Sports News

The sex scandal in which Tiger Woods has become embroiled has left some corporate sponsors supporting while others are reevaluating their relationship with the world's No. 1 golfer.

Here are some positions taken by sponsors:

* TAG HEUER (LVMH.PA) - Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer, a unit of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, said on Friday it had decided to "downscale" use of Woods image in its advertising in the coming months. The company said the decision was made out of respect for Woods' request for privacy. Tag Heuer Chief Executive Jean-Christophe Babin told Swiss daily Le Matin the company was cutting Woods from its U.S. advertising for the foreseeable future.

* UPPER DECK - Trading card and memorabilia company Upper Deck said on Tuesday it would not end its sponsor deals with Tiger Woods. "Upper Deck will maintain its exclusive agreement with Tiger in both our sports cards and memorabilia categories, and we look forward to his eventual return to the PGA Tour," Upper Deck Chief Executive Officer Richard McWilliam said.

* ACCENTURE (ACN.N) - Technology outsourcing and consulting firm Accenture said on Sunday it was ending its six-year sponsorship deal with Woods. "The company has determined that he is no longer the right representative for its advertising," it said. Accenture was the first major sponsor to drop Woods outright.

* GILLETTE (PG.N) - Shaving products maker Gillette, a unit of Procter & Gamble, which featured Woods in its razor commercials, said on Saturday, "As Tiger takes a break from the public eye, we will support his desire for privacy by limiting his role in our marketing programs."

* NIKE (NKE.N) - Nike, the American athletic shoe maker is standing by its man. "I think he's been really great," Nike chairman Phil Knight told Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal in an interview published on Monday. "When his career is over, you'll look back on these indiscretions as a minor blip, but the media is making a big deal out of it right now."

* PEPSICO (PEP.N) - U.S. drink and snack maker PepsiCo's Gatorade unit decided before the sex scandal that it would drop its "Tiger Focus" drink.

* AT&T (T.N) - The U.S. telecommunications company said it was evaluating its relationship with Woods.

* ELECTRONIC ARTS (ERTS.O), TLC VISION CORP (TLCV.O), and Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) unit NETJETS all said they were standing by Woods, but that was before he admitted in a statement on Friday that he had cheated on his wife.

* PGA TOUR - Professional golf faces a tough time with the indefinite loss of its biggest draw. TV ratings slumped nearly 50 percent when Woods took eight months off to rehabilitate an injured leg. On Thursday, the head of the U.S. professional golf tour applauded Woods' decision to take a break from the game and played down concerns that the sport would suffer severely from his absence. (Reporting by Ben Klayman in Chicago and Tom Brown in Miami)

The system allows teams to challenge the on-field officials’ decision by seeking to have it overturned by the third umpire to ensure fair decisions, but once the team gets two referrals rejected, they can have no more in that innings.

England used up their allowance of two unsuccessful appeals an innings by tea, and Swann, one of the culprits, said: “We keep messing it up; we have to get better at it.”

“We decided not to call for caught behinds unless we were certain and we were certain there was an edge. But without ‘snicko’ and the thermo-sensor technology, it proved inconclusive and once again we wasted the reviews,” The Daily Express quoted Swann, as saying.

England failed to have an lbw decision against Jacques Kallis overturned, or AB de Villiers given out caught behind — although the latter was out immediately afterwards anyway.

Swann also disputed suggestions, which claimed that England made another mistake in choosing to bowl first.

“Having seen the wicket yesterday and this morning, we were well within our rights and justified to bowl first — and certainly the stats on this ground seemed to back up the fact that bowling first can be very lucrative here,” he said.

“Had a couple of the balls that kept low early on — especially from Graham Onions — cannoned into the pads or flicked the bail, we could be sitting here in a very different situation. We could have had them seven or eight down, or even bowled them out,” he added.

The Olympic gold medallist, who was criticised after being photographed smoking pot last year, said that it is unimaginable what Woods must be going through.

