No tricks up Aussie sleeve!
Australia are to don sleeveless shirts for their assault on the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa next month, Cricket Australia said on Wednesday, reports Reuters.
Purported by manufacturers Adidas to be the world's first sleeveless cricket top, the shirt will apparently give Ricky Ponting's World champion one-day side increased muscle support and comfort at all temperatures.
More familiar on the world's tennis courts where similar versions are sported by the likes of Rafael Nadal and James Blake, the sleeveless shirt will ‘deliver a performance advantage to the players on the field,’ according to the manufacturers.
"The ICC World Twenty20 tournament will involve fast games with short recovery periods," skipper Ponting said in a statement from the side's Queensland training camp. "This new uniform has been specifically designed with the players' comfort and performance in mind.”
Sumo champ to head home
Sumo grand champion Asashoryu will be allowed to return home to Mongolia after being diagnosed as close to depression following his suspension for playing soccer while out of wrestling action with a back injury, reports Reuters.
In an emergency meeting on Tuesday, officials of the ancient Japanese sport gave the go-ahead for the 150 kg (330 lb) Asashoryu to travel, ending weeks of wrangling that had received blow-by-blow coverage by the media. The fate of the 26-year-old had been clouded since he infuriated the Japan Sumo Association by turning out for a charity soccer match in his native Mongolia in July despite having withdrawn from a regional sumo tour with a back injury. Officials handed the wrestler a two-tournament suspension.
Dad denies abuse of daughter
The father of an eight-year-old Chinese girl who ran 3,560 km (2,212 miles) to Beijing to celebrate the 2008 Olympics on Tuesday denied accusations of child abuse, reports Reuters from Beijing.
Zhang Huimin arrived in Beijing on Sunday after she started her extraordinary odyssey on July 3 from Sanya, at the southern tip of the island province of Hainan, with her father following her all the way on a motorised bicycle.
Huimin got up at 2.30 a.m. every day to train for the run, Xinhua news agency said, and would have had to have run about 65 km a day for 55 days -- the equivalent of about one and a half marathons a day.
Domestic media and some experts accused the father of abuse, saying the Beijing run would damage the girl's body and affect her growth. Zhang said he did not worry about his daughter's health. "I don't care about what the experts say. Although they accuse me of being cruel or abusive, I think I'm right," he said.