Cadel Evans has been tipped to overhaul his 1min 34sec deficit to Spanish rival Carlos Sastre ahead of their duel for the Tour de France yellow jersey in the final time trial on Saturday. Sastre, who rides for the CSC team run by former Tour winner Bjarne Riis, stole the limelight on the final day in the Alps Wednesday by taking the lead thanks to a victorious attack at the bottom of the 13.8 km climb to the Alpe d'Huez.
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Number two Rafael Nadal and third-ranked Novak Djokovic were smelling blood, less than 24 hours after Roger Federer's untimely second-round ouster at the ATP Toronto Masters Series event. The pursuing pair - Nadal in the runaway lead between them - are moving toward a possible changing of the guard at the top of tennis after 234 weeks of the Swiss reign. 
Serbia's Jelena Jankovic moved closer to grabbing the world number one ranking from compatriot Ana Ivanovic on Thursday by beating Hungary's Melinda Czink 6-3, 6-2 at a 600,000-dollar WTA tournament. Jankovic reached the Friday quarter-finals of the hardcourt event, where she will face Russia's Nadia Petrova, who eliminated fifth-seeded compatriot Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 7-5 in another third-round match Thursday. 
David Beckham was a winner in his first Major League Soccer All-Star Game here, the English midfielder helping the MLS All-Stars defeat England's West Ham 3-2. Dwayne De Rosario netted a penalty kick in the 69th minute for the winner as the MLS select lineup improved to 5-0 against international foes since the format began in 2003. 
Canadian Mike Weir shot a bogey-free six-under par 65 here to share the lead when darkness halted the first round of the rain-interrupted five million-dollar US PGA Canadian Open. Only about half the field completed the opening 18 holes after rain stopped play for five hours and 42 minutes, leaving those still unfinished to complete their rounds after play resumes Friday morning. 
For a nation obsessed with sports, Pakistan has very little to boast about when it comes to the Olympics and even the most optimistic fans see few hopes of any medals in Beijing. Pakistan has won just two medals in individual events -- both bronze -- in wrestling (Rome 1960) and boxing (Seoul 1988). AP
Australia has not ruled out boycotting the Champions Trophy following the International Cricket Council's decision to push ahead with hosting it in Pakistan despite safety concerns. "The fundamental principle for us is that we don't send players or staff somewhere that isn't safe," Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young said in an interview Friday. "We have concerns about the situation in Pakistan and we need to be satisfied about those concerns before we could be comfortable sending a team there." The Olympics are two weeks away, but athletes are already arriving in Beijing. The Athletes Village, a sprawling complex of high-rise apartments that will lodge 16,000 athletes and officials, formally opens Sunday. The Philippine government and the private sector are offering 9.5 million pesos ($220,000) to any athlete who brings home the country's first-ever Olympic gold medal, an official said Friday. The Philippines has not won an Olympic gold since its first games, at Paris in 1924. The most recent medal of any color was silver in boxing in Atlanta in 1996. China unveiled its largest team of 639 athletes Friday for the Beijing Olympics, a squad many expect will dislodge the United States from the top of the medal table. China is likely to field the biggest team when the games open in two weeks. This Chinese contingent is much larger than Athens, when 407 athletes were named. China fielded 311 athletes in Sydney eight years ago. China unveiled its largest team of 639 athletes Friday for the Beijing Olympics, a squad many expect will dislodge the United States from the top of the gold-medal table. China is likely to field the biggest team when the games open in two weeks. This Chinese contingent is much larger than Athens, when 407 athltes were named. China fielded 311 athletes in Sydney eight years ago. Other Sports Stories
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- Barcelona crush Hibs 6-0 in Guardiola debut
- NBA Warriors ink Ellis to multi-year deal
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A Qantas Boeing 747 flying to Melbourne made an emergency landing in Manila on Friday after a dramatic mid-air rupture that left a "gaping hole" in its fuselage, officials and passengers said. Stunned passengers reported how the jumbo, which originated in London and made a stop in Hong Kong, plunged 20,000 feet (6,000) metres in an "absolutely terrifying" ordeal.
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US actor Danny Glover, who plans an epic next year on Haitian independence hero Toussaint-Louverture, said he slaved to raise funds for the movie because financiers complained there were no white heroes. "Producers said 'It's a nice project, a great project... where are the white heroes?'" he told AFP during a stay in Paris this month for a seminar on film.
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Cadel Evans has been tipped to overhaul his 1min 34sec deficit to Spanish rival Carlos Sastre ahead of their duel for the Tour de France yellow jersey in the final time trial on Saturday. Sastre, who rides for the CSC team run by former Tour winner Bjarne Riis, stole the limelight on the final day in the Alps Wednesday by taking the lead thanks to a victorious attack at the bottom of the 13.8 km climb to the Alpe d'Huez.
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A Qantas Boeing 747 flying to Melbourne made an emergency landing in Manila on Friday after a dramatic mid-air rupture that left a "gaping hole" in its fuselage, officials and passengers said. Stunned passengers reported how the jumbo, which originated in London and made a stop in Hong Kong, plunged 20,000 feet (6,000) metres in an "absolutely terrifying" ordeal.
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Internet security researchers on Thursday warned that hackers have caught on to a "critical" flaw that lets them control traffic on the Internet. An elite squad of computer industry engineers that labored in secret to solve the problem released a software "patch" two weeks ago and sought to keep details of the vulnerability hidden at least a month to give people time to protect computers from attacks.
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