Kenya upset South Africa to top pool

(AFP) — Kenya upset series leaders South Africa as New Zealand, Fiji and Australia went unbeaten into the playoff rounds of the IRB Adelaide Sevens here on Saturday.

The sixth-ranked Kenyans caused the surprise of the tournament with a fighting 15-14 over favourites South Africa to top Pool D and line up a Cup quarter-final against World Cup Sevens champions Wales on Sunday.

The Springboks, who ended New Zealand’s 47-match unbeaten run to clinch the Adelaide title last year, finished second in the group and have an intriguing matchup wth New Zealand in their Sunday quarter-final.

Kenya led 10-7 at halftime after Sidney Ashioya and Gibson Weru responded to Frankie Horne’s early try.

South Africa were down to five men at one point but cleverly retained possession and Ryno Benjamin put them back ahead, only for Victor Oduor to clinch victory for Kenya with a fine try late on.

New Zealand recorded two big wins over Tonga (33-0) and United States (27-5) to finish top of Pool C ahead of Wales, who downed USA 24-17 but relinquished a 19-0 halftime lead to go down to Tonga 26-19.

Hong Kong Sevens champions Fiji accounted for France (21-10) and Argentina (26-21) to top Pool B and and set up a Cup quarter-final against England on Sunday.

Argentina finished ahead of France in the group after beating Scotland 12-7 on Sunday and the South Americans will take on Australia in the quarter-finals.

The Australians followed up their last gasp win over England on Friday’s opening day to register their first victory against Samoa for four years, fighting back after trailing 12-0 to win 26-19.

The tournament hosts finished unbeaten in Pool A with a 31-5 win over Portugal.

England needed a 24-24 draw against Samoa to go through on points difference in Pool A.

Quarter-final lineup

Australia v Argentina

Kenya v Wales

New Zealand v South Africa

Fiji v England

Harambee Stars off to Tehran

Harambee Stars left Nairobi for Tehran on Wednesday ahead of Saturday’s friendly match against Iran.

The squad of 21 consists purely of local players after Francis Ouma who was having trials with Italian Serie B side Parma was left behind as his travel documents could not process.

It will be the first match for new coach Antoine Hey and he expects a tough outing. “Iran are one of the best teams in Asia and have very talented players which gives us a huge responsibility to go there and play well,” Hey told journalists before the team’s departure.

The German coach expressed his displeasure with the hastily arranged fixture after stating a fortnight ago that he would not subject the players to a friendly ahead of the crucial World Cup qualifier against Tunisia.

“What can I do? This was an agreement between two governments which as Harambee Stars we have no option but to honour,” he said. Hey added that he would have preferred to play against an African team.

American based player Taiwo Atieno also missed out on the trip as he is yet to obtain a Kenyan passport. Atieno who hopes to pull on the Stars jersey one day was full of praise of the German coach and his methodology.

“Training has been great Antoine has brought organization into the team which the players have responded well to,” said Atieno.

The British born striker thinks that Tunisia match will be a formidable challenge for Stars. “Tunisia have been in almost every World Cup I’ve watched which makes it a big ask for us,” said Atieno.

Kenyan Masters Beijing’s Elements

For all of their dominance in international distance running, Kenyan men had never won an Olympic marathon until the Beijing Games. When victory finally came, by Sammy Wanjiru in 2 hours 6 minutes 32 seconds, it was stunning. Given the oppressive weather conditions, it was a performance perhaps superior to any that Michael Phelps produced in the pool or Usain Bolt delivered on the track.

The Olympic men’s marathon began Aug. 24 with a temperature of 70 degrees and 72 percent humidity. Through the race, the thermometer rose to 84 degrees under sunny skies. Anything above 55 degrees is considered less than ideal for running a marathon. Runners become susceptible to dehydration. It becomes more difficult to dissipate the body’s heat. And as more blood rushes to the skin to aid cooling, less oxygen flows to the muscles.

Temperatures in the mid-80s can become dangerous for average runners. The 2007 Chicago marathon was halted after three and a half hours when the thermometer reached 88 degrees. Even elite runners have to slow down in such brutal heat. As the mercury rose to 86 degrees, Stefano Baldini of Italy won the men’s marathon at the 2004 Athens Olympics in 2:10:55, three and a half minutes off his personal best.

Beijing had the added detriment of worrisome air pollution. The world-record holder in the marathon, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, skipped the event to run the 10,000 meters instead. So the Olympic record of 2:09:21, set in 1984 by Carlos Lopes of Portugal, seemed safe. No time under 2:10 seemed likely. Except that Wanjiru never got the memo to slow down.

He had trained not in the temperate highlands of Kenya, but in the heat and humidity of Japan. And he set a startling pace, covering the 26.2 miles at 4:49 a mile, shattering the Olympic record by nearly three minutes. A month later, Gebrselassie lowered his world record to 2:03:59 on a cool day in Berlin, but many consider Wanjiru’s Olympic triumph the greatest marathon ever run.

“I’ve never seen anyone run that fast under those conditions,” said Amby Burfoot, the editor at large of Runner’s World magazine and winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon. “Beijing was not as bad as we thought it would be, but it doesn’t mean it was anything near ideal. Far from it.”

Holyfield goes down fighting as giant Russian retains crown

(CNN) — Evander Holyfield failed in his bid to become the oldest heavyweight champion when he lost on points to giant Russian Nikolai Valuev in Zurich, Switzerland on Saturday.

One judge scored the bout a draw while the others had Valuev winning 115-114 and 116-112 thus denying 46-year-old Holyfield the heavyweight title for the fifth time.

American Holyfield will take time to consider whether to return to the ring after his defeat.

“I will go home and think about the future,” he said. “But I knew I could still do it.

“I fought very well and won the fight but I did not get the decision. I think I showed tonight that I still can box and that age does not matter.”

Valuev said it was an honor to fight a legend like Holyfield. “I am proud to have been in the same ring with him,” he said.

“He was very fast and hard to hit. I can only advise people not to get hit by him. I expected a tough fight and that is what it was. Holyfield is a great fighter and he proved it tonight.”

With Valuev controlling the centre of the ring in the opening rounds, Holyfield danced around his opponent, hitting with occasional single shots.

He did well to stay away from Valuev´s long left jab and hit him with a big left in the fourth, but the Russian answered with a strong right uppercut.

Much to the delight of the crowd, the fifth was a good round for Holyfield who first landed a right-left combination to the body and later connected with a big left hook to the head.

Both men were on target during a mid-round exchange in the sixth, but Valuev´s left jab looked more effective. In the seventh, the crowd raised the roof when Holyfield fired in a combination to the head.

Valuev´s corner urged him to be more aggressive and he eventually landed a strong right in the eighth when Holyfield seemed to tire a little.

The seven foot Russian remained on the front foot as there was a big exchange during the ninth, and in the 10th Holyfield landed a strong right-left combination. Valuev finished better and pushed his opponent in the corner in the 12th .

After the final bell, both men hugged each other, with either fighter claiming the win. When the scorecards were read, boos rang out as the crowd favorite’s narrow defeat was confirmed.

Article from CNN