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Post by Shireblogger on May 28, 2018 10:14:59 GMT 1
GARETH BALECardiff-born Gareth Bale has become the first British footballer to win 4 European Champions League medals. Unfortunately, he had to sign for a Spanish club, Real Madrid, to achieve this feat. Bale, who has 70 caps for Wales, started his career at Southampton, before being signed by Tottenham aged 18. Having won no trophies at all during 5 years at Spurs, he moved to Real in 2013 for £85 million, which was at the time a world record transfer fee. Real won the world's top club competition, the European Champions League, in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018. In 2014 Bale scored the goal that gave Real a 2-1 lead in extra time (on their way to beating Atletico Madrid 4-1). In 2016 he scored in the penalty shoot-out which meant Real against beat Atletico in the final. In 2017 he was on the substitute's bench, and came on with Real already beating Juventus 3-1, en route to another 4-1 triumph. On Saturday night Bale earned the Man of the Match award, and scored 2 of the goals, as Real beat Liverpool 3-1. I had hoped to be writing about Liverpool's success this morning, but it wasn't to be. Real also won the 2014 World Club Cup, with Bale scoring in the final, a 2-0 victory over Argentina's San Lorenzo; and he was a playing substitute in the 2017 final, which saw Real beat Brazil's Gremio 1-0. Bale is still only 28, so he will probably add more precious metal to his personal trophy cabinet.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Jul 1, 2018 8:16:33 GMT 1
With Wimbledon starting tomorrow I was going to post any notable results in here, hope that's OK. This is the most exciting group of women we've had for a while. Hopefully that will make up for the fact I'm not sure we'll have anyone (in singles) male or female in the second week...
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Post by suedehead on Jul 1, 2018 11:48:48 GMT 1
With Wimbledon starting tomorrow I was going to post any notable results in here, hope that's OK. This is the most exciting group of women we've had for a while. Hopefully that will make up for the fact I'm not sure we'll have anyone (in singles) male or female in the second week... I don't think we can even rely on the weather to help British players into the second week this year.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Jul 3, 2018 11:00:35 GMT 1
Wimbledon Day 1
19 year old Katie Swan (ranked 204) beat 27 year old Begu (ranked 36) 6-2 6-2
I hadn't realised Begu was ranked as high as she is and i'm still struggling to understand why. I watched all but the first game of the match and the scoreline was definitely more impressive than the match. Swan never looked in trouble on her serve but first set she didn't have to do anything special to win it, Begu gifted her both breaks. 2nd set with the confidence of winning the first set she played really well, but again Begu played a pretty sloppy game to get broken and then double faulted to lose the match at the end. Nice to see that Swan has now completely lost her American accent!
21 year old Harriet Dart (ranked 171) lost 7-6 (7-2) 2-6 6-1 to 7th seed 26 year old Karolina Pliskova (ranked 8)
Not a win but felt this was worth mentioning as it was a better more exciting match even though Dart lost. First time I've seen her play (saw the vast majority of the match which lasted over 2 hours) and I can see why she says her favourite surface is grass and she's had the results she's had in the last few years - the most notable being a first round win over Heather Watson in Surbiton this year and reaching the final qualifying round of Wimbledon in 2016 when she lost something like 13-11 in the final set. I remember that being mentioned after the main draw had started as the player that beat her then won her first round match, and I think it may have been mentioned because of a retirement or something as I remember thinking at the time that it was such a shame that Dart hadn't been the beneficiary. Anyway, it looked yesterday like grass was a natural surface for her. The first two sets was such high quality from her until she had a nasty fall serving 4-1 up in the 2nd set. It looked pretty concerning for a while and i didn't see the rest of the set but it obviously didn't stop her winning the set. The final set I don't know whether the injury affected her (it was strapped up though i must admit i hadn't noticed ) or whether she just ran out of steam, i'm thinking the latter given the match was over 2 hours, but it was really disappointing though more like what i expected the match would be like for her. Overall though, Sam Smith commentating on the match said she played like a Top 50 player and i'd agree with that. It was a shame she had such a tough draw as i reckon she'd have beaten most unseeded players playing like she did. Having said that, i can sort of see why Karolina Pliskova has never gone past R2 at Wimbledon before based on her performance. Why she struggles so much at Wimbledon is a complete mystery, she's won plenty of matches over the years in the pre-tournament warm-up events.
