A goal in each half gave Santos a 2-0 victory over Bloemfontein Celtic in a Castle Premier Soccer league game played at the Athlone Stadium on Wednesday. Santos took the lead in the second minute when a cross from the right was headed down by Jean-Marc Ithier to Carlo Scott, whose shot went into the top right-hand corner.
A day before the first Test, the West Indies remained mired in uncertainty while South Africa confidently finished their build-up for the four-match series starting at Bourda on Thursday. The West Indies Cricket Board chief executive was peppered with questions on Wednesday about rumours of a possible last-minute players’ strike.
Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo moved one round closer to the Nasdaq-100 Open title — and the number-one ranking — by beating Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Montenegro 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Unseeded David Ferrer of Spain became the first men’s semifinalist by sweeping number 26 Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-2, 6-3.
All Black and Auckland Blues lock Ali Williams lost his appeal on Thursday against his six-week ban handed down for stomping on Canterbury Crusaders captain Richie McCaw during a Super 12 match on March 19. Blues chief executive David White called the six-week ban against Williams ”excessive”.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho faces a Uefa hearing on Thursday for bringing the game into ”disrepute” and ”making false declarations”. If he is found guilty, Mourinho could face penalties ranging from a fine to a match ban, or even see Chelsea expelled from Europe’s richest club tournament, the Champions League.
Trainer Jabulani Malinga and his sons Vus’Umuzi and Patrick are back in the professional boxing game after serving their suspension. Jabulani said their suspension ended last week. Vusi and Patrick both failed four drug tests after fights in April, and tested positive for anabolic steroids.
Queensland captain Nathan Sharpe will be forced to keep his emotions in check during Friday night’s clash against the Highlanders after the Reds launched a desperate campaign to retain the Wallabies enforcer. Sharpe, off-contract at the end of the season, is one of several high-profile Queensland players being head-hunted.
The South African Towing and Recovery Association (Satra) will no longer pay spotting fees to people at traffic lights for accident tip-offs, its chairperson announced on Wednesday. A Roodepoort man was caught allegedly tampering with robots at a busy intersection, trying to cause accidents to increase his tip-off fees.
About 100 000 mineworkers are to strike at Harmony and Gold Fields gold mines, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Wednesday. ”Gold Fields workers will this evening [Wednesday] begin with strike action following their dispute with the company on the matter of the living out allowance,” an NUM spokesperson said.
Research will be done into the demand for Afrikaans as a medium of school instruction, Minister of Education Naledi Pandor said after talks on Wednesday with a group of Afrikaner representatives. The meeting, in Pretoria, was arranged at the request of the FW de Klerk Foundation, and facilitated by the former president.