Materazzi, man of the match!
France coach Raymond Domenech says Italy defender Marco Materazzi did the right thing by getting Zinedine Zidane sent off in last year’s World Cup final, calling him the “man of the match.”
“In the World Cup final, you score a goal, get the best opposing player sent off and you score your penalty. No matter what you tell me about (Andrea) Pirlo, Materazzi was man of the match,” coach Raymond Domenech said in an interview in the daily Le Parisien.
Materazzi was vilified in France, but Domenech refused to criticise him in the Le Parisien interview, saying that provoking opponents exists in all sports.
“On the field, all means which consist of destabilising your opponent and using his weak points are positive for the team. Materazzi was the man of the World Cup. I say ‘bravo’ to him.”
Renault look to next season
Struggling Formula One champions Renault have switched their main focus to next year's car now that their hopes of a third title in a row have disappeared.
Technical director Bob Bell made clear in a team preview for Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix, 12th round of the 17 race championship, that the emphasis was now on 2008.
"We will have some minor aerodynamic upgrades in Turkey, and a new aero package (at the Italian Grand Prix) in Monza adapted to the very low drag set-up we require there," he said.
"We will also be working hard to extract more performance at the track from our most recent developments. Back at the factory, though, the moment has come to focus our energies on 2008," added Bell.
A red card for  referee Styles
English Premier League referee Rob Styles has been dropped from this weekend's matches after awarding Chelsea a controversial penalty in last Sunday's match at Liverpool.
Styles gave Chelsea a penalty when Florent Malouda went down despite minimal contact from Liverpool defender Steve Finnan and Frank Lampard converted the spot kick to give the London side a 1-1 draw at Anfield. "(Styles) looked at the video with the decision and he's admitted that he got it wrong," chief of referees Keith Hackett said.
Chinese coach laments ‘failure’
China's badminton head coach Li Yongbo said his players were not "mentally mature enough" despite winning three of the five titles at the World Championships in Kuala Lumpur last week.
With less than a year to go until the Beijing Olympics, missing out on the men's doubles and mixed doubles titles, both won by Indonesians, was clearly not acceptable.
"Our players have the top skills and ability in the world, but are not psychologically mature enough," Li said. 
"At the Olympic Games, there will be only one chance, either you win or you lose. We can't treat any match lightly.”