American Robby Gordon, driving a Volkswagen, celebrated his 36th birthday a day early when he won the 123km timed section of the fourth stage of the Dakar Rally on Monday. Gordon timed one hour, 14 minutes and one second for his second victory of the rally, 53 seconds ahead of Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel.
Blackburn have confirmed the signing of South African captain Aaron Mokoena who had a trial at Ewood Park before Christmas. The 24-year-old began training with his new team-mates on Tuesday but he needs international clearance before he can play.
Despite losing three wickets between lunch and tea, South Africa were in total command of the third Test at Newlands on Tuesday. They went to tea on 109/3 in their second innings, for an overall lead of 387. Jacques Kallis, who was greeted with a roar by the Newlands crowd when he came out to bat, looked imperious.
Blackburn have confirmed the signing of South Africa captain Aaron Mokoena who had a trial at Ewood Park before Christmas. The 24-year-old began training with his new teammates on Tuesday but needs international clearance before he can play. He joined Rovers for £300 000.
Charl Langeveldt and Makhaya Ntini tore through the England batting line-up before lunch on the third day of the third Castle Lager/MTN Test at Newlands on Tuesday, to have England all out for 163, for a first-innings deficit of 278. England resumed play on their overnight score of 95 for the loss of four wickets.
Roger Federer began the new year with a surprise by announcing a new coach, Tony Roche, and also with more of the same — a thunderous attacking performance to extend his unbeaten sequence to 18 matches. The world number one from Switzerland overwhelmed David Ferrer in less than an hour in the Qatar Open.
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Insurance company Old Mutual on Monday said it is willing to speed up claims resulting from the tsunami disaster in south-east Asia. In a statement, Old Mutual spokesperson Stephen Bowey said it normally takes two to three days to process a life-insurance claim once a death certificate is in the company’s possession.
An exhibit of underwear worn by Portuguese celebrities, which included an item donated by Manchester United’s teenage football star Cristiano Ronaldo, wrapped up on Thursday after causing traffic to surge at a small gallery in northern Portugal, a spokesperson for the venue said.
A south-western Chinese town has spent nearly -million on a replica of the country’s most famous monument, the Great Wall, in a bid to draw more tourist dollars, state press said on Friday. The 1 680m wall erected near Chengdu city in China’s Sichuan province is a fraction of the mammoth original structure.