AFRICA :NEWS,CULTURE, CHINA/AFRICA/WORLD

Kevin Anderson (born May 18, 1986 in Johannesburg) is a male South African tennis player.
He became the top-ranked South African player on March 10, 2008 after making the final at the 2008 Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas. He achieved a career-high ranking of #76 on August 16, 2010 after qualifying and reaching the third round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada.
Anderson has represented South Africa in both Davis Cup play and in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Collegiate Career
Anderson played three seasons of college tennis in the United States at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was a three-time All-American in singles and two-time All-American in doubles. During his sophomore year (2005–06), he won the national doubles championship with his partner, Ryan Rowe.
The following season (2006–07), he led the Illini team to a national runner-up finish before again reaching the national championship match in doubles with Ryan Rowe and reaching the semi-finals in singles.
During the summer of 2007, Anderson decided to forgo his senior season at Illinois to pursue his professional tennis career full-time [1].
[edit] Professional Career Highlights
[edit] 2003
At age 17, Anderson entered his first professional tournament, a Satellite in South Africa, winning 4 main draw matches in the 4 week tournament to earn a world ranking of #1178 from his only tournament of the year. He also finished the year with a doubles ranking of #902.
[edit] 2004
In November, Anderson entered his 3rd pro tournament and won the Botswana F1 to push his ranking to #769. He followed that up the next two weeks in South Africa, reaching the final in F1 and the semi-final in F2 to finish the year ranked #665 in singles from just 3 tournaments.
[edit] 2005
At age 19, Anderson continued to play at the Futures level, exclusively in the United States, reaching the semi-final of USA F21 in August. In November, he played his first Challenger in Champaign, qualifying and beating #192 Jan-Michael Gambill in the first round. He finished the year ranked #766.
[edit] 2006
Anderson played his first pro tournaments of the year in June, again in the United States, reaching the finals of USA F13 and F21. He returned to Champaign again in November, beating #107 Kevin Kim to reach his first Challenger quarterfinal. He finished the year ranked #517.
In doubles, he won a pair of USA Futures back to back in June and finished the year ranked #530.
[edit] 2007
Anderson again waited until June to play his first tournaments. He repeated as a finalist in USA F12 and then won USA F13 before qualifying 2 weeks later in the Winnetka Challenger and reaching the final to push his ranking to #310. He recorded his first win over a top-100 opponent in the qualifying for the ATP tournament in New Haven, beating #88 Chris Guccione, before losing in the main draw to #41 Arnaud Clément.
Anderson’s most interesting result in 2007 was in September in the Challenger in New Orleans. He needed to qualify to make the main draw in both singles and doubles, and won all 13 matches that week to take the singles and doubles titles, beating 4 top-200 singles players and the top 3 seeded doubles teams.[1]
His Challenger success in New Orleans helped him to career-high rankings at the end of 2007 of #221 in singles and #398 in doubles.
[edit] 2008
Anderson began 2008 with a bit of success, reaching the quarters of the Challenger in New Caledonia before qualifying in his first Grand Slam attempt in Australia. He lost in the main draw first round to #84 Alejandro Falla in 5 sets, but his efforts got his ranking to a career high of #190.
At the Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas, as a qualifier, he managed to defeat sixth seed Michaël Llodra in straight sets, 6–2, 7–6. In the second round he beat giant John Isner 7–6, 7–5. He beat Evgeny Korolev in his first ever ATP quarter-final 6–2, 6–0. In the semi-finals he won in straight sets against Robby Ginepri to reach his first ever ATP tour final. In the final, he fell to Sam Querrey in 3 sets.
In the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, he beat Novak Djokovic 7-6(1) 3-6 6-4 for his first ever win against a top 10 player.
At Wimbledon, Anderson and partner Robert Lindstedt of Sweden reached the quarter-finals before losing to the eventual tournament champions, Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić.
Anderson also represented South Africa in the Beijing Olympics, defeating Komlavi LogloNicolas Kiefer 4-6, 7-6(4), 4-6 in the singles tournament and losing (with partner Jeff Coetzee) to Nicolás Almagro and David Ferrer of Spain 6-3, 3-6, 4-6. before losing to
[edit] 2009
After a slow start to the year, he won the San Remo, Italy Challenger in May, beating Blaz Kavcic in the final 2-6, 6-2, 7-5.
At the AEGON Championships (Queen’s Club, London), Anderson won three matches to qualify and then defeated #57 Fabio Fognini 6-3, 7-6(3) in the first round of the main draw before losing to #46 Sam Querrey in the second round.
[edit] 2010
At Wimbledon, he was narrowly defeated by No. 7 seed Nikolay Davydenko after winning the first two sets, 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 5-7, 7-9.
Anderson advanced to the semifinals of the 2010 Atlanta Tennis Championships in July, upsetting 5th seeded Janko Tipsarevic in the first round.
He qualified and reached the third round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto, beating Leonardo Mayer and Sam Querrey before losing to #1 ranked Rafael Nadal.
He then won his first Grand Slam match at the US Open over Somdev Devvarman in straight sets, and backed it up with a five set win over th 26th seed Thomaz Bellucci. He is set to face Richard Gasquet in the third round. MORE ON WIKIPEDIA