On another note, it was interesting to discover that Harriet's mum Susie was a former player herself, Sam Smith said she remembers her from her junior days. Given that it seems she never had a professional career it wasn't a surprise that I hadn't heard of her before.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Jul 4, 2018 14:22:17 GMT 1
Wimbledon Day 2
There were a couple of matches I thought about mentioning, but decided that I either didn't see enough or thought they weren't quite impressive enough to mention - so only 1 to mention, for yesterday and today. I'll add the ages to the previous post as well.
21 year old Katie Boulter (ranked 122) beat 26 year old Cepede Royg (ranked 123) 6-4 5-7 6-4.
Saw all of this, a surprisingly high quality match given that neither was Top 100, and I don't think Boulter's opponent had much grass pedigree either. Boulter replicated what England did in the World Cup later - in control but then throws it away only to come through in the end. She was absolutely brilliant up until she served for the match at 5-4 in the 2nd set when she got nervous. It took a while in the third set for her to recover but once she broke I was confident she'd finish it off. I think she maybe broke too early in the 2nd set, gave her too much time to think about what was at stake. I watched her Wimbledon debut last year, a 3 set defeat, and thought she justified the wildcard. This year, even with the wobble, she was more impressive. Nice to see a good performance rewarded with the win
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Post by Shireblogger on Jul 4, 2018 14:55:57 GMT 1
I saw Katie Boulter beat Sam Stosur at the Nottingham Open a few weeks ago. She looks to have genuine potential.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Jul 13, 2018 19:48:31 GMT 1
Wimbledon Day 11
Jack Draper a short time ago went through to the boys singles final after beating the 5th seed Nicolas Mejia 19-17 in the final set in a match that lasted 4 hr 23! The last Brit to reach the Wimbledon boys singles final I think was Miles Kasiri in 2004? I think, and hope, the final is on Sunday.
Also worth mentioning that we had Brits in both semi finals of the mens doubles, and in 3 of the 4 quarter-finals. Don't know when that last happened.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Jul 14, 2018 21:12:07 GMT 1
Wimbledon Day 12 Alfie Hewitt and Gordon Reid won the wheelchair doubles for the 3rd year in a row. The boys singles final is tomorrow at 1pm. Wimbledon Day 11
Also worth mentioning that we had Brits in both semi finals of the mens doubles, and in 3 of the 4 quarter-finals. Don't know when that last happened. The last time it happened, in both cases, was 1939.
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Post by Shireblogger on Jul 17, 2018 11:08:15 GMT 1
ENGLAND FOOTBALL TEAM4th place doesn't normally get a mention in this thread. But 4th place in the most important once-in-4-years tournament for the world's most popular sport is sufficient for an exception. England matched their best performance in 52 years, beating Tunisia, Panama, Colombia and Sweden en-route to a semi-final extra-time defeat to Croatia, and a 3rd place play-off defeat to Belgium. We've had a very popular thread on the 2018 World Cup, so no need for much more here. Apart from a specific mention for HARRY KANE, who won the Golden Boot as the event's top scorer with 6 goals. Kane thus matches Gary Lineker in 1986 (when it was called the Golden Shoe), as the only other British winner. (Geoff Hurst was joint 3rd in 1966, as was Lineker in 1990).
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Post by Shireblogger on Jul 17, 2018 11:36:11 GMT 1
2 WIMBLEDON WINNERS & 5 RUNNERS-UP2018 was not a vintage Wimbledon. However, Britain was represented in the final of 7 events, although only two were victorious. WINNERSWHEELCHAIR MEN'S DOUBLESAlfie Hewitt & Gordon Reid beat Joachim Gerard & Stefan Olsson WHEELCHAIR QUAD DOUBLESAndrew Lapthorne & David Wagner (USA) beat Dylan Alcott and Lucas Sithole RUNNERS-UPMIXED DOUBLESJamie Murray & Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) lost to Alexander Peya & Nicole Melichar WHEELCHAIR WOMEN'S DOUBLESLucy Shuker & Sabine Ellerbrock (Germany) lost to Diede de Groot & Yui Kamiji BOY'S SINGLESJack Draper lost to Tseng Chun-hsin MEN'S INVITATION DOUBLESColin Fleming & Xavier Malisse (Belgium) lost to Tommy Haas & Mark Philippoussis SENIOR MEN'S INVITATION DOUBLESMark Petchey & Richard Krajicek (Netherlands) lost to Jonas Bjorkman & Todd