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Wild celebrations erupted across Australia on Friday after the Socceroos secured a vital draw in their do-or-die match against Croatia to reach the last 16 of the World Cup for the first time. Melbourne’s Federation Square had to be closed off after more than 9Â 000 people jammed into the precinct.
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The sleep-deprived green and gold army that cheered Australia on through the early hours in their homeland on Monday were disappointed but not dejected at the Socceroos’ battling 2-0 loss to Brazil. While a fairytale win over the world champions did not materialise, Australians consoled themselves with their unfancied team’s gritty display.
Australian coach John Connolly on Thursday named an untried front row combination to face England’s formidable pack this weekend in a bold gamble for his first Test leading the mis-firing Wallabies. Connolly will start Test debutants Tai McIsaac and Rodney Blake alongside three-cap prop Greg Holmes in the front row.
Australian troops fired teargas at rampaging gangs in East Timor on Monday, trying to keep a lid on violence as the tiny nation’s Parliament met for the first time since peacekeepers were deployed. Youths attacked each other with rocks and spanners and used petrol bombs to set houses ablaze.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer held crisis talks on Saturday with the leaders of East Timor, trying to end the worst violence here since the tiny nation split from Indonesia seven years ago. Downer met President Xanana Gusmao, Foreign and Defence Minister Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.
East Timor’s capital was returning to normal on Friday after Australian troops took to the streets to restore order and stop bloody clashes between the Timorese military and rebel soldiers. One day after some of the worst violence since independence in 2002 left at least 15 people dead, residents of Dili began leaving their houses.
The house, on the outskirts of East Timor’s capital, was turned into a mere shell. The six people inside — five women and a child — were little more than burnt and broken skeletons. Attackers came in the middle of the night, broke the windows of the concrete dwelling, doused it in petrol and set it ablaze.
Olympic champions South Africa backed up their pre-Games taunts towards Australia on Thursday with a Commonwealth Games record swimming performance in the 4x100m men’s relay that ended the host nation’s 28-year stranglehold on the event.
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/ 28 January 2006
France’s Amelie Mauresmo won the Australian Open to snare her first Grand Slam title on Saturday, but it came in anti-climactic fashion when Justine Henin-Hardenne retired sick. The victory, which came when the scores were 6-1, 2-0 in Mauresmo’s favour, makes up for the world number three’s devastating loss in the 1999 final, when she was thrashed by Martina Hingis.
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/ 27 January 2006
Four-time Grand Slam winner Justine Henin-Hardenne believes her big-match experience could be a crucial factor in Saturday’s Australian Open final against French third seed Amelie Mauresmo. The Belgian is a veteran of five Grand Slam finals, while Mauresmo has contested only one, when she received a straight sets drubbing in the 1999 decider at Melbourne Park.