AllWomenSport.com
Australian sports news & lifestyle
Home | What's new | Sports index | Features | My story | Employment | New products | Archives & downloads | Coming events
Links | The trade | Fitness & health | Editorial | About us | Letters | Return to main Guidomedia index

What's new
Stuff we've added recently
Sports index
Pick your favourite
Features
A good read
My story
The people you meet
Employment
Get a job
New products
Gadgets and gear
Archives & downloads
Try our library
Coming events
Get out there!
Links
Clubs & contacts
The trade
Where to buy stuff
Fitness & health
Editorial
About us
Letters

Weather
Streetmap

Our other mags
Main index

News

Women to watch sport in Iran (April 26)
Women in Iran will be able to watch men’s sporting events for the first time since a ban was introduced in 1979, as part of the country’s take over by religious rule.
The relaxing of the ban was announced by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"The presence of women and families in public places promotes chastity," he said on state-run TV.
"The best stands should be allocated to women and families in the stadiums in which national and important matches are being held."
Iran's Sport Administration chief, Mohammad Aliabadi following president Ahmadinejad's announcement, said that a special committee would be assigned to investigate women's presence in stadiums.
"Undoubtedly women have an important role in winning medals in various sport events, therefore we should pay more attention to their interests and allocate special places for them in stadiums," said this official.
Aliabadi also stated that this plan was to be carried out in the coming football season.
Sources: BBC & Iran Students News Agency

Hamilton inspires at Central Coast Pro (April 21)
From Surfing Australia: Hundreds of local school kids took advantage of the school holiday period yesterday to witness shark attack survivor Bethany Hamilton’s debut World Qualifying Series (WQS) contest appearance at the Central Coast Pro.
The Central Coast Pro is being held at Soldiers Beach on the New South Wales Central Coast.
And while Hamilton did not progress beyond her first heat, Hamilton proved inspirational to those watching from the shore.
“I want Bethany to win,” said five-year-old Hannah Byron from Wollongong, whose mother, Yvonne, was surfing in the same heat.
“I read Bethany’s book Soul Surfer to Hannah and she has been so excited knowing that she was going to see her surfing today,” Byron senior said. “I know everyone was willing Bethany on to win but it wasn’t her day today. But her time will come and she’s truly inspirational to just about everyone,” Byron added.
The 16-year-old Hawaiian goofy-footer drew a heat of veteran campaigners including former World Championship Tour (WCT) surfer Byron, who defeated Layne Beachley in the final of a six-star contest at Margaret River last year. (Click to read more.)

Star sponsor for the Queensland Firebirds (April 18)
Queensland’s Firebirds netball team is off to a positive start to the 2006 Commonwealth Bank Trophy season with the signing of Star Systems as naming rights sponsor.  Star Systems manufactures sports training and rehabilitation equipment.
The three-year deal with Star Systems will see the Firebirds take to the court in 2006 as the Star Systems Queensland Firebirds.
Former Australian Team captain Vicki Wilson (pictured) was the first exciting addition to the 2006 team. Her appointment was followed with the selection of some experienced Trophy talent, including top Australian shooter Jo Morgan and former Firebird Belinda Dever.
“The Queensland Firebirds motto for 2006 is leaving behind their past and starting afresh.  We are set on creating an exciting future for the Queensland Firebirds,” Wilson said.
Source: Netball Queensland

Brailey claims Stawell Gift (April 18)
From the annual Easter Stawell Gift sprints in Victoria: Long Jetty's Samantha Brailey claimed the Women's Gift over the new distance of 120m. Events over the previous 17 years had been held over 100m and the change was accompanied by a boost in prizemoney to $10,000 -- $6500 for the winner.
Stawell Gift website