Woodbridge The Wimbledon Boy's Singles event is an unreliable guide to future stars. Previous winners include:- Bjorn Borg (1972), Ivan Lendl (1978), Pat Cash (1982), Stefan Edberg (1983) and Roger Federer (1998). But only 3 winners since Federer have ever reached the World Top 20, namely Jurgen Melzer (1999), Gael Monfils (2004), and Grigor Dimitrov (2008). Indeed, almost half of the last 20 winners never even reached the World Top 100. There were 6 British winners between inauguration in 1947, and 1962:- John Horn, Bobby Wilson, Billy Knight, Mike Hann, Jimmy Tattersall & Stanley Matthews. Only Wilson and Knight ever progressed beyond the 2nd Round of any Grand Slam, and neither ever reached a Semi-Final. Andy Murray's best performance was the 3rd Round in 2004, whilst Tim Henman went out in the 1st Round in 1992, his only entry. Jack Draper
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Post by Shireblogger on Jul 29, 2018 11:14:06 GMT 1
ENGLAND ODI CRICKET TEAMHaving beaten India 2-1 in the recent series, England have consolidated their position at #1 in the World Rankings based on One Day Internationals. (England is ranked 4th in T20 and 5th in Tests). England have won all of their most recent ODI series against the other nations, with the sole exception of Scotland ! India (2018) 2-1 Australia (2018) 5-0 Scotland (2018) 0-1 New Zealand (2018) 3-2 West Indies (2017) 4-0 South Africa (2017) 2-1 Ireland (2017) 2-0 Bangladesh (2016) 2-1 Pakistan (2016) 4-1 Sri Lanka (2016) 3-0 Zimbabwe (2004) 4-0 In the individual player rankings for ODIs, England's stars are:- Batting2nd: Joe Root 11th: Jonny Bairstow 16th: Jos Buttler 20th: Jason Roy 22nd: Eoin Morgan 25th: Alex Hales 28th: Ben Stokes Bowling8th: Adil Rashid 11th: Chris Woakes 14th: Moeen Ali 20th: Liam Plunkett 26th: Mark Wood
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Post by Shireblogger on Jul 29, 2018 11:27:54 GMT 1
RICHARD KRUSERichard Kruse is Britain's first world medallist fencer for over 50 years. On 24th July he won silver in the men's Foil event at the World Championships, being staged in Wuxi, China. Britain's last World Championship medal was also a silver, for Bill Hoskyns in the men's Epee in 1965. Kruse is 34 and from London. He was a gold medallist at the European Under-20 Championships in 2002, and has two silvers and five bronzes at the European Championships. GB beat Italy to gold in the team Foil event at the European Games in 2015, with Kruse in the team. His Olympic record is 2004: 8th 2008: 14th 2012: 17th 2018: 4th
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Post by rubcale on Jul 29, 2018 13:18:15 GMT 1
Never even saw this reported in the Sports Pages.
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Post by raliverpool on Jul 29, 2018 17:25:59 GMT 1
GARETH BALECardiff-born Gareth Bale has become the first British footballer to win 4 European Champions League medals. Unfortunately, he had to sign for a Spanish club, Real Madrid, to achieve this feat. Bale, who has 70 caps for Wales, started his career at Southampton, before being signed by Tottenham aged 18. Having won no trophies at all during 5 years at Spurs, he moved to Real in 2013 for £85 million, which was at the time a world record transfer fee. Real won the world's top club competition, the European Champions League, in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018. In 2014 Bale scored the goal that gave Real a 2-1 lead in extra time (on their way to beating Atletico Madrid 4-1). In 2016 he scored in the penalty shoot-out which meant Real against beat Atletico in the final. In 2017 he was on the substitute's bench, and came on with Real already beating Juventus 3-1, en route to another 4-1 triumph. On Saturday night Bale earned the Man of the Match award, and scored 2 of the goals, as Real beat Liverpool 3-1. I had hoped to be writing about Liverpool's success this morning, but it wasn't to be. Real also won the 2014 World Club Cup, with Bale scoring in the final, a 2-0 victory over Argentina's San Lorenzo; and he was a playing substitute in the 2017 final, which saw Real beat Brazil's Gremio 1-0. Bale is still only 28, so he will probably add more precious metal to his personal trophy cabinet. I suspect you might by posting about a fellow Whitchurch High pupil shortly .....
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Post by Shireblogger on Jul 29, 2018 17:28:02 GMT 1
I suspect you might by posting about a fellow Whitchurch High pupil shortly ..... Hope so. Just not wishing to tempt fate.