"He''s going through a hard time right now I assume - I''ve no idea what he is going through - but it can''t be easy, I just wish him the best for himself and his family,'''' the Herald Sun quoted him as saying.

He said: "I''d be the first to admit I''ve made a lot of mistakes both in and out of the pool.

"Of the mistakes I''ve made I''ve never made the same mistake again. I''ve become a much stronger person and I''ve helped other people not make the same mistakes.

Also, National Basketball Association star Ron Artes, who had a child with another woman outside his marriage, has shown support for Woods in an open letter on his website.

He wrote: "Please, everyone support Tiger in these tough times for his family. You have been the perfect role model for me and my sons for longer than anyone I have known.

“I have made the same mistakes. My wife is a much better wife than I am a husband. We still argue and disagree after being together 16 years.

"I still cope with the fact that there are so many women out there and I choose to stay loyal to my wife. I want to be home every night, but with travelling I can''t, and sometimes I might want to go to a bar or club and be one of the fellas. Most of the time I stay in, because I have my kids and wife.

It looks like swimming sensation Stephanie Rice wants a new boyfriend this Christmas.

After her stunning Olympics success, she was publicly linked to American swimming superstar Michael Phelps, bad boy Aussie swimmer Nick D''Arcy, Sydney rugby league star David ‘Wolfman’ Williams and long-time training partner Brendan Capell.

However, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, she insisted her love life had been non-existent.

"Everyone''s always ''Steph, you need a boyfriend'' and I''m like ''I know, but apparently I have four''. Believe me, one would be just perfect," News. com. au quoted her as saying.

The 21-year-old triple Olympic gold medallist, who split from sprint king Eamon Sullivan on the eve of the Olympics, said her profile made it hard to form relationships and she found it difficult to judge peoples'' motives.

Rooney, 24, and his wife Coleen, 23, had taught the African Grey to say “Kai Wayne Rooney” for “a laugh” little expecting that the bird will keep repeating it all day long at the top of its voice.

“It’s driving everybody round the bend. Nobody knows how to stop it,” the Sun quoted a friend as saying.

The couple had spent three weeks at the home of Tony and Colette McLoughlin in Roby, Liverpool, after Kai was born in November.

“Coleen’s mum and dad invited them to move in after the baby was born,” the friend said.

“They jumped at the chance and stayed for three weeks.

“While messing around one day they thought it would be funny to teach the parrot to say the name.

“At first it was hilarious. After seeing the baby, visitors would be taken off to hear the parrot.

“I know that some are pretending they never trusted him, but I couldn’t do that,” The Times quoted Sir Garfield, as saying.

“I did and I still do. I’ve seen pictures of him in chains, which they don’t seem to do to other people accused of crimes. I hope that he is cleared,” he added.

Stanford has been accused in several fraud investigations, and has been charged by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission with fraud and multiple violations of U. S. securities laws for alleged “massive ongoing fraud” involving billions of dollars in certificates of deposits.

He has also been accused of running a Ponzi scheme targeting clients of his offshore bank in Antigua.

Beckham is due to return to Milan in January for a second loan spell and, with United among the seeds for the draw in Switzerland, they are one of six teams the English champions could face in February.

Beckham left United for Real Madrid in 2003 and has not yet come up against the club where he made his name and with whom he collected a Champions League winners' medal in 1999.

"I would love it if the draw pitted us against my former team, since I left in 2003 I've never returned to play at Old Trafford," Beckham said.

"It's been seven years and I want it to happen. Me against Manchester United would be great, wouldn't it?

"It would be very difficult but also very exciting, I love the big games."

Unlike Beckham Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti is keeping his fingers crossed he doesn't have to come up against Beckham's temporary employer and his former one, AC Milan, the club he guided to two Champions League wins in 2003 and 2007.

"I admit that I would prefer to avoid a head-to-head with (Milan coach) Leonardo in February at Stamford Bridge," Ancelotti told Gazzetta dello Sport.

"But if it happens, it's no problem.

"Football puts you in this type of situation.

