CRICKET - Australia will go into the first Test of their keenly anticipated series against South Africa without a match under their belt after the four-day clash against a South African Invitational XI - scheduled to start on Wednesday in Potchefstroom - was cancelled due to heavy rain.
SWIMMING - Ian Thorpe is in rehab after being found disoriented at 3am on a combination of antidepressants and medication for a shoulder injury, just days after his management denied the swimming great was in rehab battling depression and alcohol abuse.
BASKETBALL - Australia have avoided early-round clashes with the world's top three men's basketball teams for this year's FIBA World Cup in Spain, drawn in te same pool as Slovenia, Lithuania, Angola, Korea and Mexico.
CRICKET - Australia's stand-in captain Meg Lanning has become the No.1-rated batter in the ICC women's T20 rankings, while Aaron Finch has jumped five places to be a career-high third on the T20 men's batting rankings.
BOXING - Australian heavyweight Alex Leapai will have a shot at a historic world title fight, with Ukrainian champion Wladimir Klitschko announcing he will defend his WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles against the underdog challenger.
OLYMPICS - Norwegian slopestyle snowboarder Torstein Horgmo, who had been a Sochi Winter Olympic gold medal favourite, has been ruled out of the Games after suffering a spectacular training crash on the course condemned as too dangerous by Australia's Torah Bright just days earlier