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Jul 29, 2018 18:36:50 GMT 1
You will be now
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Post by Shireblogger on Jul 30, 2018 9:15:21 GMT 1
GERAINT THOMASThe 32 year-old Welshman has become the 3rd Brit to win the world's most challenging bicycle race, the Tour de France. In terms of achievement, based on prestige and quality of the competition, this ranks alongside winning Wimbledon or the Open. Thomas has won plenty of important bicycle races before, but has previously always been on domestique duties (usually supporting Bradley Wiggins or Chris Froome) in the Tour. This time he was given joint leadership status, and when he won the tough 11th stage it became clear he was a genuine contender. The next day, Thomas became the first rider ever to win the famous Alpe d'Huez mountain finish whilst wearing the leader's yellow jersey. He then defended his race lead for the remaining week-and-a-half, whilst looking relaxed and confident throughout. For the record, some of Thomas' previous palmares:- MBE: 2009 BBC Welsh Sports Personality Of The Year: 2014 Olympic Gold: 2008 - Team Pursuit (World Record time) Olympic Gold: 2012 - Team Pursuit (World Record time) World Champion: 2007 - Team Pursuit World Champion: 2008 - Team Pursuit World Champion: 2012 - Team Pursuit World Championship Bronze: 2013 - Team Time Trial World Championship Bronze: 2017 - Team Time Trial Commonwealth Games Gold: 2012 - Road Race Commonwealth Games Bronze: 2012 - Time Trial UK National Road Race Champion: 2010 UK National Road Race Time Trial Champion: 2018 Tour Of Britain: 2011 - Points Classification winner Paris-Nice Winner: 2014 Criterium du Dauphine Winner: 2018 Tour of the Alps Winner: 2015 E3 Harelbeke Winner: 2015 Volta ao Algarve Winner: 2014 Fleche de Sud Winner: 2006 And his Grand Tour Record: Tour De France 2007 - 140th (youngest rider in the race, 1st Welsh rider for 40 years) 2010 - 67th (wore the Best Young Rider jersey for 4 days) 2011 - 31st (wore the Best Young Rider jersey for 8 days & won most combative rider award on stage 12) 2013 - 140th (fractured his pelvis on stage 1, but rode on to support Chris Froome's 1st victory) 2014 - 22nd 2015 - 15th (knocked off the side of a mountain by another rider on stage 16, but rode on to support Chris Froome's 2nd victory) 2016 - 15th (supporting Chris Froome's 3rd victory) 2017 - crashed out on stage 9 breaking his collarbone (won Stage 1, wore the Yellow Jersey for 4 days) 2018 - winner (won stages 11 & 12) Giro d'Italia 2008 - 118th 2012 - 80th (lead out man for Mark Cavendish, who won 3 stages) 2017 - withdrew after injuring knee when another rider collided with a police motorcycle and landed in front of him Vuelta a Espana 2015 - 69th This is one I can illustrate with my own photo, taken at the 2014 Tour de France.
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Post by Shireblogger on Aug 5, 2018 10:51:07 GMT 1
ADAM PEATYBritain's best swimmer, ever ? Yesterday, Adam Peaty broke his 8th world record:- Men's Breaststroke 18/8/14: 50m: 26.62s 17/4/15: 100m: 57.92s 4/8/15: 50m: 26.42s 6/8/16: 100m: 57.55s (also an Olympic Record) 7/8/16: 100m: 57.13s (also an Olympic Record) 25/7/17: 50m: 26.10s 25/7/17: 50m: 25.95s 4/8/18: 100m: 57.00s
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Post by Shireblogger on Aug 6, 2018 10:27:59 GMT 1
GEORGIA HALLWinner of the Women's Open Golf Championship this weekend, held at Royal Lytham & St Anne's. Georgia is only 22 - very young for such a successful player - and hails from Bournemouth. She scored 4 rounds under 70, to finish on 17 under par, 2 shots ahead of Thailand's Pornanong Phatlum. Remarkably, she dropped shots at just 3 holes (of 72) in the whole tournament. Her father was her caddy. Hall won the British Amateur Championship in 2013 (aged just 17), and turned professional the following year. Last year, she tied for 3rd place at the Open, and she was the 4th best points scorer on the European team in the 2017 Solheim Cup. She also finished top of the European Order of Merit in 2017, which goes to the player who won most money in the year. (In her case - € 369,000). This year's Open started with a field of 144 competitors, of whom 16 were British. The other leading nationalities were USA (34), South Korea (20), Sweden (10), Thailand (9) and Australia (8), which serves to illustrate how international women's golf has become. Seven previous champions teed off. The British Open has been deemed a Major since 2001. Hall is the third Brit to win in this period, following in the footsteps of Karen Stupples (2004) and Catriona Matthew (2009). In the 42 year history of the British Open, there have been just 8 British winners.
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Post by Shireblogger on Aug 27, 2018 8:43:33 GMT 1
Catching up.
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