WEDNESDAY, 11.00AM:
THE draw for the Iwisa Charity Spectacular to be played on Saturday at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg will see Jomo Cosmos face Orlando Pirates in the first semifinal, with Mamelodi Sundowns having to face Kaizer Chiefs in the second.
The draw for the event was made in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The first semi-final match will start at 9.45am, with the Chiefs vs Sundowns encounter kicking off at 11.45am. The final starts at 3.55pm.
In the final voting, debutants Cosmos pipped Moroka Swallows at the post, scoring 5442 votes. They overtook Pirates, who scored 5432 votes, and ended up in third position between Chiefs (7026) and Sundowns (30627 votes).
Prize money for the event has been increased significantly, with the winners bagging R120000, the runners-up R90000 and the losing side R45000.
SPORT BRIEFS
MOROCCAN SETS NEW RECORD
HICHAM EL GUERROUJ of Morocco broke the 1500m world record when he ran 3:26.00 at the IAAF Golden Gala athletics meeting in Rome on Tuesday night. The record betters the previous mark of 3:27.37 set by Noureddine Morcelli in Nice in 1995.
MOTLOHI TO ‘DOWNS
BLOEMFONTEIN Celtic midfielder Charles Motlohi has been transferred to Mamelodi Sundowns for an undisclosed amount.
LOMU BACK, MEHRTENS AXED
NEW Zealand flyhalf Andrew Mehrtens has been dropped by All Black coach Graham Hart from the team to face the Springboks on Saturday week. Carlos Spencer will replace Mehrtens, while Mark Mayerhofler replaces Scott McLeod at centre. Jonah Lomu is back in the squad at the expense of Joeili Vidiri.
ATHERTON LEADS SHARKS
STEVE ATHERTON will skipper the Natal Sharks in their opening Currie Cup match against the Mpumalanga Pumas in Witbank on Saturday.
WHITTAKER, NITCH ON TOP
GLENN WHITTAKER and Claire Nitch have replaced Craig Wapnick and Natalie Grainger as the top seeds for the Liberty Life SA National squash championships to be held near Durban on Monday.
JUNIORS IN ACTION
SOUTH AFRICA’S top U12 and U14 players will be in action at Ellis Park this week at the Slazenger Grand Prix, which forms part of the Nike Junior Tour. The Grand Prix will take place from July 15-20.
VAAS TO PLAY AGAINST SA
SRI-Lankan Test bowler Chaminda Vaas is expected to play in the first of three four-day unofficial “Tests” for Sri-Lanka A against the South African A side. The SA A side arrived in Colombo on Tuesday for the tour that starts on Friday with a match against the President’s XI.