Sport in Short Kenya to host pre-WC matches

NAIROBI – Kenya will stage a pre-World Cup competition next year for the top six associate teams heading to the March-April tournament in the Caribbean, officials said on Tuesday.

The Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland, Canada and Bermuda will join hosts Kenya for one-day matches during the January 30 to February 7 competition, to be held at three grounds in Nairobi. “ICC (International Cricket Council) match referee Mike Proctor inspected all the grounds in June and made recommendations on what needed to be done,” said Tom Tikolo, chief executive of Cricket Kenya and a former national captain.Doha opening ceremony biggest DOHA – The opening ceremony for the 15th Asian Games will be the biggest ever for the continental event and on a grander scale than the Sydney Olympics, producer David Atkins said yesterday.Atkins, who with partner Ignatius Jones was behind the highly successful Olympic opening and closing ceremonies in 2000, said Friday’s show would be groundbreaking.Organisers said a crowd of 40,000 was expected at the Khalifa Stadium for the ceremony with up to three billion people watching on television.Davydenko dreams of Davis Cup present MOSCOW – Nikolay Davydenko has postponed his honeymoon for at least a week to lead Russia in this weekend’s Davis Cup final against Argentina.World number three Davydenko, who married his long-time sweetheart Irina Vasina on Saturday, said winning the cup would be the best present he could get from his team mates.Russia, undefeated at home in the Davis Cup since 1997 and also featuring former world number one Marat Safin, Mikhail Youzhny and Dmitry Tursunov, are considered the overwhelming favourites on a fast indoor court at Moscow’s Olympic arena against the clay-court specialists from South America.Top award for former boxer LONDON – A biography of Jack Johnson, the world’s first black heavyweight boxing champion, was named as Sports Book of the Year on Monday.’Unforgivable Blackness’ by Geoffrey C.Ward tells the story of how American Johnson won the sport’s most coveted prize in 1908 but was reviled by his white peers, spent time in jail and seven years in exile.The Wil Book Of The Year Award is billed as the world’s longest established and richest sporting literary prize.The winner receives 18 000 pounds and a free 2 000-pound bet.Previous winners over the past 18 years have included Nick Hornby’s soccer saga ‘Fever Pitch’ and the horse-racing tale ‘Seabiscuit’ by Lauren Hillenbrand.Nampa-Reuters and AFP”ICC (International Cricket Council) match referee Mike Proctor inspected all the grounds in June and made recommendations on what needed to be done,” said Tom Tikolo, chief executive of Cricket Kenya and a former national captain.Doha opening ceremony biggest DOHA – The opening ceremony for the 15th Asian Games will be the biggest ever for the continental event and on a grander scale than the Sydney Olympics, producer David Atkins said yesterday.Atkins, who with partner Ignatius Jones was behind the highly successful Olympic opening and closing ceremonies in 2000, said Friday’s show would be groundbreaking.Organisers said a crowd of 40,000 was expected at the Khalifa Stadium for the ceremony with up to three billion people watching on television.Davydenko dreams of Davis Cup present MOSCOW – Nikolay Davydenko has postponed his honeymoon for at least a week to lead Russia in this weekend’s Davis Cup final against Argentina.World number three Davydenko, who married his long-time sweetheart Irina Vasina on Saturday, said winning the cup would be the best present he could get from his team mates.Russia, undefeated at home in the Davis Cup since 1997 and also featuring former world number one Marat Safin, Mikhail Youzhny and Dmitry Tursunov, are considered the overwhelming favourites on a fast indoor court at Moscow’s Olympic arena against the clay-court specialists from South America.Top award for former boxer LONDON – A biography of Jack Johnson, the world’s first black heavyweight boxing champion, was named as Sports Book of the Year on Monday.’Unforgivable Blackness’ by Geoffrey C.Ward tells the story of how American Johnson won the sport’s most coveted prize in 1908 but was reviled by his white peers, spent time in jail and seven years in exile.The Wil Book Of The Year Award is billed as the world’s longest established and richest sporting literary prize.The winner receives 18 000 pounds and a free 2 000-pound bet.Previous winners over the past 18 years have included Nick Hornby’s soccer saga ‘Fever Pitch’ and the horse-racing tale ‘Seabiscuit’ by Lauren Hillenbrand.Nampa-Reuters and AFP