IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Soccer

S. Africa finally win

JOHANNESBURG: World Cup hosts South Africa arrested a run of five matches without a win when they beat Malawi 3-0 in a friendly international at Germiston in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Bernard Parker opened the scoring with a header from a corner in the 32nd minute and added a second 10 minutes from time. Substitute Daine Klate scored the third goal at the end of the game.

South Africa have put together an extensive programme of friendly matches as they build a team for their hosting of the 2010 World Cup finals.

Nfl

Bulger starts for Rams

NEW YORK: Quarterback Marc Bulger will return to the St Louis Rams starting lineup for the remainder of the season, new coach Jim Haslett said on Tuesday.

Bulger was demoted by head coach Scott Linehan in favour of Trent Green for St Louis's game on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, a 31-14 setback that dropped the Rams' record to 0-4.

But Linehan was fired on Monday and replaced on an interim basis by Haslett, the teams' defensive coordinator.

"Marc is going to be the quarterback and he will be the starting quarterback for the rest of the year unless something happens," Haslett told reporters.

Raiders fire coach

NEW YORK: The Oakland Raiders fired embattled head coach Lane Kiffin on Tuesday after weeks of speculation over his future.

Raiders owner Al Davis said he fired the 33-year-old Kiffin for "cause" and that he would not pay the remainder his contract. Kiffin has been replaced on an interim basis by Tom Cable, the team's offensive line coach.

Davis told a news conference he informed Kiffin "he couldn't go on much longer with what I would call the propaganda, the lying, that had been going on for weeks and months. And a year. And time."

Kiffin, who became the youngest coach in the NFL when he was hired last year at the age of 31, compiled a 5-15 record in charge of the Raiders.

Tennis

Venus outclasses foe

BERLIN: Venus Williams made short work of wayward German Anna-Lena Groenefeld on Tuesday, helping herself to a 6-1, 6-2 victory to reach the second round of the Stuttgart Grand Prix.

Williams, seeded sixth at the indoor tournament, had a little trouble early on against the big-hitting Groenefeld but once she had clicked into gear there was no contest.

In other first round matches, eighth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland enjoyed a 6-3 6-2 win over the Czech Republic's Sandra Zahlavova, while Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli saw off Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-3 6-1.

Groenefeld returned to the tour in May after taking most of the previous nine months out.

(China Daily 10/02/2008 page12)