Abkhazia Institute for Social and Economic Research

During his general audience of 1 August 2007, during which Pope Benedict XVI received a delegation of over 200 scouts from all around the world, the head of the Roman Catholic Church gave a special mention to the Iraqi team's victory at the AFC Asian Cup at the end of July in Jakarta, Indonesia. The weekly German language version of the Osservatore Romano reported on 10 August that the Pope had expressed his delight at a victory which had given comfort and fresh hope to an entire nation. The declaration is reproduced below:

Of the estimated 26 million women worldwide who play the beautiful game, today we can reveal the names of an elite group of 336 individuals set to defend the colours of 16 national teams at the FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007, which runs from 10 to 30 September.

5-ANDY RODDICK V. 9-TOMAS BERDYCH
Roddick has looked terrific in his first three contests, but this contest will be a much greater challenge, as the young Czech is a big server with hard groundstrokes who is just itching to break through at a Grand Slam. He doesn't have Roddick's experience, fight or familiarity with Arthur Ashe Stadium, but he should be able to more than match him off the ground and on a great day, should be able to duplicate his serving prowess.

Both Shahar Peer and Agnieszka Radwanska entered their fourth round matchup riding waves of momentum after each scored upset three-set wins in their previous matches.