Saturday, December 19, 2009
Breakfast Headlines
It's a blue Monday for South African sport. Alarm bells are ringing for the Springboks after another Tri-Nations defeat and our Olympic team finishes the Beijing Games with only a silver medal.
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Underfire Bok coach, Peter de Villiers says the team will stick to their goal of playing expansive rugby although they've lost four out of five Tri-Nations matches this year. De Villiers is onder druk vanoggend na nog 'n nederlaag in die Drie Nasies toernooi. Berigte het reeds begin kyk na wat dit sou kos indien SA Rugby ontslae wil raak van die nuwe breier. Die Burger se SA Rugby sal glo 5 miljoen rand moet opdok. Maar dis dalk 'n bietjie te vroeg vir dit, met baie van die foute in Saterdag se 27-15 nederlaag teen die Wallbies, basiese foute deur ervare spelers.
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Meanwhile, Australia have called up lock Nathan Sharpe to replace the injured Dan Vickerman.
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After the Beijing Games closing ceremony all the Olympic focus h! as now shifted to London where the 2012 Games will be held. Let's hope we do better. Team South Africa will be heading home after a very disappointing Olympics in which we won only a silver medal, thanks to Khotso Mokoena in the long jump. China was the top nation, taking 51 golds. 36 went to the US and 23 to Russia.
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South African marathon hope Hendrick Ramaala has blamed the taking of a blood sample for his failure in the marathon yesterday. Ramaala finished in 44th.
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Kaizer Chiefs will face Sundowns in the final of the MTN 8 despite a 1-0 defeat in the semi-final second leg against Moroka Swallows.
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Deco scored with a free kick to give Chelsea a 1-0 win at Wigan. The Blues now have six points after two games and lead Liverpool on goal difference at the top of the table. Tonight Manchester United will be looking to narrow the gap when they face Portsmouth.
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India's Mahendra Dhoni's 76 and some great seam bowling helped ! India to a 33 run win over Sri Lanka to take a 2-1 lead in the! five-ma tch series.
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Pakistan have asked the International Cricket Council to give them a security checklist to make sure the Champions Trophy can go ahead. The tournament was due to be played next month, but fears over terrorism in the region mean it will now be staged in October 2009.
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The Formula One world championship looks like its heading for a grandstand finish, as Felipe Massa closes the gap on championship leader Lewis Hamilton with victory in the first European Grand Prix at Valencia. Massa escaped with a caution and a 10 000 Euro fine for a pit-lane infringement. Hamilton was second and Robert Kubica was third. Hamilton has a six-point lead in the drivers' standings this morning.
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Vijay Singh beat Spain's Sergio Garcia and American Kevin Sutherland in a playoff to win his fourth Barclays title and the the first event of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup.
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Josh Redman won the Men's title at surfing's O'Neill Cold Water Classic in ! a nail-biting final at the challenging Crayfish Factory big wave spot in Kommetjie yesterday. He beat local Ian Armstrong in the final.
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Tennis world number one, Rafael Nadal is looking to win his fourth major title of the year, as the US Open gets underway today. He won the French Open and Wimbledon, as well as Olympic Gold in Beijing. Nadal says chasing Roger Federer spurred him on. Federer says the rivalry is good for the game...