Hits and misses: Sporting bosses give minnows rare win

Commonwealth Games, cricket, tennis and, of course, the rugby World Cup, dominated the headlines this week.

HITS

* Fiji and New Delhi. Victory for the little fellas. By not caving in to the big boys (or girls), Australia and South Africa in one instance and Canada in the other, in awarding hosting rights for the 2007 world netball championships and 2010 Commonwealth Games, sporting bosses showed commendable faith in opting to take their shop windows to new horizons.

* Kees Meeuws. His action when Australian prop Ben Darwin was in trouble showed there is, after all, compassion among the big grunters. The front-row club was shown at its best with Meuws playing a vital role in preventing what could have been serious injury. * The Australia cricket team. As much as it hurts to admit it (again), the Aussies know how to win, no matter what the odds. The sub-strength Baggy Cap brigade feasted on some woeful Indian fielding and went on to turn a modest 235 for five into a winning score in front of 100,000 disbelieving fans at Eden Gardens. With the same resolve, the Black Caps may well have been party-poopers and ended the hosts' hopes.

* The Football Kingz. It was only a draw, and a scrappy one at that, but such was the relief in the camp after the weather-blighted 2-2 result against Sydney Olympic you could be excused in thinking they had actually won and given their season a decent kick-start. Also, captain Chris Jackson for reaching the NSL's "100 club."

* Tennis bosses. In luring Heineken Open and ASB Classic defending champions Gustavo Kuerten and Eleni Daniilidou back to the ASB Bank Tennis Centre for January's showpiece tournaments, they have again shown the esteem in which the tournaments with lesser prizemoney than rival events are held on the circuit.

* Barry Bonds. A third straight National League MVP for the San Francisco Giants slugger, and his sixth overall. It just goes to show that the so-called glamour boys on the mound don't cut it when push comes to shove. There is nothing like seeing the white ball sailing over the fence and into the hands of adoring fans.

MISSES

* The All Blacks. No one remembers who comes third, or for that matter second, except of course in New Zealand where no one ever forgets. Third is better than fourth, we must suppose - one better than they managed four years ago anyway.

* For the last time (for now at least), the New Zealand Rugby Union. As the boys in black bowed out, it was hard to come to terms with having to watch a match which should have been played at Eden Park.

* The Scotland soccer team. Talk about chokers. This lot made the All Blacks look like amateurs. Chasing their place in the big time after upsetting the Dutch at home, the haggis-eaters folded in sight of the finish line, losing 6-0, and will again take no more than a watching brief when real footy nations go to battle, this time at Euro 2004.

* Fabian Galthie. What a loser. The biggest quitter at the World Cup. Hurting, but no more, surely, than his team-mates or the All Blacks after coming up short in the semifinals, the French captain packed his swag and and retired a match earlier than planned.