"It already happened to (former AC Milan star) Kaka, who faced AC Milan with Real Madrid in the group stages."

The Italian added: "It's obvious that if we get Milan the emotional aspect would be something special," he said.

"Chelsea v Milan would be a very particular situation for the both of us.

"The only problem if we get Inter is that from a technical standpoint they are a great team.

"I believe that in the runners-up group they (Inter) are the best side.

"To eliminate Italian teams is going to be difficult."

For the draw itself AC Milan, United and the other 14 teams are split into two pots - the first containing the eight group winners and the second the eight group runners-up.

The 16 teams are sorted by country and alphabetically, with each winner drawn against a runner-up.

No two teams from the same country can be drawn against each other in the first knockout stage, the geographical restriction being lifted from the quarter-final stages onwards.

The teams concerned with this ruling are French duo Bordeaux and Lyon, and the Italian clubs AC Milan Fiorentina and Inter Milan.

Normally group winners - effectively the seeded teams like United and Chelsea - can expect a more favourable draw but neither side will relish coming up against the two Milans - AC having finished second in Group C (to Real Madrid) and Inter in Group F (to Barcelona) respectively.

Barcelona cannot come up against Inter again, as they were in the same first round group.

The first knockout round is scheduled to be held on February 16-17 and 23-25, with the return legs on March 9-10 and 16-17.

The quarter-finals are slated for March 30 and April 7, with the semi-finals on April 20-28 and the final in Madrid on May 22.

The Champions League draw is due to start at 1300, with the Europa League knockout stage draw held one hour before.

Such a stunning finale to the day could not have been envisaged at tea, when South Africa's stranglehold on the contest appeared to be absolute. From a promising overnight position of 88 for 1, England had slipped and slithered to 238 for 7, with the spinner Paul Harris applying a four-wicket tourniquet with his choking left-arm line. It was a scoreline that became even worse three overs after the break, when Stuart Broad was adjudged lbw to JP Duminy after a referral that appeared, in Broad's opinion, to have been instigated by the South African dressing-room.

But by the close, that potential controversy had become a distant blip in the memory, thanks to a surging stand of 106 in 23 overs between Swann and Anderson, a ninth-wicket performance that beat the previous best by England against South Africa - 99 between Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison at The Oval in 2003, another match in which England battled back from a seemingly futile position.

Swann, who batted with an abandon that brought no less a figure than IT Botham to mind, clattered 10 fours and two sixes in the course of his innings, and even unfurled a brace of switch hits that Kevin Pietersen could hardly have bettered. Anderson, meanwhile, walloped Harris over midwicket for his first six in Test cricket, and it wasn't until an attack of cramp undermined his effectiveness that he chipped Makhaya Ntini to a diving Morne Morkel at mid-off.

Up until that moment (which was delayed while Swann cheekily called for a review to check whether there had been a no-ball) there was nothing that South Africa could do to stem the onslaught, and Smith gathered his errant charges together to lay down the law during another delay for an unsuccessful referral. His biggest mistake, however, was to call for the second new ball in the 81st over, with England still wading through treacle on 242 for 8.

Suddenly, the extra hardness, coupled with the extra pace of Ntini and Morkel, encouraged Swann and Anderson to have a dart at a counterattack. Anderson signalled the charge with a first-ball punch through the covers for four, Swann swatted Ntini off his eyebrows for six, and by the time Smith retreated back to his spinner, 40 tempo-changing runs had poured forth in seven overs.

Suddenly there was no holding either batsman back. Harris was hoisted into the midwicket stand for Swann's second six, then pummelled twice through the covers as he flipped around in his stance to take on the switch hit. His half-century came up from 47 balls with a sweep through fine leg, and even the rare shots that he failed to middle still skidded off the edge through third man. In the end, with only Graham Onions for company, Swann took on Harris one too many times, and picked out deep midwicket to end a truly spectacular knock.

