A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Wamback helps holders USA keep up their unbeaten run
WOMENS' SOCCER:Abby Wambach maintained the United States' 100 per cent record in this year's tournament with the defining moment of their narrow victory over North Korea.
Wambach scored her 141st goal in her 185th appearance for her country in front of a 29,522 crowd at Manchester United’s Old Trafford.
It was enough to guarantee the reigning Olympic champions top spot in Group G, and a quarter-final clash with either Canada or the third-placed team from Group E at Newcastle’s St James’ Park on Friday.
The first half was comprehensively one-sided and the only surprise was that it took America until the 25th minute to break the deadlock.
The opener when it came was well crafted, with Carli Lloyd feeding Alex Morgan in the area, who turned inside her marker to lay the ball off for Wambach to score from seven yards.
The second half was only notable for Choe Mi-gyong’s 81st-minute dismissal for a reckless challenge on Lauren Cheney.
Here's to Mr and Mrs Gasol
BASKETBALL:Australian men's basketball coach Brett Brown suggested a Parents of the Year award in praising a Spanish team he said had the ability to knock out the defending champions USA in the Olympic basketball tournament.
“I think Spain should create some type of award for Mr and Mrs Gasol,” Brown said in reference to the 7-foot Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers, and his slightly taller younger brother Marc, of the Memphis Grizzlies.
“They are very important people in Spanish basketball,” added Brown, who is keenly aware of NBA talent as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs.
Brown’s Australia team fell 82-70 yesterday to the 2008 silver medallists in a preliminary round game after his team struggled to handle the towering Spanish frontcourt of the Gasol brothers and Serge Ibaka.
Pau Gasol led Spain with 20 points, while Marc added 12 points and pulled down seven rebounds.
IOC should solve ticket issue
TICKETING:The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is to review the way it handles ticketing after calls for it to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in a centralised system that could be used for every Games.
The chairman of the British Olympic Association, Colin Moynihan, has called for the IOC to take control of selling tickets to avoid empty seats.
“This is such a major and complex issue. Moving forward, I hope this is an issue the IOC will take a lead on. It is a major ask to get any organising committee to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in a ticketing operation that is highly complex from a clean sheet of paper,” he said.
The IOC has said it will conduct an audit of its ticketing system amid allegations that national Olympic committees have been breaking its rules by reselling their allocations.
The London 2012 organising committee said yesterday it had clawed back a further 3,800 tickets overnight across 30 sessions and 15 sports to sell online, most of which had been snapped up immediately.
Djokovic goes under cover in impressive win over Roddick
TENNIS:Novak Djokovic gave a notice of medal-winning intent with a stunning display to beat three-time Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick 6-2 6-1 in the second round of the men's singles at Wimbledon.
Being under the roof on Centre Court certainly helped, and Djokovic simply blew Roddick away, wrapping up victory in 54 minutes to set up a last-16 clash with either Croatia’s Marin Cilic or Lleyton Hewitt of Australia.
Rain frustrated those on outside courts but Cyprus’ Marcos Baghdatis beat the deluge to defeat French 16th seed Richard Gasquet 6-4 6-4.
Baghdatis will now meet third seed Andy Murray in a repeat of their late-night clash at the same stage of Wimbledon a month ago after the Scot beat Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 6-4 6-2.