Bafana Bafana got their qualifying campaign for the 2012 African Nations Cup off to a great start with a win against Niger.
By Clyde Bernard Parker, Katlego Mphela, South Africa (PA)
The game took place at Nelspruit’s Mbombela Stadium in South Africa, one of the venues that was used at the 2010 World Cup, and the arena brought Bafana luck, as they easily rampaged over minnows Niger.

Bernard Parker’s thunderbolt and Katlego Mphela’s strike was enough to earn Bafana Bafana their first win of the qualifiers and allow them to top the group while still waiting to see what will happen in tomorrow’s game between Egypt and Sierra Leone.

With coach Pitso Mosimane having made one change to the starting lineup that played Ghana, bringing in Bongani Khumalo who missed the friendly with an injury, the team came out all guns blazing with Steven Pienaar dictating matters in midfield.

Man-of-the-match Steven Pienaar won the ball just near the centre line and unleashed a defence splitting pass for Katlego Mphela who made no mistake when beating Kassali to give Mosimane’s charges the advantage with just 11 minutes on the board.

It took the visitors 16 minutes to get their first chance, but Khumalo did well to clear the ball for a corner and the resultant set piece found Itumeleng Khune in an uncompromising mood, easily collecting Moussa’s header.

Three minutes into the referee’s added 6 minutes of stoppage time, Anele Ngcongca did well on the right and brought in a beautiful cross that fell for Parker whose volley gave Kassali no chance, 2-0 the score as both teams went to the change rooms for half time.

In the second half Pienaar, Sibaya and Khuboni were at their best, creating chances which Tshabalala struggled to finish, maybe still thinking about his World Cup opening goal.

Mosimane made a like for like change bringing in Letsholonyane for Khuboni just to close shop and Karim came in for Moussa as coach Frederic Costa hoped to change his team’s fortunes. The much awaited Kermit Erasmus debut finally happened in the 77th minute as he came in for Mphela and Pienaar also made away for Teko Modise in the 80th minute.

Whoever said luck does not exist in football was lying as Bafana bombarded the visitors goalmouth with chance after chance, but still fans watched in agony as either the keeper Kassali came out tops or simple opportunities were pushed wide.

The man in black finally ended the game and it was all celebrations in Mpumalanga and the rest of South Africa, but Mosimane’s charges wasted chances enough to win a dozen games.

Assets in Africa are missing from the London-based banking portfolio, which has made a bid for South Africa’s Nedbank. Bobby Yip / Reuters

Few post-Cold War relationships have worked out quite as well as the one between China and South Africa.

HSBC, the London-based bank that is the biggest lender in Europe, is hoping to insinuate itself into this partnership by acquiring Nedbank, South Africa’s fourth-largest bank. South Africa’s growing trade and investment ties to China, as well as its pivotal role in African business, are behind the deal, analysts say. The point of the deal is to put HSBC in line to win the growing Chinese business south of the Sahara.

China is South Africa’s largest trading partner, to the value of US$16 billion (Dh58.76bn), according to figures from both countries. And with the economies of traditional trading partners in the West languishing with the economic downturn, the Chinese are offering not just investment, but also trade finance. They are bankrolling dams, roads and industry. HSBC is especially interested in this.

Ten years ago, three out of six of the largest debt underwriters in South Africa were foreign. Today, ravaged by the subprime crisis in their home territories, they no longer feature and have been replaced by local counterparts, according to Bloomberg data.
Beijing has already put its money where its mouth is – the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China took a 20 per cent stake in Standard Bank a few years ago. And the relationship is bearing fruit. Standard signed an agreement with China Railway Group last month to investigate the building of a $30bn high-speed rail link between Johannesburg and the coastal city of Durban

It is clear that China is working to become the pre-eminent superpower on the continent. Trade with Africa now runs at about $100bn a year. Unhandicapped by human rights constraints, China has been able to expand its interests by dealing with some of the more controversial African leaders, including Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Omar Hassan al Bashir of Sudan.

