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/ 12 September 2006

Fergie and Strachan get ready to lock horns

It’s not just a ”Battle of Britain” when Manchester United host Celtic in the European Champions League on Wednesday. It’s also a tussle between Scottish managers with a long personal history. It’s the first time Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and Celtic manager Gordon Strachan have faced each other in Europe.

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/ 12 September 2006

Landis fights positive dope test

Tour de France winner Floyd Landis asked the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) on Monday to throw out the positive doping test that tainted his cycling triumph two months ago. The motion cites blunders by the French lab performing the tests, including a sample number that was not that of Landis on a confirming ”B” sample positive.

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/ 12 September 2006

NZ fend off Super 14 compensation claims

New Zealand’s rugby chiefs on Tuesday fended off claims for compensation from media giant News Corp over their decision to withdraw 22 leading All Blacks from the early rounds of next year’s Super 14 competition. All Black coach Graham Henry says the decision to withdraw the players is important to allow the players to do physical conditioning work ahead of next year’s World Cup in France.

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/ 12 September 2006

Report: Two Armstrong teammates admit doping

Two of Lance Armstrong’s teammates in the 1999 Tour de France admitted taking the banned performance-enhancing substance EPO in preparing for that race, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. In a story posted on its website, the newspaper said Frankie Andreu and another rider, who did not want his name disclosed, both admitted wrongdoing in interviews with the Times.

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/ 12 September 2006

Africa attracts interest from UK pension funds

Africa — dismissed in the United Kingdom media six years ago as "The Hopeless Continent" — is beginning to attract the attention of UK pension funds as an investment destination with substantial long-term potential. Botswana-registered Imara financial-services group reported this week that its Imara African Opportunities Fund has received its first inflows from a UK pension fund.

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/ 12 September 2006

Futures buying, commodities lift JSE

The JSE was firmer in noon trade on Tuesday supported by futures-related buying and a recovery in commodity prices. However, world markets failed to impress and dealers warned the local bourse’s recovery could be short-lived. By 12.12am, the all-share index added 1,24%. Industrials and financials firmed 0,72% and 1,44% respectively and the banks index rebounded 2,99%.

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/ 12 September 2006

Attracting a new elite to the sport of kings

A couple of hours’ gallop from the Great Wall at Badaling is a spectacle not seen in this part of communist China for many a decade, if ever. On a verdant field surrounded by mist-shrouded mountains, a team of horsemen elegantly decked out in helmets, breeches and boots, and armed with wooden mallets are practising that most socially exclusive of colonial sports: polo.