Upsets galore for easter surfing (April 16)
While the easter bunny came early for some it was a case of upsets at the Billabong Girls Easter Surfing Festival on Queenslands Sunshine Coast.
In shock results current World Championship Tour (WCT) competitors Sam Cornish and Trudy Todd were bundled out of the event by much less experienced competitors in the small trying conditions at Maroochydore.
Other current and former WCT competitors however stood out in the trying conditions with Silvana Lima, Amee Donohue, Serena Brooke and Pauline Menczer (pictured) all progressing into the Quarter Finals.
In the Pro Junior division it was once again a case of the youth brigade taking charge with last years winner Sally Fitzgibbons again a standout easily moving into the Round of 16. Others to impress included Mischa Davis, Angela Keighran, Lori Kelly, Jemma Lenton, Amy Stewart and Wini Paul.
Source: Surfing Australia

Opals begin on a high (April 12)

Lauren Jackson does battle with the Chinese defenders. Pic Lisa McGinninie/Basketball Australia.

The Price Attack Opals were too good for China in their match at the Australian Institute of Sport Arena on Tuesday night, the Australians defeating their opponents 79-58 in the Opals World Challenge in Canberra. The series concludes tonight with an Australia versus USA match.
Lauren Jackson made 28 points in 22 minutes look like a walk in the park, top scoring for the match, and also dragging in six rebounds. Hollie Grima was also impressive for the Australians. She was given 20 minutes on court by Jan Stirling and responded with 12 points and eight rebounds.
“I thought that was our best game by far,” Laura Summerton said. “We played the full forty minutes and everyone got to contribute. We’re using Lauren a lot more now and we’re swinging the ball more and getting it through hands and defensively it was a really high quality game.”
Chinese guard Miao Lijie had 16 points to top score for her team.
The Price Attack Opals took the early lead with fast play and good shooting, however the Chinese managed to stay with them though some sharp shooting of their own.
The Opals dominance in the key started to show, through strong rebounding and post play; with Jackson standing out against her less experienced opponents.
Towards the end of the quarter, the Chinese started to exert more pressure on the defence and they pulled the score back slightly with good post moves being made by Liu Dan for China. Australia kept ahead though, ending the quarter in the lead, 22-15.
China missed their first shot of the second quarter and Erin Phillips made them pay, taking the rebound and sending a long bomb down to Jackson waiting under the basket. While she missed the basket, she drew another foul from the Chinese.
A second quarter competitive tussle for the ball ended with both teams having players on the floor and China drawing yet another foul, getting into more foul trouble with three in quick succession which sent the Price Attack Opals to the free throw line. By half time the Australians had increased the gap in the scores and led 47-28.
Jenny Whittle opened the scoring in the third quarter, and a Jackson rebound in the opening minute denied China a possession.
Miao Lijie made an impressive move and made a nice three; then, building on some strong pressure defence by the Chinese team the Price Attack Opals were beaten by the shot clock.
Australia still had a commanding lead going into the last quarter, 69-41.
In the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, Jackson took a strong rebound and took it up the court to capitalise immediately. Late in the match, a fifth personal foul against Summerton led to her departure from the court.
“I thought I was only on about two or three fouls,” Summerton said in good humour after the match. “But it seemed like some came out of thin air!”
While Phillips continued to create scoring opportunities with her speed and strength in offence, the Opals could not capitalise and lost the quarter. China worked hard to drag back the score to 79-58 at the final buzzer.
“It’s very pleasing to come out with a young group like this and be ready to play,” Jan Stirling said. “We spoke about it and we knew that China were going to respond to their significant loss last night. It was important to us that we weathered the storm early and I thought they did really well.”
The Price Attack Opals will be taking on the USA on Wednesday night at the AIS Arena, in their toughest match of the tournament. The USA defeated the Opals by 20 points (83-63) in their match last Saturday night in Cairns.
Australia 79 – Lauren Jackson 28, Hollie Grima 12, Erin Phillips 9, Belinda Snell 9.
China 58 – Miao Lijie 16, Chen Xiaoli 11, Liu Dan 8.
Source: Basketball Australia

