On a day made for doubles, Tirunesh Dibaba clinched an unprecedented long-distance sweep and sprinter Lauryn Williams added a second gold by helping the United States win the 400m relay on Saturday at the World Athletics Championships. The 19-year-old Dibaba successfully defended her title in the 5Â 000m race.
Bafana Bafana on Saturday night announced a ”mixed confectionary” of local and overseas-based players for the World Cup warm-up friendly against Iceland in Reykjavik on Wednesday — but quickly ran into problems. Charlton Athletic striker and top South African goal-scorer Shaun Bartlett immediately withdrew.
Shane Warne helped Australia save the follow-on with his Test-best score against England as rain washed out most of the third day of the third Test at Old Trafford in Manchester on Saturday. Australia, after only 14 overs’ play was possible, closed on 264 for seven, having got past the follow-on target of 245.
Thomas Bjorn shot a seven-under 63 on Saturday to match the record for the lowest round in one of golf’s majors, getting within a stroke of the lead at the United States PGA Championship on a day when temperatures reached 38 degrees Celsius. Phil Mickelson came back to the field with a two-over 72.
They represent the past and future of men’s tennis. Eight-time grand-slam winner Andre Agassi beat Greg Rusedski 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday to reach the final of the Montreal ATP Masters Series, where he will face teenager Rafael Nadal. The 35-year-old Agassi will be bidding for his third Canadian crown in Sunday’s final.
A new, independent anti-corruption office will be created to stamp out graft in the public sector, Mozambique’s attorney general said on Saturday. Francisco Madeira told state radio that the National Council for the Fight against Corruption will be autonomous, with no interference from the government.
The ceremonial first pitch at a West Michigan Whitecaps baseball game on Friday was full of surprises. Not only was the pitch thrown by an elephant, but the ball went straight to catcher Chris Robinson’s mitt. Fans and players cheered the 2,7m-tall, four-tonne African elephant named Laura after she flipped the ball high and wide.
Former Spice Girl singer Victoria Beckham, wife of England football captain David, confessed she has never read a book, a newspaper said on Sunday. Despite struggling for a hit record for some time, Beckham said she never had a spare moment to leaf through anything more challenging than fashion magazines.
The wave of strikes that recently hit South Africa ground to a halt its vital gold industry and the national airline, among others, as unions struggled to negotiate wage hikes on the basis of the lowest inflation rate in years. But the economic impact of the protests is marginal compared with the past, analysts say.
Simbarashe Muchemwa points at a heap of broken asbestos and charred metal sheets — remnants of his makeshift furniture shop in Harare’s Glen View township — and shakes his head. ”This was my means of livelihood. It’s a loss that will take me years to recover from,” says the 30-year-old father of three.