That wicket, fittingly, was Harris's fifth in the innings, and it was due reward for a performance in which he had lived up to his unlikely billing as the No. 9-ranked bowler in the world. Harris does not look the likeliest destroyer in the South African set-up, and with his unattractive round-arm action and a degree of spin reminiscent of the much-lampooned Ashley Giles, he is a cricketer who is destined to be under-rated. But that suited his purposes just fine for today, as a host of England batsmen lined up to be prised out on a dry and dusty wicket.

Of Harris's first four victims, only Paul Collingwood - who grafted his way to a gutsy half-century before being caught at slip by a sharply turning delivery in the same over - could say he was undone by a cracking delivery. The remainder were ground down by his unyielding accuracy, not least Ian Bell, who padded up to a straight delivery to be bowled for 5, a crass error of judgment brought his place in the side under yet more untimely scrutiny.

England's day began inauspiciously when Andrew Strauss, their overnight stalwart on 44 not out, was bowled by Ntini for the addition of just two more runs. There was little that Strauss could do about the ball that extracted him - a shooter on off stump that scuttled at shin height beneath his defences - and as the punters in the stands swarmed to the bar to claim the free pints that had been promised if Ntini struck in his 100th Test, South Africa piled on the pressure and reduced the scoring rate to a crawl.

Morkel and Ntini maintained excellent discipline as England's other overnight batsman, Jonathan Trott, ground out 10 runs in the morning from 61 deliveries, including a deflected four through third man. It was his former Under-19 colleague Harris, however, who finally ended his vigil, as Trott lost his patience and stormed out of the crease to take on the midwicket boundary, only for Harris to drift a well-directed arm-ball through the gate and into his leg stump.

Harris could have doubled his personal tally in his very next over, when he skidded a drifter millimetres over the top of Kevin Pietersen's middle stump. Though Pietersen did his best to keep his cool thereafter, the sluggish conditions did not suit his combative style and, having concentrated on working the ball through the leg-side for much of his 79-ball stay, he took on Morkel with a booming cover-drive, and inside-edged a good-length delivery into his leg stump.

That brought Bell to the crease at No. 6 - a position with which he has been comfortable in the past, but the situation did not suit his mindset one iota. He had nudged along to 5 from 14 balls when Harris served up an unthreatening off-stump length delivery, and to widespread astonishment, Bell played for non-existent turn and allowed the delivery to crash straight into his middle stump.

It was an ugly way to go, reminiscent of Adam Hollioake's aberration against Shane Warne in 1997, but in the circumstances, Matt Prior's departure was scarcely any better. A man more used to counterattacking cameos had been pinned down for 10 overs and 34 balls when, on 4, he sized up an ambitious sweep and plopped a simple chance straight into the hands of Friedel de Wet at deep midwicket.

In the course of England's meltdown, only Collingwood looked remotely comfortable with the conditions and the tempo of the reply, and he completed an excellent half-century from 87 balls when he swept Harris fine for four. One delivery later, however, he was on his way, as Harris tweaked one off his edge for Jacques Kallis to complete a simple low catch at slip. With his demise, it seemed that England's goose was cooked. But Swann, thrillingly, had other ideas.

Tillakaratne Dilshan's brisk 123 set up Sri Lanka's chase of 302 in the second ODI in Nagpur to level the five-match series 1-1

The second humdinger between these two teams this week ran the gamut from wonderful to what-the-heck. But giving it the defining pulse were two individual innings, contrasting in style and strength, at either end of a collapse that threatened to give India a 2-0 lead.

A near-full house in Nagpur was witness to a fiery match, with Sri Lanka leveling the series with a three-wicket win as runs and wickets flowed in equal measure in good batting conditions. With another evening of thrilling batting, Tillakaratne Dilshan demonstrated every single reason that Sri Lanka decided to open the innings with him permanently in January. Dilshan's fifth one-day century, and second in a row, was the dominant force in Sri Lanka clinching this win but it so nearly ended up in another lost cause, if not for Angelo Mathews.

