Thousands of Springbok rugby fans braved pouring rain in South Africa on Friday as they spilled onto the streets to cheer the team on the first leg of a nationwide World Cup victory parade.
Jubilant fans followed the team in their open-top bus, roaring as the Webb Ellis Cup was held aloft by skipper John Smit and his team-mates.
Office workers crowded the windows of buildings in Pretoria and Johannesburg to catch a glimpse of the procession while others grabbed late lunch breaks to salute the heroes of last Saturday's final in Paris against England.
PHOTO: AFP
Bryan Habana, who equalled the record number of tries scored at the finals, said the reception from the supporters "has been amazing."
"It's a big, big knock to all of us how people have come together and are cheering us in the streets, people from all sections of life," he said.
Habana welcomed the U-turn earlier in the day by SA Rugby which announced that the 'Boks would tour the township of Soweto yesterday after earlier ruling it out.
Habana said the team's visit to Soweto, the largest black township in the country, would be an opportunity to inspire youngsters in disadvantaged communities.
"People who are disadvantaged don't always have the opportunity to drive in to the cities to see us," Habana said.
"Everybody deserves to have a glimpse of us ... Hopefully we will be [an] inspiration for youngsters to do the same [become heroes] for their country," he said.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
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