Something From The Weekend

The Good

Ross Fisher

A good week and a great day for the Englishman, who resisted a charge from Padraig Harrington to win the Irish Open, securing himself £415,973 and a jump from 13th to sixth in the Ryder Cup race. Last week he came close to the circuit's first-ever round of 59, and his 266 aggregate at Killarney equalled the record of Colin Montgomerie – now the Ryder Cup captain whom Fisher must keep impressing.

Viktor Rothlin

Sometimes sportsmen don't have the heart for battle, but the Swiss victor of yesterday's marathon in Barcelona has more reason than most to boast of his fortitude in that department, given that he suffered a life-threatening pulmonary embolism just last year.

The Bad

British sprint relay teams

Hand out behind you. Take the baton. Run to a line. Give it to your pal. Easy enough? Not for Britain's 4x100m teams. If our sprinters need lessons on backhanders in the run-up to the Olympics, why don't they just ask the 2002 Salt Lake City organising committee for a few pointers?

Australia

It's not great news for Aussie sport at the moment, what with another thrashing in the Tri-Nations at the hands of the All Blacks to go with their recent defeat cricketing by Pakistan – who didn't exactly shine against England. A rare bright spot is provided by the netball team, who SFTW is assured remain world-beaters.

The Odd

North Korean expectation

The 103rd-ranked team in the world learnt their reward this weekend for bravely limiting Brazil to a mere one-goal winning margin when they met in the recent World Cup. Coach Kim Jong-hun was made to work on a building site and was expelled from the Workers' Party, while the players were subjected to a six-hour public dressing-down from 400 furious party officials for their failure to win the tournament. And England's players complain about the strife they get for their failure in South Africa...