Odds are against us in 2011

Odds are against us in 2011

David Isaacson: Baby Jake Matlala, who has reportedly fallen on hard times after running up massive medical bills in his battle with pneumonia, turned 49 on Saturday.

One of this country's most famous fighters, Matlala shares his birthday with international icons - living and dead - such as Elvis, David Bowie, Stephen Hawking and Virgil Hill, a former light-heavyweight world champion.

Perhaps people born on January 8 or thereabouts (Corrie Sanders' birthday is January 7) are destined to become great musicians, sports stars or thinkers.

If the future is predetermined, we still have little clue about what 2011 has in store for sport. There are two world cups coming up, for cricket and rugby, and South Africa will be among the front-runners in both.

Lifting both trophies is not likely, but it's not impossible either. The only nation to win both tournaments in the same year, back in 1999, was Australia, and on both occasions they squeezed through the semifinals against South Africa.

Stephen Larkham kicked the winning dropped goal in extra time and Australia advanced to cricket's final after that heart-breaking tie at Edgbaston.

The 2011 Cricket World Cup will be stretched over 43 days, from February 19 to April 2, and will feature 14 teams and 49 matches. It's surely a bit of overkill considering that the 2010 soccer World Cup, with 32 teams, lasted 31 days.

Sub-continent wickets have not been South Africa's happiest hunting grounds; they boast 30 ODI wins against 26 defeats in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

And, if you remove Bangladesh, where the Proteas have their most impressive record of 9-1, from the equation, matches lost overtake games won.

The reigning champions, the Springboks, won't hold the favourite's tag in New Zealand but few fans will dismiss them out of hand.

With the Tri-Nations ending only two weeks before the World Cup in New Zealand kicks off on September 9 (20 teams playing over 45 days), the coaches must look after their stars.

Jake White's ploy of resting core players for the away Tri-Nations matches worked well in 2007, as opposed to the All Black strategy of resting players in the early stages of the Super 14.

Peter de Villiers has much to think about.

With 18 months to go to the London Olympics, there will be much interest in the athletics and swimming world championships in July and August.

In the pool, breaststroker Cameron vander Burgh will want to show that he can be a real medal hopeful in 2012, and Caster Semenya and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi will want to defend their world 800m titles on the athletics track.

South Africa's most nervous spectator will be Gideon Sam, who has based his tenure as SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee president on winning 12 medals in 2012. By the end of this year he will know if that goal is within reach.

Right now, it isn't.

In the world of boxing, maybe Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather can agree to fight each other in what would be the sport's biggest bout of all time.

Closer to home, unbeaten IBF minimum-weight champion Nkosinathi Joyi, who turned 28 on January 1, returns to action soon against Japanese contender Katsunari Takayama, who has lost three previous world title attempts on points.

They meet on January 29, two days after a benefit boxing evening aimed at raising funds for Matlala.