Nations such as the US, France and the UK are mired in domestic financial crises and are unlikely to be much of a challenge soon . Neither are they likely to do more than complain from time to time about Beijing’s flouting of international sanctions against leaders they accuse of human rights abuses.

China also does not have the historical baggage of colonialism and slavery, which has complicated the relationship between African states and the US and Europe.

Still, the Chinese are not being welcomed by everybody. The flood of cheap goods from the east has all but destroyed the textile industry in Southern Africa, at a cost of thousands of jobs. Beijing also has the habit of bringing not just finance, but also construction companies that compete with local players. The Chinese have also shown little interest in skills transfer, frequently bringing their own engineers, technicians and, in some cases, labourers to carry out projects.

But for the most part, it has been a successful partnership, and one that looks set to grow.

Last month, China said it would spend $13bn on industrial, tourism, mining and energy projects in Mozambique, one of the poorest countries in the world. Some of the money would also go to constructing a 20 square km “Chinatown” in the capital, Maputo – a clear indication that Beijing intends to establish a permanent presence in the gas and mineral-rich country.

For HSBC, which has expanded rapidly in emerging markets, Africa has been an obvious gap in its portfolio. China’s commercial impact on the continent has made a presence in Africa all the more compelling.

business@thenational.ae

South Africa’s polygamous president, Jacob Zuma, is to become a father for the 22nd time following news that his fiancée is pregnant.
Jacob Zuma is to become a father for the 22nd time following news that his fiancée, Gloria Bongi Ngema, is pregnant. Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Bongiwe Gloria Ngema, who recently accompanied Mr Zuma on a state visit to China, is expecting a child early next year, according to media reports citing her close friends. The pair already have one child and are due to marry in December, which will bring to four the number of South Africa’s First Ladies.

Reports of the pregnancy comes only a fortnight after the arrival of Mr Zuma’s 21st child, which was born to the second of his current wives

Jacob Zuma is to become a father for the 22nd time following news that his fiancée, Gloria Bongi Ngema, is pregnant. Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Bongiwe Gloria Ngema, who recently accompanied Mr Zuma on a state visit to China, is expecting a child early next year, according to media reports citing her close friends. The pair already have one child and are due to marry in December, which will bring to four the number of South Africa’s First Ladies.

Reports of the pregnancy comes only a fortnight after the arrival of Mr Zuma’s 21st child, which was born to the second of his current wives

New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS) Indian and South African businesses may jointly tap investment opportunities in the rest of Africa, taking advantage of the inherent synergies between the two economies.

The areas that could foster tie-ups are pharmaceuticals, healthcare, food processing, automobiles, components, biotechnology, information technology, telecommunications, infrastructure, roads and railways.

This came out clearly from a four-day ‘India Show’ — a promotional event jointly organised by India’s commerce and industry ministry, and industry chamber Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)in Johannesburg.

The highlight of the event was a meeting of the high-profile India-South Africa chief executives’ forum. It was co-chaired by Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata and Patrice Motsepe, non-executive chair of African Rainbow Minerals (ARM).

The business leaders discussed the opportunities and challenges two-way trade offered and the bottlenecks that were hampering India-South Africa business ties.

Tata said the two economies should take advantage of the inherent synergies to form more partnerships.

Tata said South Africa can be used as a gateway to distribute products to the rest of the continent, owing to its strategic location and knowledge.

CII president Hari Bhartia said Indian pharmaceuticals companies were increasingly setting up base in South Africa, and that India-South Africa partnerships could be used to supply affordable, life-saving drugs into the rest of the continent.

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who was present at the meet, said he hoped the trade target of $10 billion set for 2012 could be achieved in 2011 itself, given the the current trend in bilateral trade.

The two-way trade stood at $7 billion last year. India is one of South Africa’s top ten investors.

South African President Jacob Zuma, who inaugurated the event, pushed for greater trade and economic ties between the two countries.

The event also saw India showcasing its ’soft power’, featuring its culture, cinema, fashion and cuisine. Leading designers Satya Paul and Manish Malhotra displayed Indian traditional attires to project Indian culture.

As part of the show, an India Food Week was also organised in collaboration with Taj Mahal Hotel. It was inaugurated by Sharma and South Africa’s International Relations Minister Maite Mashabane.