Boxing: South Africa’s former world heavyweight champion Corrie Sanders died of wounds sustained in a shooting at a Pretoria restaurant where he was celebrating his daughter’s 21st birthday. Three men charged into the restaurant on Saturday evening and fired randomly where the family were dining, shooting Sanders in the stomach and hand – the 46-year-old died from his injuries on yesterday morning. Sanders retired in 2008 with an impressive record of 42 wins against just four defeats, with his most famous victory being in 2003 when he won the WBO world heavyweight title by knocking-out Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko.
Badminton: Two-time champion Lee Chong Wei fended off a spirited challenge from Boonsak Ponsana to win the men’s singles title at the Chinese-boycotted Japan Open badminton tournament yesterday. The Malaysian top seed, the winner in Japan in 2007 and 2010, powered his way through to a 21-18, 21-18 victory over the Thai. In the women’s singles final, Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan dashed any hopes of a title for Japan by beating Eriko Hirose 9-21, 21-9, 21-14.
Cricket: Indian spinners Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla ripped through the England batting to lead their side to a crushing 90-run win in a one-sided Twenty20 World Cup Group A match yesterday. Rohit Sharma's unbeaten 55 off 33 balls fired India to an imposing total of 170 for four. Harbhajan took four for 12 and Chawla two for 13 as England crumbled to 80 all out on the way to their heaviest ever Twenty20 loss. Both sides had already qualified for the Super Eight stage by beating Afghanistan but England's feeble capitulation will be a major concern for the defending champions heading into the next phase of the tournament.
Rugby League: A last-minute try to winger Akuila Uate gave the Australian Prime Minister’s XIII team a 24-18 victory over Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby yesterday. With the scores locked at 18-18, Uate got first to a high crossfield kick by standoff Lachlan Coote to score. Captain and scrum-half Scott Prince converted the try to seal a hard-fought victory for the Australian representative side at Lloyd Robson Oval.
Tennis: Chinese star Li Na remained tight-lipped yesterday about her decision to participate in Japan’s Pan Pacific Open this week as a political crisis between the two countries deepens. Last year’s French Open winner remained stoney-faced and refused to respond to a series of questions about the row over tiny islands in the East China Sea, causing moments of awkward silence. Li only acknowledged that she was following a tour schedule that was set nearly a year ago, while officials at the $2.17m tournament stood by to block questions with any hint of diplomatic connotations.
Rugby Union: Tonga have signed prominent international coaches Tim Lane, Dave Ellis and Mark Bakewell to help guide the islanders’ build up to the next World Cup. The three will work as assistants to Mana Otai on two-year contracts which are open for extension to after the 2015 World Cup. Tonga fell just short of making the play-offs in last year’s World Cup when they beat eventual finalists France 19-14 in pool play but were surprisingly beat by Canada which cost them a qualifying position.