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Pace becomes first women’s golfer to opt out of Rio

(Reuters) – South African Lee-Anne Pace, citing Zika concerns, became the first women's golfer to withdraw from the 2016 Rio Olympics on Wednesday, joining a growing exodus on the men's side that includes the world's top-ranked player. Pace, a nine-times winner on the Ladies European Tour who is ranked 38th in the world, said she was eager to represent South Africa at the Aug 5-21 Olympics but felt Zika was too big a risk to take. “After weighing up all the options and discussing it with my family and team, I have decided that due to the health concerns surrounding the Zika virus, I will not be participating,” Pace, 35, said in a statement.

South African authorities deny issuing arrest warrant for Pistorius

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African authorities on Friday denied issuing a warrant of arrest for Oscar Pistorius, who was convicted on appeal of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, rejecting an earlier report by a local television station. “It is not the case,” Luvuyo Mfaku told Reuters. “No such warrant has been issued.” The Supreme Court on Thursday upgraded the 29-year-old athlete's sentence to murder from “culpable homicide”, South Africa's equivalent of manslaughter, for which he had received a five-year sentence. …

Rugby-Concussion-prone Wallabies hooker Polota-Nau gets more rest

Wallabies hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau, who said earlier this month he might retire if he was badly concussed again, will be rested from Super Rugby for another three weeks to ensure he has fully recovered from a head knock. The hard-running rake suffered the latest in a long string of concussions in the New South Wales Waratahs’s win over the ACT Brumbies in Canberra on May 1 and has not played since. Michael Cheika, both Waratahs and Australia coach this year, said the 29-year-old would not play against Canterbury Crusaders this weekend or on the two-match tour of South Africa that follows the 2014 Super Rugby final re-match.

Egyptian court begins retrial of Mubarak in corruption case

An Egyptian court began a retrial on Saturday of former president Hosni Mubarak and his sons for allegedly diverting public funds earmarked for the renovation of presidential palaces to upgrade family properties. Mubarak, 86, toppled in a 2011 popular uprising, was sentenced to three years in prison last May and his two sons were given four-year jail terms in the same case. Egyptian state television aired brief footage of Mubarak and his sons inside a cage in the courtroom in the Police Academy.