”Africa, to the British upper classes, remains an adventure playground, a deer park and a treasury. And Constantia an enclave of apartheid prospering in a post-apartheid continent.” Africans have good reason to be suspicious of British involvement in their affairs, argues George Monbiot.

You don’t lose veterans such as Zinedine Zidane, Marcel Desailly and Lilian Thuram and just pretend nothing happened. After just one 2006 World Cup qualifying match, France must look for victory against the lowly Faeroe Islands on Wednesday to get their campaign back on track.

South Africa captain Graeme Smith said his side have the opportunity to become heroes during the Champions Trophy one-day tournaments, which start in England later this week. The Proteas come into the ”mini World Cup” on the back of a 5-0 one-day whitewashing in Sri Lanka.

Fast-bowler Darren Gough has rounded on all those who queried whether he should still be playing top-flight cricket after becoming the first Englishman to take 200 one-day international wickets. Gough became the 19th bowler in history on Sunday to reach the 200-mark.

Defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne crashed out of the ,8-million US Open in New York on Monday, losing 6-3, 6-2 in a stunning fourth-round upset to unheralded Russian Nadia Petrova. Henin-Hardenne is the first top seed to lose before the quarterfinals since Billy Jean King was ousted in the third round in 1973.

Andre Agassi tried to get this over in a hurry. He wanted a fast day at the US Open, just like Roger Federer. Agassi made short work of marathon man Sargis Sargsian on Labour Day, sweeping out his longtime friend and occasional practice partner 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. The win came after Federer set up an incredibly attractive match-up in the quarterfinals.

Fiji’s Vijay Singh won a head-to-head match-up with Tiger Woods to end the American’s record reign atop golf’s ultimate leaderboard. Singh shot a 69 to beat Woods and Adam Scott by three strokes in the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday, clinching the number-one ranking in the world with his sixth victory of the year.

Formula-one driver Jenson Button has revealed his decision to leave BAR and join Williams next season was because of unhappiness over contract differences, including bonus payments. The Englishman is in the middle of a tug of war between BAR and Williams over his future.