Dilshan contributed 63 to a 102-run opening stand, playing with the freedom and control fans have grown accustomed to, and then in the period where India followed a double-strike with 12 boundary-less overs, Dilshan collected his ton while ensuring the asking rate stayed in control. There was a massive scare as Sri Lanka lost three wickets, and a limping Mathews was called on to douse the flames. That he did, standing one on leg and coolly striking out the threat of a revved-up India. With eight needed from nine balls the match was on a knife's edge, but Nehra bowled a full toss, Mathews bunted it to mid-on, and Zaheer let it right through his legs for four.

While India's offence had been spread through the line-up, with Virat Kohli, centurion MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina playing dominant roles, Sri Lanka rode on Dilshan's shoulders to liven the series with three to play. Needing to score at over a run a ball, Dilshan got the chase off to a brisk start. And as often happens, India failed to apply pressure from both ends. If Zaheer allowed just a run off his second over, Praveen Kumar leaked three consecutive fours in his, veering between too wide and too full. Ashish Nehra wasn't allowed to settle, with both openers punching aerial down the ground, and Zaheer's length was offset by a manipulative Dilshan. Sri Lanka's fifty came up in 6.3 overs, most of the runs coming down the ground.

It was enthralling batting from Dilshan. Zaheer and Nehra tried to push him back but he rode the bounce, and at times luck - such as when he danced out to Nehra and edged for four. Whenever the ball was pitched up, Dilshan, at times batting out of his crease, plonked his front foot further forward and clunked powerful drives over mid-off and mid-on.

After Virender Sehwag - in today's era - Dilshan comes closest to being able to make the bowler bowl where he wants them to. Dhoni turned to Harbhajan Singh for the eighth over, slip and leg gully in place. Having come out and gone back to pick the gaps in Harbhajan's first over, Dilshan had the bowler in two minds. At one point, he twice hurried out to thump the ball down the ground, as he'd spotted the extra flight. Then Harbhajan bowled it quicker and wider, hoping Dilshan would come out to that one as well. Instead Dilshan read it perfectly, stayed in position, and cut it past point for four. The batsman had set the bowler up.

When Harbhajan purchased some turn, Dilshan used his crease to get over the ball, nudging it off his pads. A streaky but deliberate edge off Harbhajan for four raised a 31-ball fifty. Harbhajan had some success against Upul Tharanga, who was lured out and then edged a breaking ball to slip where Sehwag snapped a good catch to his left (102 for 1). Dilshan was then responsible for running his captain out, and for the next 55 deliveries India, through Nehra, Praveen and Ravindra Jadeja, pulled Sri Lanka back.

Dilshan spent 16 deliveries in the nineties, reached his century, raised his arms, and promptly clubbed Nehra for two dingers that snapped a 12-over barren run of no boundaries. He featured in a 66-run third-wicket stand with Mahela Jayawardene, which ended when Nehra bowled Dilshan with a fine yorker.

Zaheer delivered a further twist in the tale when, with 70 needed from 66, he got Jayawardene to nick for 39. With the rate within grasp thanks to Dilshan, Thilina Kandamby cut out the risks until his first aerial shot, in the first over of the batting Powerplay, was excellently held by a leaping Kohli at mid-on. Two legal deliveries later, a perfect yorker cleaned up Chamara Kapudegera, and the game was India's to win. But Mathews controlled his eagerness to flat-bat marvelously, nudging and pushing the ball around with the occasional aggressive drive to remain unbeaten on 37. He was outstanding under pressure, and aided by a runner (Kapugedera) picked out the deliveries to put away. Zaheer's gross error sealed Sri Lanka's fate.

At the halfway mark, the visitors would have considered the target within their reach as the wicket was still good for batting. After deciding to make first use of a pitch virtually devoid of grass, a century stand between Dhoni and Raina, after a shaky start, picked up the tempo for India. Coming together at the fall of Kohli (54), Dhoni and Raina gave India their best phase.

