after a week tainted by the positive drugs tests of two of the best-ever male sprinters.

The failed tests of American Tyson Gay and Jamaican Asafa Powell, second and fourth fastest men of all time, and Powell's compatriot, three-time Olympic medalist Sherone Simpson, again brought into question the credibility of track and field just ahead of the world championships in Moscow.

Cancer-stricken Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova quit on Friday to undergo further treatment for his illness, the president of the Spanish champions, Sandro Rosell, said.

The 44-year-old Vilanova had a tumour removed from a salivary gland in his throat in November 2011 and in December 2012 he suffered a relapse.

Portuguese rider Rui Costa won the mountainous 19th stage of the Tour de France with a solo breakaway on the final climb, while race leader Chris Froome was still descending to the finish.

Costa secured his second stage win of the race after catching Frenchman Pierre Roland about a quarter of the way up Friday's fourth and final major ascent of Col de la Croix Fry.

Fans will pay a standard $90 for tickets to see World Cup matches in Brazil next year, $10 more than in 2010 in South Africa.

Announcing ticket rates Friday, FIFA said $15 seats will be available to Brazilian students, people over 60 and members of social programs. In 2010, South African residents could pay $20.