What a weekend of Sports! Suga had no idea the weekend would be packed with so many Championships, drama and talent, but the Sports channels certainly delivered some unexpected treats and entertainment.
Swimming – U.S. Nationals in San Antonio
Michael Phelps (30 years old), the most decorated Olympian is not only back but back in Olympic form with 1 year to RIO! Phelps was out of the picture for a while, especially with his 6-month suspension for a DUI that ended 4 months ago. However, he was still not allowed to enter the World Championships in Russia. Instead he was confined to swimming in a more minor, but still important and respected National meet in San Antonio, USA.
Looks like they should have sent him to Kazan, Russia though, because Phelps’ times were faster than the Gold-winning times there. USA also had a poor performance only winning 2 individual gold medals! Phelps’ 3 individual events were the 100m Fly, 200m Fly and 200m IM. He had a late entry in the 200m Breast stroke perhaps just for practice, since he is worst at that one. He finished 5th in that race. But for his 3 main performances? He was body lengths ahead, racing against the clock and not the field. His 200m Fly time was faster than his Gold winning performance at the London Olympics and his 100m FLY and 200m IM times were just tenths of a second off. Spectacular performance. Can the legend on the track, Usain Bolt show he is back and ready for RIO too at the World Championships in Beijing this August 23?!
Golf – PGA Championship
Jason Day finished the PGA Championship at 20 under with a par on the 18th hole, breaking Tiger Woods’ major championship record set of -19 at the 2000 Open Championship. After 7 top 5s including 3 second place finishes previously at majors and 10 top 10s since 2010, he finally came through and won his first major championship in style. Congrats Jason!
Netball- World Cup 2015
Surprise Surprise, the Aussie Diamonds won the Netball World Cup in Australia. The Aussies have dominated for decades with their only threat, if any, being from New Zealand. The Sunshine girls from Jamaica played well, finishing 4th overall. They fell to the Aussies in the semi-finals 56-67 and then lost to England in the usual fight for Bronze, 44-66.
Tennis – Rogers Cup, Montreal
Serena Williams was upset by Belinda Bencic (mentored by former rival of Serena, Martina Hingis) in the semi-finals of the Rogers cup in 3 sets. Serena said she felt that she played like an amateur. Did she play like an amateur or did Bencic finally get an opportunity to beat her strategically? Bencic went on to win the cup in the finals by default versus Simona Halep, who retired down 0-3 in the 3rd set due to injury/heat.
For the men, Andy Murray (no. 2) beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to win his 3rd Rogers Cup and eight-match losing streak versus world no. 1, Djoko. It was not easy though. After Djoko steam rolled him to even sets, Murray took an extended bathroom break before the 3rd and came out to serve first then quickly broke Djokovic to go up 2-0. At 3-1, Djokovic failed many times to break Murray’s serve and Murray finally went up to 4-1 after Deuce #10, a point that lasted over 15 minutes! I think that decided the match. Djokovic still showed some effort but Murray did not give up after losing 4 Championship points. He finally converted the 5th and won. Satisfying for Murray but frustrating for Djoko, whose streaks had to finally come to an end – 30 straight wins at Masters events, 24 straight wins in Masters deciding sets, 12 straight wins in Masters finals and of course, 8 straight wins versus Andy Murray.
Gymnastics – USA Nationals
All Suga can say is that the men looked pathetic as usual. They were described as sloppy, making it hard for the selection committee to choose the best from the worst with competitors failing in what should be their strongest events individually. There were numerous falls off the bars, outrunning the runway after the vault and even unsure dismounts, one of which had to be repeated. Embarrassing.
Thank goodness for the ladies. Look out for Simone Biles, the women’s all-round Gymnastics Champ.
Barclay’s Premier League, BPL
Manchester City, runner up of BPL 2015, surely made their agenda known yesterday with a convincing 3-0 win over Defending Champs, Chelsea. After Terry’s failed attempt to defend the start of a play ending with Sergio Aguero’s first goal (31′), Terry was taken off for the entire 2nd half of the match. Kompany took advantage of a corner kick to head in the 2nd goal (79′) that went in off of the post and then Chelsea’s defense totally fell apart, resulting in Man City’s 3rd goal (85′) by Fernandinho. Mourinho placed players such as Fabregas and more in positions they should not have been, resulting in crucial coaching errors and they also played without their goal keeper who was sent off in the previous match, however Suga thinks Man City would have still come out on top regardless. After a draw with Swansea and a horrible loss to Man City for the opening of BPL, Chelsea has some work to do.
Looking forward to another weekend of high quality competition and variety of sports some time soon! Suga hopes you enjoyed as well.
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