James Bond and David Beckham starred as Britain welcomed the world to the Olympics in an eccentric opening ceremony showcasing the country's rich history and sense of fun.

Seven young athletes lit the cauldron in the climax to a show which ran into the early hours of Saturday before former Beatle Paul McCartney brought the curtain down at London's Olympic Stadium.

Senegal striker Papiss Cisse expressed his disappointment on Friday at having to give up on his dream of winning an Olympic medal.

The 27-year-old was wanted by his country as one of their overage players for the football tournament, which they kicked off with a 1-1 draw against hosts Great Britain at Old Trafford last night.

Dozens of spectators were turned away from the London Olympics archery at Lord's cricket ground on Friday after the first ticketing mix-up of Games, organizers said.

The preliminary men's archery round was being held behind closed doors as is traditional for the sport, but some fans were apparently misled by unofficial websites saying they would be allowed in.

Lewis Hamilton led team-mate Jenson Button as McLaren topped the times during Friday morning's first free practice for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Briton Hamilton, champion in 2008, looked strong from the get-go and took over the top spot half an hour in before clocking his and the session's fastest time with a lap of the Hungaroring in one minute 22.821 seconds halfway through the session.

Australia will play Lebanon in a football friendly in Beirut on September 6 in a final build-up to its World Cup qualifier against Jordan five days later.

Coach Holger Osieck said he will use the match — the first ever between Australia and Lebanon — to fine-tune his squad for the match against Jordan in Amman on Sept. 11.

European Champions League winners Chelsea suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to a Major League Soccer all-star team in an exhibition game, thanks to a late goal from Eddie Johnson.

Johnson was the hero with the winning strike in the 91st minute with Chris Wondolowski and Chris Pontius also scoring for the all-stars, and John Terry and Frank Lampard scoring for Chelsea.

Stars of sport and screen gathered in London to honor legendary heavyweight boxer and Olympic champion Muhammad Ali as the countdown to the 2012 Games neared its finale.

The 70-year-old boxer attended Wednesday's gala event at the Victoria and Albert Museum in central London which was hosted by Hollywood A-list couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

London's Olympics got off to an embarrassing start when North Korea's women footballers refused to play after a mix-up over their national flag, in one of a series of blunders.

Hosts Great Britain had kicked off the sports festival, years in the making and costing billions of dollars, with a 1-0 win over New Zealand as women's soccer got under way two days before the opening the ceremony.

Manchester City says captain Vincent Kompany has signed a six-year contract extension with the Premier League champions.

The Belgium central defender guided Man City to its first league title in 44 years and has played 161 games for the club since joining from German side Hamburg in 2008.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati headed on Thursday to London to join the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games as 10 Lebanese athletes will participate in various games.

According to An Nahar newspaper, the premier will be accompanied by Youth and Sports Minister Faisal Karami.