Sports round-up
Six Nations Rugby
The 2021 Six Nations tournament starts tomorrow and continues until March 20..
The opening day fixtures are Italy v. France in Rome and England v. Scotland at Twickenham, followed on Sunday by Wales against Ireland in Cardiff.
Thereafter, the full list of scheduled games reads:
February 13 : England v. Italy and Scotland v. Wales
February 14 : Ireland v.
France
February 27: Italy v. Ireland and Wales v. England
February 28 : France v. Scotland
March 13 : Italy v. Wales and England v. France
March 14: Scotland v. Ireland
March 20: Scotland v. Italy, Ireland v. England & France v. Wales
2020 Six Nations statistics Champions
England (29th title) Triple Crown
England (26th title) Calcutta Cup
England
Millennium Trophy England
Centenary Quaich Ireland
Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy France
Auld Alliance Trophy Scotland
Doddie Weir Cup Scotland
Matches played 15 Tries scored 74 (4.93 per match)
Top point scorer Romain Ntamack, France (57) Top try scorer Charles Ollivon, France (4)
Player of the tournament Antoine Dupont, France
Cricket in Asia
Today England’s cricketers, under the captaincy of Joe Root, start their Test series against India. After that with Eoin Morgan as skipper, the countries will contest five T20 games, followed by three One day Internationals, in a very tight and arduous seven-week schedule, running through until virtually the end of March.
The fixture list is as follows:
1st Test February 5-9 (Chennai)
2nd Test February 13-17 (Chennai)
3rd Test February 24-28 (Ahmedadad)
4th Test March 4-8 (Ahmedadad)
Five T20 games in nine days: March 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20
Three ODIs in less than a week: March 23, 26 and 28.
NB: To date, India and England have played each other in 122 Test Matches; England have won 47, India 26 with 49 drawn. Of the 100 ODIs played between the two countries, India lead with 53 wins to England’s 42, and it’s seven wins each from14 T20 fixtures which have taken place so far.
As of February 2, 2021, India is ranked second in Tests, second in ODIs and third in T20Is by the ICC. Top batsman Virat Kohli (with a Test average of 53.42) is the current captain of the team across all formats, while the head coach is Ravi Shastri.
Tennis down under
The first tennis Grand Slam of the year – The Australian Open – is due to start on Monday in Melbourne Park. However, the whole event could well be postponed as of today 600 or so players, coaches and staff are in isolation after an employee of a hotel tested positive for Covid-19.
The Australian championships started back in 1905- and it's now one of the biggest sporting events in the Southern Hemisphere. This year's tournament - if it goes ahead will run for two weeks with the finals (singles and doubles) taking place over the weekend of February 20-21. The organisers have agreed that up to 30,000 spectators each day can watch matches ‘live’ up to the quarter-final stages. And thereafter, 25,000 will be allowed into the ‘park’ to watch the last eight matches in each category, the semi-finals and then all of the five main finals.
Last year’s winners of the five finals were: Men’s singles - Novak Djokovic (v. Dominic Thiem); Women’s singles: Sofia Kenin (v. Garbine Muguruza of Spain); Men’s doubles: Rajeev Ram and Brit Joe Salisbury; Women’s doubles: Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic and the Mixed doubles: Barbora Krejcikova and Nichola Mektic.
Several top-line players will not be competing this year and they include six-time men's champion and former world number one Roger Federer, the Argentinian Juan Martin de Potro, the GB duo of Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund, the American John Isner and local star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and four women, Kiki Bertens, Madison Keys, Kim Clijsters and Brit Laura Robson.
FA Cup 5th round
Over the period of three days next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday - 16 teams will be competing for a place in the quarter-finals of this season’s FA Cup, 12 from the Premiership and four from the Championship.
There are two matches taking place on Tuesday: Burnley v. Bournemouth and Manchester United v. West Ham. Twenty-four hours later we have Everton v. Spurs, Leicester v. Brighton, Sheffield United v. Bristol City and Swansea v. Manchester City. And then on Thursday, it’s Barnsley v. Chelsea and Wolves v. Southampton.
Between them the remaining 16 teams have won the trophy a total of 53 times with Manchester United (12), Chelsea (8), Spurs (8) and Manchester City (6) the most successful. United last won the prize in 2016, while their arch rivals City lifted the silver pot in 2019.
The five clubs, as yet, who have not lifted the coveted prize are Bournemouth, Brighton (beaten finalists in 1983), Bristol City (losers in 1909), Leicester (who have lost in four previous finals (1949, 1961, 1963 and 1969) and Swansea.
As things stand right now, and if results go the right way, we could get a repeat of one of 12 post WW2 finals – Leicester-Wolves (1949), Spurs-Leicester (1961), Burnley-Spurs (1962), LeicesterMan. Utd (1963), ChelseaSpurs (1967), Leicester-Man. City (1969), SouthamptonMan. Utd (1976), BrightonMan. Utd (1983), Everton-Man. Utd (1985 & 1995), ChelseaEverton (2009) and Man. UtdChelsea (2007 & 2018).
And in the final at Wembley on Saturday, May 15, we could see an all-Manchester affair, an all-London showdown, a Midlands battle or an old fashioned Yorkshire derby. Time, results and of course the draws, will decide the outcome.
Golf update
Last weekend, England's Paul Casey has won his 15th European Tour title with a fourstroke success at the Dubai Desert Classic. The 43-year-old led by one shot going into the final round and a two-under 70 was enough for a 17-under final total at Emirates Golf Club.
South Africa's Brandon Stone finished as runner-up with Scotland's Robert MacIntyre a further shot back. MacIntyre, in fact, had a share of the lead early on in the tournament but four bogeys in a row from the seventh saw him drop out of contention.
This victory was Casey's first on the European Tour since his triumph in the 2019 European Open and as a result he has risen from 27th to 14th in the new world rankings which were released last Monday.
There are two big golf tournaments taking place right now – the Saudi Internatiional Classic and the Waster Management Pheonix Open in the USA. Both of them end on Sunday.
Alejandro Gómez
Last weekend the death was announced of the former Spanish long distance runner Alejandro Gómez. Born in Vigo, Pontevedra on April 11, 1967, Gómez competed in over 200 national and international events between 1986 and 2003, including 1,500m, 3,000m, 5,000m, 10,000m, steeplechases, marathons and cross country races. He was aged 53 when he passed away in hospital from a brain tumour.