World Best Sports

Just over six weeks ago, former beach volleyball star Anna Scarlett made the agonising decision to give up on her Olympic dream. Now, the Commonwealth Games beckon. But if it sounds like she's settling for the next best thing, it certainly didn't feel that way for Scarlett when she got the phone call yesterday morning from Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken telling her she would be heading to Delhi.

"I couldn't believe it," Scarlett enthused. "It was just so exciting to know I'd be wearing that black dress again and now I just can't wait to run back out there and sing the national anthem and play for my country again." Having played very little in the way of top-level netball since turning her back on the Ferns three years ago after the bitter disappointment of missing out on the 2007 World Champs team, Scarlett said she wasn't getting her hopes up for re-selection this year.

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The fifth of six FIVB World Tour Grand Slams commenced Wednesday in Klagenfurt, Austria, with the women playing two pool-play matches each. The top two American tandems won twice, while the two lower-ranked teams lost twice.

No. 7 Angie Akers and Tyra Turner began their tournament by falling to the lowest- seeded team in their group, 26th-seeded Russians Maria Bratkova and Evgenia Ukolova (18-21, 23-21, 19-17), then fell to No. 23 Elsa Baquerizo and Liliana Fernandez Steiner of Spain in straight sets (21-11, 21-16).

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Extreme sports and extreme music are the order of the day in Roztoky u Prahy, when the fourth annual Dirt Jump competition goes off-road and airborne July 31.About 40 riders, divided into two competition categories – mountain bike and BMX – will throw out their best tricks in pursuit of a 15,000 Kč ($765) grand prize.And extreme sports aren't so extreme without the tunes to match, so an array of DJs will entertain before, during and after the competition.

Each year, the experience is always different," said Jan Kolář, aka DJ Tazz, the competition's organizer. "It all depends on the atmosphere created by the audience, having a good announcer, good riders and, of course, the weather."Dirt jumping is the practice of riding bicycles over mounds of dirt or soil with the goal of launching one's self into the air. The key is to launch high enough to perform tricks while airborne – and the more the better. Then, of course, there is the all-important landing.

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Indonesia’s tourism industry, which has been slowly recovering from targeted terrorist attacks in 2002 and 2005, is poised to receive a valuable boost sometime next year with the return of the Quiksilver G-Land Pro, one of the world’s most prestigious surfing tournaments.

The 2001 contest was canceled due to continued terrorist threats. In 2002, twin nightclub bombings in Bali put the event on hold indefinitely. But surf company Quiksilver and the Association of Surfing Professionals, professional surfing’s governing body, are considering bringing back the competition in 2011.

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John Cena, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, and all your favourite WWE Superstars will battle for WWE gold and glory at SummerSlam, And Sky Box Office will bring you every bone-crunching moment live – and in HD – on Sunday August 15 at 1am (Monday morning).

The Staple Center in Los Angeles is set to witness a stunning bill of bouts and you definitely won't want to miss the highly-anticipated 7-on-7 Tag Team match between the Nexus and the Raw Superstars.

The intense rivalry between The Nexus and the Raw locker room has gotten increasingly heated this summer and now Edge, Chris Jericho, R-Truth, John Morrison, The Great Khali, John Cena and Bret 'Hit Man' Hart will bid to shut up the Nexus in an explosive match.

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While many had been touting the claims of William Sharman as Britain’s big hope in the 110 metres hurdles, it was the less heralded man, another rare British battler, who prevailed after Sharman had been disqualified in his semi-final for a false start.

It was the race of the Nottingham man’s life and his gold-laden team-mates were left thrilled by this ultimate Turner prize. Years of near-misses and frustrations seemed to be packed into his 13.28 sec of immaculate actionIn his semi he had clattered into the eighth hurdle and looked ragged.

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Everything from coins to cushions, towels to train sets and vintage to modern goods, will hit the shops in time for Christmas 201O, London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton said. The products are among the estimated 10,000 official items that will be on sale by 2012. Mr Deighton said: ''What I think is great is the quality of the products… as individual items quite independent to the fact that we have turbo-charged them with a London 2012 association.''

The merchandising surge will be in 2011 run-up to the Games, according to London 2012 organisers who are using it to help raise £2 billion towards staging the Games. Mascots Wenlock and Mandeville make leading appearances as toys and on keyrings, posters and stationery.

There is also a London 2012 Hornby train set – celebrating Olympic sports on one side of the train and Paralympic sports on the other. Next, the high street fashion chain, has released its first clothing collection including limited edition T-shirts, each individually numbered from 1 to 2,012.

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Mothers the world over know best. Just ask Jennifer Bolt, the mother of Usain, the world's fastest man. Speaking in London , she said her son "might change things around a bit and try something new" for the 2012 Olympic  Games.

The 400 metres might be an option, so too the long jump,she said, although switching to a field event was less likely than simply extending his long legs one lap of the track. But she knows that keeping Usain interested in the sport, giving him new challenges, is the key to his motivation. Mrs Bolt, a former runner herself at 100m, 200m and 400m, said she first realised Usain's brilliance when he won the world junior 200m title in 2002.

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England's failed footballers should count themselves lucky that their ignominious World Cup exit was met with little more than a public mauling by the media. Their counterparts from North Korea, who lost all three of their group games, have been subjected to a six-hour excoriation for "betraying" the communist nation's ideological struggle, according to reports.

There are even fears for the safety of the team coach, Kim Jung-hun, who was accused of betraying the son and heir of the regime's "dear leader," Kim Jong-il. Early this month the players were summoned to an auditorium at the working people's culture palace in Pyongyang, forced onstage and subjected to a six-hour barrage of criticism for their poor performances in South Africa, according to the US-based Radio Free Asia.

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After a lengthy pre-match fireworks display, Macheda struck after just 24 seconds, collecting an embarrassingly bad pass from MLS defender Kevin Alston and slotting home. The Italian then headed in a corner from Nani in the 12th minute as United took firm control of the game, watched by a crowd of 70,728. Local Houston Dynamo forward Brian Ching pulled one back for MLS but that merely prompted a late surge from United with Darron Gibson curling in a beautiful free-kick, before Tom Cleverly coolly finished to make it 4-1.

Hernandez, who joined United from Chivas, was given a warm welcome by many Mexican-Americans in the crowd. He ran on to a long ball and confidently lobbed MLS keeper Nick Rimando. Canadian Dwayne De Rosario notched a consolation goal in the final moments for the North American league.

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