Pedigree Counts For Everything

New Zealand beat Australia for the Rugby Sevens gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. This was the Kiwi team's fourth successive gold in this competition, a dynasty in the building. The final score was 24-17, not a great margin, and one that hid the Houdini-like escape that New Zealand had to perform to come from behind . Australia led 17-7 in the second half and it was only three quick blitzkrieg-like tries that allowed the team in black to respond with the win.

Although the path to the final for both teams was aided by the absence of twice-silver medalist Fiji, the final was closely fought, to the bitter end. The Fijians were not allowed to compete in the Games as they were expelled from the Commonwealth over the military coup that brought the current regime into power. It is sad for sport that the hugely popular Fijians were not on the field, where they so much belong. Instead, the Indian public were treated to their first taste of the trans-Tasman rivalry in rugby that rocks the oval-ball world.

South Africa won the bronze medal with a 17-14 victory over England. The three southern hemisphere championship teams finishing in a nice tight trifecta. Once again the Tri-Nations teams dominate over their northern cousins. After the gold medal winning performance, New Zealand coaching wizard Gordon Teitjens hinted broadly that he would stay on to see his charges fight for gold again, this time in the 2016 Olympic Games. Why not, Tietjens is the master tactician in charge of a team undefeated in sevens since 1988.

Netball's Finest Hour

There are many great sporting rivalries in sport: the Yankees and the Red Sox, Manchester United against Liverpool, the All Blacks versus the Springboks. Arm wrestles year after year, and nothing is more important in the universe. But there is one that is only spoken of locally but is as intense and competitive as anything I have ever witnessed, and that is the annual duel between the New Zealand Silver Ferns and the Australian Diamonds in netball.

The jewel in each teams' crown is either the world championship or the Commonwealth Games, both held every four years. This week, Australia's champion netball team slumped to a second consecutive loss in a Commonwealth Games final, a two-goal double overtime heartbreaker against New Zealand. Worse still, defeat came in the last event of India's Games against the arch enemy who inflicted that Melbourne 2006 loss on home turf.

Both sides were locked when the full time whistle sounded after an Australian fightback from seven goals down, and they remained locked after the first period of of extra time. Then New Zealand and Australia went goal for goal in double overtime for ten nerve-wracking minutes in search of the win. Finally the Diamonds cracked when Cath Cox's shot to win bounced off the rim, Silver Ferns shooter Maria Tutaia's attempt dropped in to give New Zealand a classic 66-64 win.

The great thing is, that this titanic struggle is the norm, not the exception. It is often only a mere couple of points that separate the two after each match, so well matched are they. One thing is for sure, a loss is like losing an arm or a leg, so fierce is the competition. Some of the best matches, in any sport, anywhere, at any time!

Weight of Expectation

Weight of expectations, whether personal or from fans, can cause crazy things to happen. Sometimes it can create a groundswell beyond the norm or sink a team to into an abyss. It seems that the latter is to blame for the Pakistani hockey team's recent disastrous showings, first at the recent World Cup and now at the Commonwealth Games, both held in India, home of their arch rivals.

Pakistan has always done well in field hockey, and are expected by the legion of screaming fans to compete well at the highest level. Their 12th-place finish at the World Cup created huge consternation in sport-mad Pakistan. It looks like this trend has continued in a very ill-tempered match against South Africa, where both teams had failed to qualify for the semi-finals.

South Africa fought back to beat 10-man Pakistan with a golden goal to finish fifth in the Commonwealth Games men's hockey competition. With the scores tied 2-2 at full time, Justin Reid scored the decisive goal in extra-time after Pakistan were reduced to ten men following a red card to Muhammad Irfan (shown above) in the 58th minute. Irfan was punished for bringing down South Africa's Marvin Harper inside the "D".

It was veteran striker Rehann Butt who put Pakistan ahead, scoring field goals in the 28th and 52nd minutes. Trailing 2-0, South Africa fought back to level the scores with Reid converting a penalty-corner in the 55th and Gareth Carr in the 62nd. The seocnd goal was scored while Pakistan was down a man after the red card. It went from bad to worse when Irfan was banned for three matches for hitting an opponent with his stick, which drew an angry reaction from the South Africans who believed the tackle was deliberate and Irfan aimed for his opponents head. But try telling the Pakistani fans that they should let up on their national team; somehow I think that it simply won't happen.

Australia's Big Day Out In Cycling

Australia has won 10 out of 11 cycling medals contested so far at the 2010 Commonwealth games in India. A lot countries would be happy with a single gold medal at a major games competition. Totally amazing! Here is how they did it:

• Shane Perkins won Australia’s 10th gold medal with victory in his pet event - the men’s sprint.
• Anna Meares won her third gold medal of the meet in the women’s sprint final.
• Teenager Megan Dunn grabbed her second in the women’s scratch race.
  
• The Australian men’s pursuit team shattered the Commonwealth record in taking gold.
• Then it was the men’s pursuit team’s turn to become gold medallists - Jack Bobridge, Michael Hepburn, Cameron Meyer and Dale Parker clocking a new Games record of 3min 55.476sec to beat New Zealand, who took the silver medal.
  
• It was the second gold medal of the Games for both South Australian Bobridge and West Australian Meyer.
• Bobridge, 21, won gold on Tuesday in the 4000m individual pursuit, while Meyer backed up from his men’s points race gold medal on Wednesday.
• Hepburn, 19, of Brisbane, added gold to his bronze medal won in the individual pursuit.

Shades of 1972: Commonwealth Games 2010 Target For Terrorism

As a teenager, a junior in High School to be exact, I clearly remember the horror of watching the Black September terrorists holding Israeli athletes hostages and finally murdering them at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich. Black September called the operation "Ikrit and Biram" and admitted that Yasser Arafat’s Fatah organization secretly endorsed the operation. Fatah later disputed the accusation.

It seems that 38 years later the specter of terrorism has returned to a major international sporting competition, as a top US counter-terrorism expert warned the 2010 Commonwealth Games would be "an appealing target" for Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT). To counter this, British security forces are pooling resources with their commonwealth counterparts from Canada, Australia and New Zealand to accompany athletes at every competition venue at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has increased the numbers of security experts working with the Australian team, who will have a large contingent at the Commonwealth Games. She also said that government advice has made it clear that there is a high risk of terrorism in New Delhi. Since 2000 there have been at least 14 major terrorist attacks in New Delhi. Let's hope that India is spared more terrorist bloodshed, but because the games are so economically important to the Indian government, that maybe a forlorn wish.