Young netballers converge on Penrith (April 11)
Penrith is set to become the netball capital of Australia this month as 192 of the nation’s most talented young netballers descend upon Penrith Sports Stadium for The Athlete’s Foot 2006 17U & 19U National Netball Championships.
Over six gruelling days Australia’s up and coming netball talent will battle on court representing their State or Territory, for the honour of being crowned National Champions.
Penrith Sports Stadium in Sydney’s West is expected to showcase some fiercely competitive netball from day one of competition, with the first match commencing at 1.00pm on Tuesday 25th April 2006.
The Underage National Championships began in 1985 and forms an important pathway to the elite teams with all 12 Australian Commonwealth Games Netball Team members having competed in the Championships in their journey towards representing their country.
This year in the 19U division, three-time defending Champions Victoria, will be looking to make it four in a row. Victoria will also be looking to win back their 17U title after New South Wales ended their three-year Premiership run in 2005.
Source: Netball Australia

Lenton returns with golden swag  (April 10)
From Swimming Australia: Australia’s swimming superstar Libby Lenton has topped off a remarkable month in which she has won ten international gold medals by being awarded the FINA Trophy for the best female athlete at the 8th FINA World Short Course Championships in Shanghai.
Lenton followed her five gold and two silver medal winning performance at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games with a whopping five world titles in China including a golden double in the 100 metre butterfly and 50m freestyle on the final night of the five day competition.
Lenton’s other medals, that included victories in the 100m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle and world record breaking 4x100m medley and a silver in the 4x100m freestyle, helped Australia top the medal count with an astonishing 25 medals - six more gold and four more overall than the USA.
Australia won 12 gold, nine silver and four bronze medals to make them the best short course swimming nation in the world, with the USA next on the medal tally with six gold, seven silver and eight bronze.
Host country China won twelve medals, five of them gold, while Russia and South Africa each won three gold and Italy won twelve medals but only two gold.
Swimming Australia story

Chinese Taipei wins Queen Sirikit cup (April 10)
From Golf Australia: Chinese Taipei won the 2006 Queen Sirikit Cup on the first play off hole against New Zealand. On a final day which saw the lead change several times between the 2 countries, Chinese Taipei held their nerve to win the Cup after the first play off hole.
The Kiwi trio of Natasha Krishna, Sarah Nicholson and Sharon Ahn went into the final round with a five shot lead but ended up all square with Chinese Taipei on 17 over par at the end of 54 holes. Australia fought hard to finish outright fourth behind Korea with Sunny Park shooting two-under par in the final round.
This forced both teams into a playoff with the two best scores counting for each hole. Nicholson was first off the number one tee against Chinese Taipei’s He Yong Choi. Both players hit par. Ahn & Krishna then both had bogeys against two pars for the Chinese Taipei team handing them the title.
New Zealand coach Marnie McGuire said the team got off to good start today and battled with the course to make the playoff.
“They were all square heading into the 18th and Krishna held her nerve under pressure to sink a crucial birdie putt to make the playoff,” she said.
“In the final pair in the playoff to square it all up, Krishna’s putt shaved the hole giving the win to Chinese Taipei.”
Korea’s Mi Jung Hur, shot an outstanding five under par 67 in the final round finishing on four over par to win the individual result. Australia’s Emma Bennett continued her good form with a 75 to finish fourth individually and Sunny Park finished ninth.
Golf Australia website

Golden week for swimmers in Shanghai (April 9)

Australian swimmers have been dominant in the world short course championships in Shanghai.

