David Beckham said before the World Cup that he would probably cry if England were to win the tournament. They didn’t, but it all ended in tears anyway for the football and celebrity superstar who led his country for nearly six years. Beckham resigned as captain on Sunday following England’s ouster by Portugal in a penalty shoot-out in their quarterfinal showdown.
Betting on major sporting events is always going to happen, but in chunks of Asia it is illegal and police across the region are cracking down ahead of the World Cup. Asians enjoy a flutter and tens of millions of dollars is expected to be wagered over the month-long football festival on everything from who will win to who scores the first goal.
Asia’s standing as a reputable footballing continent will be on the line at the World Cup, and AFC president Mohammed bin Hammam on Wednesday rallied regional teams to stand up and be counted. Five Asian Football Confederation teams will be in action — Japan, South Korea, Australia, Iran and Saudi Arabia, with plenty at stake.
A decade of planning culminates on Wednesday when the eyes of the world zero in on Melbourne for the official opening of the Commonwealth Games amid one of Australia’s biggest security operations to date. A global audience of 1,5-billion people is expected to tune in to see Queen Elizabeth II declare the event open.
A sex scandal involving an official from India threatened to overshadow the Commonwealth Games on Tuesday, with police and organisers on the backfoot over an assault in the Games village. A 16-year-old girl working as a cleaner was indecently assaulted at the village on Monday, police said.
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/ 30 January 2006
Going into the first Grand Slam of the season, men’s tennis was desperate for new personalities, and it found the answer in young Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. Little-known before the first Grand Slam of the season, the long-haired lad from Limassol burst on to the stage to establish himself as a legitimate star.
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/ 25 January 2006
A pumped-up Nicolas Kiefer and an ice-cool Amelie Mauresmo drove vastly different roads to park themselves in the Australian Open semifinals on Wednesday. Kiefer was on court for four hours and 48 minutes against Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, while Mauersmo was back in the dressing room in less than an hour against Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder.
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/ 24 January 2006
The men’s and women’s fourth seeds, David Nalbandian and Maria Sharapova, justified their standings to become the first players into the Australian Open semifinals on Tuesday. Nalbandian, of Argentina, destroyed unseeded French veteran Fabrice Santoro 7-5, 6-0, 6-0.
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/ 23 January 2006
Power-hitter Amelie Mauresmo produced another no-nonsense straight sets victory on Monday to move into the Australian Open quarterfinals, as all the top seeds remaining kept their hopes alive. An in-form Patty Schnyder, Germany’s unfancied Nicolas Kiefer and Sebastien Grosjean of France also won.
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/ 22 January 2006
Andy Roddick’s Australian Open dreams collapsed on Sunday when he was ousted in the fourth round, but women’s top seed Lindsay Davenport remained on course for her second title in Melbourne. Davenport steamed into the quarters along with Justine Henin-Hardenne and Nadia Petrova.