Olympics: AN IOC delegation will arrive in Athens today for two rigorous days of consultation with the much-criticised Greek Olympic movement to ensure that preparations for the 2004 games are on schedule.
IOC vice-president Jacques Rogge will work closely with Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Gianna Angelopoulos Daskalaki, president of the Athens 2004 organising committee and will also meet 15 working groups connected to the preparations.
Rogge wants assurances that site construction, transport infrastructure, security, environmental issues and logistical calculations are all advancing according to plan.
Meanwhile South African sports minister Ngconde Balfour has accused the head of the country's Olympic movement of petty corruption as a row between them over the country's poor performance in Sydney turned increasingly ugly.
Balfour said the Olympic Committee's money was "for the athletes, not to take friends and their wives to the Olympics".
Cricket: South Africa beat New Zealand by five wickets on the final day of the first Test yesterday but made heavy weather of a victory set up by fine fast bowling by Makhaya Ntini.
Ntini claimed career-best figures of six for 66 in New Zealand's second innings as the visitors, who had resumed at their overnight 260 for five, were all out for 342 in the seventh over after lunch.
England all-rounder Dominic Cork was set to fly home from Pakistan yesterday because of back trouble. Cork (29) has played in only one first-class match against the Patron's XI at Rawalpindi, failing to score in the innings win.
In New Delhi, Zimbabwe's Grant Flower has once again come under the microscope for a suspect bowling action. The left-arm spinner, who was called for throwing by Australian umpire Darrell Hair in September, will have his action reviewed by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Meanwhile a Pakistani court yesterday summoned seven top players, including former captain Wasim Akram to answer a petition seeking their suspension on match-fixing charges.
The Sindh high court ordered Akram, Waqar Younis, Salim Malik, Inzamam-ulHaq, Saeed Anwar, Mushtaq Ahmed and Ataur Rehman to appear on December 12th. All were penalised in Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum's report into matchfixing released in May.
Swimming: Susie O'Neill, the 200 metres butterfly world record holder and a dual Olympic gold medalist, has announced that she is to quit competitive swimming. The 27-year-old Australian won the 200 butterfly at the 1996 Atlanta Games and was unbeaten in that event until Sydney in September, where she took silver.