Fresh from a win in the Commonwealth Games, the Opals will be playing a four-nation series in Cairns. (Pic: Cairns Taipans)

Four Nations matches start today (April 7)
The Price Attack Opals are ready to take on some of the worlds best basketballers in the Opals World Challenge in Cairns and Canberra from today.
The Opals will take on the USA, China and Chinese Taipei throughout the six-day tournament, with two matches in Cairns on April 7 and 8, and three in Canberra on April 10, 11 and 12.
The Australians arrived in Cairns on Tuesday afternoon and have been training hard under coach Jan Stirling who is giving the players no reprieve after the team won gold at the Commonwealth Games only two weeks ago.
Three Opals players have been dogged by illness since the Games, Tully Bevilaqua and Lauren Jackson are just now recovering, and Erin Phillips is unlikely to travel to Cairns after coming down with a bad case of the flu. Team management is still hopeful Phillips will travel to Canberra on Sunday to join the team for the second half of the tournament.
The majority of the US team arrive into Cairns today (Thursday), but coach Anne Donovan and the WNBAs newest stars, WNBA Number 1 and 2 Draft picks Seimone Augustus and Cappie Pondexter will arrive on Saturday and will suit up against the Price Attack Opals that night.
Tom Maher is back on home soil, but he is on the other side of the fence, coaching the Chinese team. He hopes to take the team to the medal rounds at the World Championships in Brazil later this year and take even further at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
The Chinese Taipei team is on the improve after finishing 14th at the 2002 World Championships in China. They have brought an all-female entourage to the tournament.
Source: Cairns Taipans web

Plus…
Townsville has snared Australia’s hottest female basketballer for season 2006/07, the SeaFM Fire recently announcing that Renae Camino had signed.
In between her Australian Institute of Sport schedule, Camino travelled around the country visiting those Clubs who have shown interest in having the 19 year old on their roster. At the beginning of her promising career, Camino has achieved a lot already, being named in the All Star 5 when she played with the Australian Gems at the 2005 FIBA U19 World Championships, being selected to represent Australia with the Price Attack Opals in the World Championship qualifiers in 2005 (although she injured herself and couldn’t play), voted 2004/05 WNBL Rookie of the Year, and was chosen as the AIS female athlete of the year for 2006.
“Renae’s commitment to her sport is incredible,” her new coach Dave Herbert said. “Her work ethic is unmatched and her desire to be successful cannot be questioned.”
“She is just the right sort of player we want in our program. When she came up for a weekend a couple of months ago the chemistry between her and the other girls was electric. After seeing that I would have been upset if she had chosen to go elsewhere!”
Source: WNBL

Patrick scores hard-won IndyCar 6th (April 6)
Rahal Letterman Racing's Danica Patrick claimed a sixth place finish at last weekend’s St Pete IndyCar round in Florida, USA.
Patrick ran a solid and steady race in the No. 16 Argent Mortgage Honda/Panoz. She started 14th and maximized her fuel mileage and pit strategy to move through the field to collect her highest non-oval IndyCar Series result.
"We gambled on a two pit strategy and the key for us today was our fuel mileage," said Patrick. "We had to make sure that we got good fuel mileage. We ran pretty conservatively the first half to three-quarters of the race. We really made sure that we were getting good mileage, especially under the yellows, and that enabled us to do the race in two stops. It made all the difference. I said it earlier to the Argent group, our team is pretty good when it comes to strategy and that was something they should watch for today. The experience we have gained over the last year really helped today. I really had a feel for when I could push the Argent Honda and when I needed to be patient and not make mistakes. We just need to build on this momentum. It was really important for us to place well since we didn't run last week. It doesn't matter if it was a DNF or a withdraw last week, we just had to score points in St Pete. With 14 races on the schedule anytime you don't finish the race it is going to loom large."
The next series event is on April 22, at Motegi, Japan. Patrick is currently in 12th position in the series. However the real focus is likely to be on the 90th running of the big Indianapolis 500 race on May 28. Last year she lead the event for a while (the first woman to do so) and finished fourth.
Rahal Letterman Racing; IndyCar series; Danica Patrick web

Netball Qld gets energised (April 5)
Ergon Energy has signed on to become the naming rights sponsor of Netball Queensland’s State League competition.
The 2006 Ergon Energy Trophy will showcase a broader and more competitive field of players with the competition being expanded to include a new team from Townsville, the Smorgon Steelcats.
Netball Queensland CEO James Voght welcomed Ergon Energy’s support of the new State League.
“This is a wonderful partnership with one of Queensland’s iconic companies,” Mr Voght said.
“This is an elite competition where our future representative players hone their skills. We are very excited about Ergon Energy’s commitment to our sport and look forward to a great relationship,” he said.

