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France captain Zinedine Zidane, sent off for headbutting Marco Materazzi late in Sunday’s World Cup final loss to Italy, won the Golden Ball award for the tournament’s best player. The results were released on Monday morning in Berlin by Fifa.
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=soccer_world_cup_2006"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/272488/icon_focuson_wc3.gif" align=left border=0></a>France captain Zinedine Zidane, sent off for headbutting Marco Materazzi late in Sunday’s World Cup final loss to Italy, won the Golden Ball award for the tournament’s best player. The results were released on Monday morning in Berlin by Fifa.
The doping hearings for two Indian weightlifters were adjourned until Sunday, leaving the arbitration court little time to deliver its finding before the Commonwealth Games’ closing ceremonies. Directors have assembled a cast of Australian artists and performers to bring the curtain down on Melbourne 2006 and hand over to New Delhi organisers for the 2010 event.
Samaresh Jung won his fifth shooting title at Melbourne 2006, moving within one gold medal of a Commonwealth Games record shared by Australian swimmers Ian Thorpe and Susie O’Neill. Ahead of Wednesday’s evening programme, Australia led the medal standings with 54 gold medals and 143 overall.
Unburdened from a doping taint, Australia reverted to usual Commonwealth Games form on Friday with its athletes capturing half of the gold medals on the second day of competition. A reprieve for Melbourne 2006 wasn’t the last word for weightlifting, however, with an investigation launched into the sport after spate of doping cases and accusations.
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/ 25 January 2006
Kim Clijsters ended Martina Hingis’s gallant run in her grand-slam comeback with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win on Wednesday in the Australian Open quarterfinals. She next plays number three Amelie Mauresmo, who reeled off the last nine straight games in a 6-3, 6-0 quarterfinal win over number seven Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.
Ricky Ponting became the first cricketer to score two centuries in his 100th Test, guiding Australia to an unlikely eight-wicket victory on Friday over South Africa and a 2-0 series win. Graeme Smith, seeking a series-levelling win, declared South Africa’s second innings at 194 for six an hour before lunch, setting Australia 287 to win and giving his attack 76 overs to bowl the hosts out.
Herschelle Gibbs’ dashing 67 ended in a run-out just before rain set in on Thursday as the third cricket Test between Australia and South Africa headed for a draw. After the start was delayed an hour because of showers, play was restricted to less than 21 overs on the penultimate day.
Herschelle Gibbs clouted nine boundaries in an unbeaten half century on Thursday that lifted South Africa’s second innings from 6-2 to 65-2 on day four of the third Test against Australia. At lunch on the penultimate day, the Proteas had an overall lead of 157 runs with five sessions remaining.
Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince scored centuries and Shaun Pollock added a rearguard 46 before South Africa declared at 451 for nine on Tuesday in the third Test against Australia. Kallis and Prince shared a 219-run fourth-wicket partnership to lift the tourists from 86-3 to 305-4, before Pollock led the tail-enders in a series of defiant stands.