WORLD OF SPORT
Sunderland finally have a home victory to cherish
When Sunderland fans left the Stadium of Light on December 17, 2016, after seeing their side defeat Watford 1-0 in a Premier League clash, it would have felt like a typical day out for them. Little were they to realise that they were going to have to wait a long time to experience another victory on home turf. Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Fulham in the Championship, which came through a goal 13 minutes from time from Josh Maja, was their first win at the Stadium of Light for almost a year. They had played 21 games since the success over Watford, made up of 10 Premier League games, 10 in the Championship and one in the FA Cup, and failed to win any of them. It was the longest winless streak by a side in England at their home ground. “It is nice that we have got that result at home,” Sunderland manager Chris Coleman the said. “It’s brilliant, but we have still got huge challenges ahead.”
It is 69 and out for Celtic’s unbeaten run
In a case of polar opposites yesterday, while Sunderland’s winless run came to an end, Celtic’s unbeaten streak of 69 matches in Scottish Premiership games came to a resounding stop as they were trounced 4-0 by Hearts. It was their first loss in a league game since May 2016. Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was keen to pay tribute to his side despite seeing them well beaten. “I want to congratulate my players,” he said. “To have gone through 69 games and this to be their first defeat. Of course, it’s a sore one when you are beaten like that but they can hold their heads up. They have been absolutely amazing over those 18 months. It’s over now and we need to get ready to go again. We hit the reset button and look to get three points in our next game.”
Gabart enjoys ‘pleasure’ of his new record
When world records are usually broken it is by small margins. That was not the case when it came to French sailor Francois Gabart, who broke the record for sailing around the world alone by circumnavigating the planet in just 42 days and 16 hours. That is more than six days faster than the previous time that was set by fellow Frenchman Thomas Coville last year. The organisers, tracking his journey by satellite, tweeted that 34-year-old Gabart reached the finish line near Ouessant, an island off France’s western coast, on his trimaran called Macif before dawn yesterday. “It’s a crazy pleasure ... all this human energy,” Gabart said. “I’m a solitary sailor, but this is a pleasure.”