Virtual swimmers to speed the real ones (April 4)
CSIRO and the Australian Institute of Sport are using mathematics in a bid to speed up our top swimmers by testing changes to swimming strokes.
The research will make use of the same software CSIRO uses for other fluid simulations such as animating water for movies and modelling volcanoes and tsunamis. Researchers are hoping to see some practical results in time to implement improvements for the London Olympics in 2012.
"Firstly we need to understand how water interacts with the human body during competitive swimming," CSIRO researcher Chris Glendenning says.
"We are building a virtual model of a swimmer and are using mathematical techniques known as Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics or SPH to run simulations of the virtual model swimming in a pool.
"In contrast to traditional methods, SPH describes fluid flow as the motion of individual particles. Using this technique means we will be able to more accurately simulate the interactions of water with a swimmer, which is particularly complex at the water’s surface."
To start with, the researchers will scan the skin surface of a swimmer with a laser body scanner and use motion capture information to discover how they move through the water. By combining the skin surface and motion capture information, they will be able to simulate the skin surface for all the poses the swimmer adopts while swimming. 
"Once we’ve built the virtual swimmer, we’ll need to validate the simulations to find out whether what’s happening in our computer matches what happens in reality," Mr Glendenning says.
Source: CSIRO

Pittman in the headlines – again (April 4)
Headline-prone Jana Pittman is back in the news, over the controversial appeal by the Australian team in the Commonwealth Games 4x400m relay, which saw the winning British four denied gold on a technicality. Their place was taken by the Australians.
Pittman has offered to hand her gold medal for the event over to the Brits, some of whom have suggested this is a convenient peace offering -- ahead of Pittman’s upcoming stay the UK -- rather than a sincere gesture.
Meanwhile Pittman has said she did not agree with the Australian appeal, triggered by team-mate Tamsyn Lewis. The latter has said she wants nothing more to do with Pittman.
Reports: Sydney Morning Herald (pictured), ABC Sport

Webb wins sudden-death play-off (April 3)
LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame member, Australian Karrie Webb holed a 116-yard shot from the fairway to eagle the 18th hole and then birdied the same hole in a sudden-death playoff to beat third-round leader Lorena Ochoa and win her second Kraft Nabisco Championship, at Rancho Mirage in California, on Sunday.
Webb, who was seven shots out of the lead coming into Sunday's final round, made a seven-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to win her seventh career major. Ochoa missed a 12-foot birdie putt to extend the playoff.
“I'm ecstatic right now and I feel pretty lucky to be here,” said Webb, who last won at the 2004 Kellogg-Keebler Classic. “Just a lot of hard work paid off and I'm just really enjoying the moment.”
Inducted into the LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame in November, Webb put together a bogey-free round to win her 31 st career victory on the LPGA Tour.
“It's definitely a win in 30 or 40 years that's going to stick out in my memory. With the fashion I won in and just the way I handled myself after having to go back and play in a playoff. It's definitely ranks up there in the top couple (of victories).”
The final round saw multiple lead changes, as Webb, Michelle Wie and Natalie Gulbis all made Sunday charges at Ochoa, who was doomed by a faulty driver on the back nine.
Source: LGPA

