Australia
MELBOURNE TO GET TRAINING VELODROME
The government of Victoria, Australia, is to build an A$5million indoor-training velodrome in the suburbs to complement its $65million multi-purpose velodrome planned for Melbourne Park.
IRB IS FAILING DEVELOPING NATIONS SAYS CAMPESE
World rugby's governing body has failed to promote the sport outside its traditional strongholds and is in dire need of a serious shape-up, former Australian hero David Campese has said.
MALAYSIA ACCEPTS AUSTRALIA TEAM BOSS’S REPLY
The Commonwealth Games organising committee has said that Australian team boss Perry Crosswhite had denied questioning Malaysia's ability to manage the games next month.
CHINA CONSIDERS 2008 OLYMPICS BID
Five years after its bitter defeat to Sydney in the race for the 2000 Olympics, China looks ready to bid for 2008.
GOODS TAX PUTS SQUEEZE ON OLYMPICS BUDGET
The controversial goods and services tax (GST), due to be introduced just before the 2000 Olympic Games, could blow a A$110 million (HK$522 million) hole in the budget for the event, organisers have warned.
LIONS TO CONTINUE TOURS EVERY FOUR YEARS
International rugby union officials have agreed that the British Lions will continue to tour every four years.
AUSTRALIA REJECTS BAN ON CHILDREN BOXING
Australian sports ministers have rejected a plan to ban children under 14 from competitive boxing, arguing such a ban would be impossible to enforce and was also unnecessary.
HODLER SAYS AGENTS ARE VILLAINS, NOT BIDDING CITIES
Leading Olympic official Marc Hodler said he had gone public with his allegations that agents tried to rig votes on the hosting of Games because he did not want Salt Lake City to be seen as "villains".
MCDONALDS `CONSIDERING OLYMPICS PULL-OUT?
The Salt Lake City Olympic bribery scandal could be on the verge of costing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) one its biggest sponsors, according to reports in Europe.
TV PACKAGES SELLING WELL – DESPITE SCANDAL
The Seven Network in Australia has revealed it has sold half of the eight $14 million two-year Sydney Olympic telecast sponsorship packages on offer, with demand potentially outstripping supply.
AUSTRALIA WARNS AGAINST IOC DRUGS SELL-OUT
Australian sports officials and coaches have reacted with dismay to news that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) might back down on its commitment to get tough on drugs in sport.
SUPER 12 – NO EXPANSION ‘FOR AT LEAST TWO YEARS’
The southern hemisphere's Super 12 competition will not be expanded for at least two years, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) has announced.
MELBOURNE TO HOST TOP TOURNAMENT
Melbourne's Metropolitan Club will host the Andersen Consulting world matchplay golf championship in January 2001.
JOHNSON COULD RUN AGAIN AFTER IAAF REVIEW
Ben Johnson, the disgraced Canadian sprinter who received a life-time ban from the IAAF in 1993 for registering excessive testosterone levels, may be allowed to race again.
OLYMPIC ORGANISER PEDAL WAY OUT OF CONTROVERSY
Sydney Olympic organisers have said they are reinstating the cycling road race course to the city's oceanside eastern suburbs, but would re-route it to avoid cutting off Rupert Murdoch's Fox studios.
LEAGUE PLANS EXPANSION
The Australian soccer league is set to be expanded to 17 - if it gets approval from world governing body FIFA.
OLYMPIC ORGANISERS EXPECTING ‘MILLIONS’ TO VISIT
Central Sydney will become the "party capital of the world" with an estimated 8.2 million visitors expected during the 2000 Olympic Games, Australia's Olympics minister, Michael Knight, has said.
TV NOT TO BLAME FOR POOR FIGURES – SAY AFL
The Australian Football League has rejected Collingwood's claim that its ticket sales have been affected by televised games.