Rugby: South Africa yesterday lost lock Krynauw Otto and out-half Jannie de Beer to injuries ahead of Saturday's Tri-Nations clash with New Zealand in Pretoria.
Otto suffered a hamstring injury during training in Johannesburg and is expected to be out of action for at least two weeks. De Beer broke down with knee ligament problems while playing for Free State against the Pumas on Sunday. Natal second rower Mark Andrews has been called up to replace Otto, while Northern Bulls star Franco Smith is enlisted as cover at out-half.
Tennis: Pete Sampras reclaimed the number one spot in men's tennis yesterday to pass Ivan Lendl's record of 270 weeks at the summit of the sport.
Australian Pat Rafter's tenure at the head of the ATP rankings lasted all but seven days as Sampras reclaimed the upper hand after victory in Los Angeles at the weekend. That win notched up the six-times Wimbledon winner `Pistol Pete' his 271st week as world number one.
After Sampras and Lendl, Jimmy Connors comes in third with 268 weeks as the ATP Tour's top dog followed by John McEnroe with 170 weeks.
Athletics: American world champion and world record holder Maurice Greene won on the double as he took the 100 and 200 metres sprints at the Malmo Gala international athletics meeting in Sweden yesterday. But Greene was pushed hard by compatriot Dennis Mitchell in his favoured event, timing 10.05 seconds in the 100 metres, four-hundredths ahead of Mitchell. Jon Drummond, also from the United States, was third. It was only the second time this season that Greene has failed to break the 10 second barrier. Last week he ran 9.87 in Stockholm.
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