Netball loses two of the best (April 3)
Elite Australian netball shooter, Eloise Southby-Halbish has called it a day after announcing her retirement from representative netball in Melbourne last week, following Natalie Avellino’s retirement announcement.
“I have a very good job with the AFL and have started my own consulting, marketing and management business - The Whole 3 Feet with Phoenix team-mate Ingrid Dick. Media opportunities and also the chance to spend more time with my husband Phil and my family were all reasons. It was just the right time for me, and in my heart, I knew I could not keep doing everything,” Southby-Halbish said.
Twenty-nine year old Southby-Halbish has been an integral part of Australian netball since her first call up to the Australian 21U Team in 1994. Over the next four years the talented shooter represented her country in the junior team and her talented performance at the 1996 World Youth Cup in Canada was instrumental in Australia’s World Champion title. It was at the young age of 21 that Southby-Halbish made her international debut for the Australian Netball Team while on tour in Jamaica in 1998. Over the next eight years she appeared regularly on court for Australia notching up 34 tests caps and shooting 567 goals at 82 per cent. A Commonwealth Games Gold Medal from Manchester in 2002 and a Silver medal from the 2003 World Netball Championships in Jamaica, can be found in the outgoing shooter’s trophy cabinet. Southby-Halbish’s on-court partnership with Australian captain Sharelle McMahon, which spanned more than nine years, has been the envy of coaches across Australia and aboard.
An injury to her ankle during a pre-match tournament for Melbourne Phoenix in 2004 required surgery and was ultimately the reason the talented shooter announced her withdrawal from the 2006 Commonwealth Games netball team when further surgery was found necessary.

Plus…
The closing ceremony of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games did not just signify the end to the best Games in history, but also to the international career of Australian netballer, Natalie Avellino.
Australia’s most senior player announced her retirement from Australian representative netball at the conclusion of the Commonwealth Games after informing team members and staff at a training camp in February. The gifted centre court player and shooter made her debut for Australia in 1994 and after a number of years absence from the Green and Gold was recalled to the team in 2004. Avellino was instrumental in Australia’s success at the recent Games, taking the court in all seven matches, and her quick hands, anticipation and knowledge of the sport was vital for Australia during their Games campaign.
“I was given an opportunity to get back in the Australian Team 18-months ago and the Commonwealth Games is a nice way for my career to end,” said Avellino.
“At 35-years it is a good time to finish and I look forward to spending some time with my boyfriend,” continued Avellino. “I will be looking at different opportunities going forward including coaching, as I have my level 2 accreditation.”
Source: Netball Australia

Kuznetsova’s killer instinct wins through (April 2)
After a disappointing 2005 that saw her relinquish her US Open title in the first round and nearly drop out of the world's Top 20, Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova came to Miami in hopes of reasserting herself as one of the marquee names on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. That she did throughout the NASDAQ-100 Open fortnight, capping off her sixth career Tour singles title run with a 64 63 championship victory against teen-aged compatriot Maria Sharapova.
After playing some spectacular tennis en route to this, her very first Tier I singles final, the 12th-seeded Kuznetsova kept up a high level on the sunny Saturday afternoon, blasting 24 winners to 25 unforced errors throughout the match and gaining the lone break of serve in the second set en route to the one-hour, 30-minute victory. She finished the match off with her fourth ace. It was her third victory in five career meetings with the fourth-seeded Sharapova, snapping a two-match losing streak to the 18-year-old.
"On the championship point I was thinking about the crowd, and how I finished the US Open also with an ace," said Kuznetsova, who won her first and only Grand Slam singles title in New York City in 2004. "I just wanted to keep as many balls in play as possible and give my best and see what I could do out there.
"Whatever was happening to me today, it was okay. I just wanted to be there and just to give my best and I wanted this trophy badly."
Source: WTA Tour web

See our news archive for earlier stories

Return to top

Use this tool to search our site or the web.

WWW AllWomenSport.com

We cover...
Athletics
Basketball
Cricket
Football
Golf
Motorsport
Netball
Swim
Tennis
& much more!
See Sports index

Free Hosting
Does you club or association need a website? We can supply free hosting and assistance to set it up. Your address would be allwomensport.com/yourname. Contact us via this email link.

AllWomenSport.com
Australian sports news & lifestyle
Home | What's new | Sports index | Features | My story | Employment | New products | Archives & downloads | Coming events
Links | The trade | Fitness & health | Editorial | About us | Letters | Return to main Guidomedia index