Dhoni ensured that the momentum didn't fall away, working the ball around superbly from the outset, and immediately showing the rich vein of form he is in this year. It wasn't a pure innings though. Dhoni had edged his first ball for four, was nearly taken at third man when on 11, edged wide of Kumar Sangakkara on 24, and got two more lives in three balls from his counterpart off Ajantha Mendis. Dhoni raised his half-century off 70 balls and thumped a six to celebrate.

Dhoni picked the batting Powerplay after 40 overs, just after Raina dumped Chanaka Welegedara for six over long-on. Two more sixes, again hit down the ground with power, pushed Sri Lanka onto the back foot as the pair took on Mendis and Suraj Randiv on in a three-over burst that bled 35 runs. Raina's fifty came up off 44 balls and that five-over block yielded 50. Looking for his fourth six, Raina picked out deep midwicket, and soon after, Mendis dropped a clanger at cover when Dhoni was on 94. In the same over, Dhoni raised his century, his second in consecutive innings in Nagpur, to a rousing reception.

Those cheers were nowhere near as boisterous as when Dilshan raised his, but the resonance of the game's second century was definitely louder.

Score:

Sri Lanka 302 for 7 (Dilshan 123, Mathews 37*, Zaheer 3-63) beat India 301 for 7 (Dhoni 107, Raina 68, Kohli 54) by three wickets

Tiger Woods' wife Elin Nordegren, who has been spotted without her wedding ring, is expected to pour her heart out to Victoria Beckham at a secret meeting, reports The Sun.

Friends have persuaded Elin, who is "filled with hatred" over her husband's cheating ways, to talk to the former Spice Girl in the hope of saving her marriage. Victoria's own marriage to football star David Beckham was rocked five years ago by claims he had an affair with aide Rebecca Loos, reports thesun. co. uk.

"Elin should get advice from a person who has been through this sort of thing," said a source.

Woods has been scorching headlines since he crashed his car outside his house in the early hours of Nov 27 amid allegations of a massive fight between him and his wife, who apparently used a golf club to break the window on his car.

After the accident, the golfer has been tainted by allegations of serial infidelities with as many as 13 women around the US, including various waitresses, nightclub hostesses and porn stars, claiming they had affairs with him.

FIFA World Cup qualification-2010

List of qualified teams

The following 32 teams qualified for the final tournament.

FC (4) Australia Japan Korea DPR Korea Republic CAF (5+1) Algeria Cameroon Côte d'Ivoire Ghana Nigeria South Africa (hosts)

CONCACAF (3) Honduras Mexico United States CONMEBOL (5) Argentina Brazil Chile Paraguay Uruguay OFC (1) New Zealand

UEFA (13) Denmark England France Germany Greece Italy Netherlands Portugal Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Switzerland

This is the first World Cup with no debutant associations, although two of the qualifiers (Slovakia and Serbia) have previously appeared only as parts of former competing nations. In both cases FIFA considers these teams to have retained the earlier nations' records.
Based on the October 2009 rankings used for the main draw, South Africa at 86 were the lowest ranked team in the tournament.

Venues

In 2005, the organisers released a provisional list of thirteen venues to be used for the World Cup: Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg (two venues), Kimberley, Nelspruit, Orkney, Polokwane/Pietersburg, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria (two venues), and Rustenburg. This was narrowed down to ten venues which were officially announced by FIFA on 17 March 2006:

Johannesburg	Durban
Soccer City	Moses Mabhida Stadium
Capacity: 94,900	Capacity: 70,000

		Cape Town	Johannesburg
		Cape Town Stadium	Ellis Park Stadium
		Capacity: 69,070	Capacity: 62,567

				Pretoria
				Loftus Versfeld Stadium
				Capacity: 51,760

Port Elizabeth Bloemfontein Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium Free State Stadium Capacity: 48,000 Capacity: 48,000

Polokwane Nelspruit Peter Mokaba Stadium Mbombela Stadium Capacity: 46,000 Capacity: 43,500
Rustenburg Royal Bafokeng Stadium Capacity: 42,000
Map of the stadiums