Sports round up
All the latest sport By Tony Matthews
Top man Ronnie
LAST Monday, at the Crucible in Sheffield, Ronnie O’Sullivan equalled Stephen Hendry’s post WW2 record by winning the World Snooker Championship for the seventh time with an 18-13 frame victory over Judd Trump. Sullivan, aged 46, also becomes the oldest winner of the tournament, eclipsing Ray Reardon who was 45 when he lifted the trophy in 1978.
Boxing stars
LAST Saturday evening a crowd of almost 20,000 at Madison Square Garden in New York saw Irish lass Katie Taylor retain her undisputed lightweight titles with a narrow points victory over American Amanda Serrano in a fight brimming with action, heart and excellence.
Taylor got the verdict on two judge’s cards, by 97-93 and 96-93 margins, with the other judge scoring it 96-94 in Serrano’s favour. In the men’s category… and Shakur Stevenson dominated the tough and rugged Mexican Óscar Valdez to claim a unanimous points decision, making him the unified super-featherweight WBC champion. In fact, American Stevenson extended his unbeaten record in the ring to 18 fights as he handed Valdez his first defeat in 31 bouts.
These were the judge’s scorecards, all in favour of Stevenson: 118-109, 117-110 and 118-109.
Curling Brits
IN Switzerland last weekend, the Scottish duo of Emma Muirhead and Bobby Lammie won the world mixed doubles curling gold medal, beating the duo of host nation 9-7 in a hardfought final. The Scots defeated Germany in the semi-finals.
Shock win
BRITISH runner Ellis Cross, a shop worker from Aldershot, hit the headlines last Sunday by beating Olympic Champion Sir Mo Farah in London’s Vitality 10,000 metre road race. Cross had to pay £37 to enter the race… and this victory was by far his best ever.
The downfall of Becker
EVERYONE who is interested in the soft ball game of tennis knows full well that the German Boris Becker – the youngest player ever to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon - has been sentenced to two-and-half years in prison for ‘hiding’ €2.9 million worth of assets and loans to avoid paying debts. The 54 year-old six-time Grand Slam champion was found guilty of four charges under the official Insolvency Act.
The case centred on Becker's bankruptcy in June 2017 resulting from an unpaid loan of more than €3.5m on his luxury estate in Mallorca, Spain.
Judge Deborah Taylor said he had shown no remorse or acceptance of guilt.
Referring to Becker's previous conviction for tax evasion in Germany in 2002, she told the former world number one: "You did not heed the warning you were given and the chance you were given by the suspended sentence and that is a significant aggravating factor.
"You have sought to distance yourself from your offending and your bankruptcy.”
Back on track
STAYING with tennis, and meanwhile, out on the court, British teenager Emma Raducanu, who is now seeking a new coach – the fourth in quick succession - won her latest title, beating Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-1 in the final of the Madrid Open in the Arantxa Sánchez stadium.
Races hotting up!
THE RACE to see who will be crowned 2021-22 Premiership champions will go to the wire after last weekend’s results which saw Manchester City, leaders by one point (83-82) win 4-0 away at Leeds and secondplaced Liverpool register a hard-earned, but deserved 1-0 victory at Newcastle.
And Arsenal have edged their way into the final Champions League place after a 2-1 away win at London rivals West Ham. They stand fourth, just ahead of Tottenham.
Up and down
IT’S official, Norwich City will be playing Championship football next season, after last weekend’s 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa confirmed their relegation. This is a record fourth time the Canaries have been demoted from the top flight in the last eight seasons. And Watford, beaten 2-1 at home by Burnley are virtually certain to join the Canaries in the Championship next season, while Everton are battling hard to stay up. Last weekend they courageously beat third-placed Chelsea 1-0 to secure three vital points in the relegation dogfight. They are still in the bottom three but have a game in hand over both Leeds (17th) and Burnley (16th).
Everton have been playing in the top flight of English football since 1954... only Arsenal have a better record.
Champions
FULHAM celebrated winning the Championship with a thumping 7-0 home win over play-off hopefuls Luton Town last Sunday. Striker Aleksandar Mitrovic scored twice for the Cottagers, taking his goaltally for the season to 43, eclipsing the 30 year old record of 42 in a single campaign set by Portsmouth’s Guy Whittingham back in 1991-92. Fortyeight hours later Bournemouth beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 to join Fulham in the top flight.
In Scotland, and Celtic will clinch the SPL title for the 52nd time if they gain a point at home to Hearts tomorrow afternoon. Last weekend the Parkhead club drew 1-1 with Glasgow rivals Rangers in the ‘Old Firm derby’ and as it stands, they are now six points clear of the neighbours from Ibrox Park.
And last Saturday, here in Spain, Real Madrid hammered Espanyol 4-0 and as a result were crowned LaLiga champions for the 35th time. And at the same time it was also a triumph for head coach Carlo Ancelotti who became the first manager to win the championship of all five of Europe's major Leagues – the others being Italy's Serie A, France's Ligue 1, the Premier League in England and the German Bundesliga.
European finals
This season’s Champions League final in Paris will feature
quadruple-chasing Liverpool against Real Madrid. In the two semi-finals, the Merseysiders beat Villarreal 3-2 (5-2 on aggregate) and the Spanish club scored three very late goals to defeat Manchester City 3-1 (6-5 overall) in a brilliant encounter at the Bernabeu.
Elsewhere… the Europa League final will feature Eintracht Frankfurt or West Ham against Rangers or Leipzig, while the Europa Conference final will see either Leicester City or AS Roma face Olympique Marseille or Feyenoord.
Footballers' agent passes
ITALIAN Mino Raiola, regarded as the world’s most prolific football players’ agent, has died at the age of 54. During his lifetime the one-time pizza delivery guy acted as a guide to over 60 professional footballers, among them Erling Haaland, Mario Balotelli, Pavel Nedvèd, Jesse Lingard, Martin Jol, Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Dennis Bergkamp.
Rapid strike
IT has been officially confirmed that Kevin de Bruyne’s headed goal for Manchester City against Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at the Etihad Stadium last month was the quickest-ever in the competition, timed at 94 seconds.
New boss perhaps
STAYING with Manchester City – and their former defender Vincent Kompany, along with Wayne Rooney and Chris Wilder, are among candidates who are in line to become the next manager of Burnley. Meanwhile, Michael Appleton has resigned as manager of Lincoln City. The Imps are now looking for their 15th boss in the last 25 years.
Barred
RUSSIA has been barred from competing in this summer's UEFA Women's Euro 2022, while all Russian clubs will also be banned from UEFA competitions next season, says Europe's football governing body.
UEFA has also announced that Russia's bid to host the men's Euro 2028 or Euro 2032 tournaments is now ineligible too.
The sanctions come amid Russia's continued invasion of Ukraine.
In February, Russian clubs and national teams were suspended by FIFA and UEFA ‘until further notice’.
Tony Brooks
ONE of the best British drivers never to have won the F1 World Championship, Tony Brooks has died aged 90. He was a top man at the wheel with Stirling Moss, Juan Manuel Fangio and Alberto Ascari in the 1950s.