More sports news in brief.
Share of spoils will give Ireland overall victory
GOLF:Ireland are poised to add the senior men's Home International title to the European crown won earlier in the season when they go head-to-head with defending champions England at Tenby today.
A share of the spoils will be sufficient for Ireland to lift the silverware by virtue of having won more individual games over the three days of competition.
Yesterday Ireland, who had been held to a tie by Scotland on day one, demolished hosts Wales 7-2 while Scotland and England drew 4.5-4.5.
Two foursomes victories put Ireland on course, and though most of the singles against Wales were closely contested, the European champions always appeared to have the upper hand.
Michael Coote from Castleisland gave Ireland the ideal singles start, beating the former Welsh champion John Jermine 2 and 1. And wins by Maurice Kelly, John Carroll, Liam McNamara and Hugh Smyth gave them a convincing success.
When England won the top three singles against Scotland after the foursomes were shared they looked set for their second triumph of the week. But they proceeded to lose the last three, albeit two on the home green.
Meanwhile at Little Aston, Birmingham, Ireland were overwhelmed 7-1 by Wales in the senior women's internationals and now face a major struggle to avoid the wooden spoon.
England, who have won all six senior internationals, go head to head with Wales for the title.
South Africa's elite to travel
RUGBY:South African Rugby's acting managing director quashed reports yesterday that the Springbok coach Peter de Villiers might rest leading players for next month's tour of Britain.
"One of Peter's personal managers made some casual remarks to a reporter about Peter perhaps resting players for the end-of-year tour," said Andy Marinos.
"We have agreed following a final selection meeting the strongest possible team will be considered for the tour. Any suggestions attributed to the national coach that we will be resting players are absolutely incorrect.
The Springbok team will be named on October 25th, following the final of the Currie Cup.
South Africa will face Wales in Cardiff on November 8th, Scotland in Edinburgh on November 15th and England at Twickenham on November 22nd.
Li Na sends Williams packing
TENNIS:China's Li Na recovered from a terrible start to pull off a scarcely credible 0-6 6-1 6-4 victory over world number one Serena Williams in the second round of the Stuttgart Grand Prix yesterday.
Williams took the first set in just 21 minutes. It looked a complete mismatch but in the second set Li suddenly found her game and put Williams under pressure. Williams made 11 unforced errors in the second, dropping her serve twice along the way, and, despite improving in the third, she lost 6-4. Li was joined in the quarter-finals by Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who upset eighth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1 7-5. Patty Schnyder overcame Russian fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 4-6 7-5 in a first round match.
India retain faith in Ganguly
CRICKET:Indian selectors have retained former captain Saurav Ganguly in a 15-player squad named yesterday for the first two games of the four-test series against Australia starting on October 9th.
Ganguly, 36, had been under pressure to keep his place as the elder statesman of the team's four veteran batting stalwarts, along with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Vangipurappu Laxman.
The selectors also included middle-order batsman Subramaniam Badrinath, who has played three one-dayers for India, and leg spinner Amit Mishra as back-up for captain Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.
The pair replace batsman Rohit Sharma and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha from the side that lost the previous test series in Sri Lanka, 2-1. Wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni also returns after skipping that series. Australian leg spinner Bryce McGain will miss the first test with a shoulder injury.
