With the Winter Games just over a month away, promotional banners finally began going up in Vancouver, which will soon play host to the Olympics and the world.

For the first time, China has two players into the semi-finals of a grand slam, while only one of the Williams girls could survive beyond the quarter-finals at the slam Down Under, and at one stage it seemed as though there would be no Californians in the last four, though Serena, the defending champion and the world No 1, came from a set and 0-4 down to defeat Victoria Azarenka, from Belarus.

FOR a long time, the only physical threat facing professional athletes came on the playing field.

YY: they don't mean much right now, but Chinese basketball fans hope these two initials could herald future victories for the national team.

1. Which team will win the 2010 World Cup?

Tuesday morning, the 21-year-old from Chesterfield Township became the youngest player to win the World Series of Poker Main Event in its 40-year history.

Athens Olympic champion Liu Xiang ignited a sold-out Olympic sports center with victory in the men's 110m hurdles finals at the 11th Chinese National Games on Sunday.

At some point between the mayhem of Monday night, when he lay crying on the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium, and the murmur of Tuesday morning, when he slowly waded through a string of interviews, Juan Martín del Potro remembered to shave.

Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang, former Olympic and world champion, returned to competition in style by finishing second at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix on Sunday.

AT key moments in sports history, time itself seems to slow down and stare, slack-jawed, at the intense action unfolding on the court or field.

A year ago, Roger Federer left Centre Court a broken man after losing an epic five-set final, his Wimbledon title ripped away and his aura of invincibility shattered. On Sunday, after another five-set marathon, Federer walked off with the winner's trophy and No. 1 ranking back in his grasp and his reputation enhanced as arguably the greatest player of all time.

He was dressed in a rain-soaked shirt and eating a bowl of noodles. The then 21-year-old Liang Jie had set out at midnight on his bicycle and had been riding for 14 hours nonstop in the stormy weather to reach Mount Qomolangma. The last kilometer of the journey took Liang a whole three hours. When he finally reached the camp on the mountain, he was numb from lack of oxygen and fatigue.