Asian Roundup

Iran, Syria advance to final of West Asian Championship

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran and Syria will meet in the West Asian Championship final on Friday.

Javad Nekounam and Arash Borhani scored a goal each Wednesday as the Iranians beat defending champion Iraq 2-1 at Azadi Stadium.

Nekounam scored in the fifth minute and Borhani added a goal in the 54th. Ahmad Abbas scored for Iraq in the 35th.

In the first match, Syria beat Jordan 3-2 in a penalty shootout after the two teams finished regulation time tied 1-1.

Amer Deeb scored the first goal for Jordan in the 21st minute, but Raja Rafe equalized in the 64th minute by knocking in a rebound.

In the shootout, Mahmoud Al Amna, Mohammed Ghasan Matouk and captain Maher Sayed all scored for Syria, while Abdallah Abu Zema and Haitham Al Shboul found the net for Jordan.

Iran, which crushed Syria 7-1 in a group match earlier in the tournament, topped Syria 1-0 in the first West Asian Championship final in Jordan in 2000.

ASEAN quartet bid for 2007 Asian Cup

KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 (Reuters) - Four ASEAN countries have submitted bids to host the 2007 Asian Cup, the Asian Football Association (AFC) said on Wednesday.

Southeast Asian countries Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam want to stage the regional tournament but the AFC has not ruled out choosing co-hosts for the first time.

The AFC will announce the host country for the 14th Asian Cup at the end of the 2004 finals, being held in China from July 17 to August 7.

The 2007 tournament has been brought forward by a year to avoid clashing with the European Championship football and the Olympic Games.

"We are looking at the possibility of a joint bid but it's too early to tell," AFC general secretary Peter Velappan said.

"We are keeping the door open and (will) see how it goes."

Last month, the AFC announced that the 2007 competition would be held in the ASEAN region.

Velappan was instrumental in convincing FIFA to accept an unprecedented joint bid from South Korea and Japan to host the 2002 World Cup.

The AFC has adopted a rotation policy for hosting the Asian Cup. Lebanon staged the last finals in 2000.

Following the 2007 finals, the next Asian Cup -- in 2011 -- will take place in South Asia. 

Ten arrested in Malaysia's latest gambling raid

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Police arrested nine Malaysians and an Indonesian and seized laptop computers, televisions and other equipment in the latest raid in a crackdown against illegal betting on the Euro 2004 soccer tournament.

Officers who charged into an apartment early Thursday in the southern Malaysian state of Johor found the suspects watching live telecasts of the England-Croatia and France-Switzerland games and punching data into the computers, said senior police official Ithnin Talib.

Cited by the Bernama national news agency, Ithnin said the group had taken up to 6 million ringgit (US$1.6 million) in bets on each of the tournaments games so far, including high-stakes bets of up to 800,000 ringgit (US$210,000).

Police seized five laptop computers, four satellite television decoders, 19 mobile telephones and two printers, Ithin said.

The suspects face prison terms up to five years and fines of 200,000 ringgit (US$52,000).

European soccer is avidly followed by millions of Malaysians, and illegal gambling is common. Police said last month they expected a surge in illegal betting during Euro 2004 and announced a crackdown.

Before Thursday's raid, at least three operations have been shut down and four people arrested in the past two weeks.

Some gambling is legal in Malaysia, which has one casino and government-approved lotto games.

Both the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.