Soprt in the week 3/9/12 till 10/9/12

This week has been dramatic on and off the playing fields and for that plenty of action has occurred around the world of sport. Events included, the Paralympics continuing to play the way into the nations hearts, International football including World Cup Qualifiers for all he home nations, Ryder Cup wildcard picks were made, US tennis Open concluded and Warren Gatland being announced the Lions team director for the upcoming 2013 Lions tour of Australia.

We start with the Paralympics and the amazing achievement that they have achieved. Medals have been occurring from all over the place and the nation has been amazed for what we can achieve if we believe that we can do it. From Ellie Simmonds in the pool, to David Weir in wheelchair racing, to Sarah Storey in the cycling, all people now can say that they were there to witness what has happened throughout the 11 days of this prestigious event.

However, the main event of these games occurred Thursday night in the T44 100m. This event was known as the ‘battle of the blades’ due to the fact that South African Oscar Pistorius faced the British wonder-kid Jonnie Peacock. In the semi-final, both Pistorius and Peacock easily came through with fast times to set up an exciting final. The final itself didn’t start well at all with the 200m winner of this category, Alan Olivier, false starting from a standing position. When they all got a green card, they were ready again and Jonnie Peacock flew out of the blocks. Pistorius wasn’t far behind but he just couldn’t keep up with the sheer power created by the British, one-legged amputee. Peacock raced home for gold in a new Paralympic Record while Pistorius faltered on the big stage and only finish 4^th. However, Pistorius did get some pride back from the heartache which he gained by winning the T44 400m and the amputee 4x100m relay.

On Sunday night we saw the end to the British summer of sport with the Paralympics closing ceremony. Headlined by Coldplay, the ceremony brought an end to the brilliance of both games and passed over the baton to Rio de Janeiro. The expectation of the games will be as high as ever due to the excellence of the games held at London.  

In football, competitive internationals occur for the first time in the season. This is the start of the road to Brazil and the home nations will be hoping to get their campaigns off to a good start. On Friday night, England faced Moldova, Wales faced Belgium and Northern Ireland faced Fabio Capello’s Russia. While on Saturday, Scotland played Serbia and Republic of Ireland play Kazakhstan for the first time competitively.

Northern Ireland didn’t their campaign off to a good start due to a 2-0 defeat. Goals from Alexander Kerzahakov and Roman Shirokov helped Russia to their first competitive win under Capello. Wales also suffered defeat by a score line of 2-0. Goals from Vincent Kompany and Jan Vertongen helped Belgium to their first win in the group.

However, England did bring some joy for the home nation on Friday night with a comprehensive 5-0 win. Three goals in the first half set them on the way courtesy from two goals from Frank Lampard, one from the penalty spot and another from a header, and one from Jermain Defoe. In the second half England failed to capitalise on their chances until 16 minutes from time when James Milner drived home a powerful 4^th. The route was complete when a Leighton Baines free-kick was heavily deflected into the Moldova net.

On Saturday, Scotland drew 0-0 with Serbia at Hampden Park. Scotland will be the happier of the two teams and will hope to kick on from this to try and ensure a qualifying place for the World Cup which is held in Brazil.

In cricket, England eventually drew the series with South Africa with the last game off the series South Africa winning by 7 wickets, has him Alma and AB de Villiers staring with the back with scores of 97 and 75 respectively. England were helpless to any chance of a victory when they only scored 182 with only person to reach a half-century, Alastair Cook with 51.

In the first T-20 international, England were comprehensively beaten by South Africa. The 7 wicket victory margin was a fair reflection of the domination that the South Africans had throughout the match. England will need to bounce back quickly from that to try and gain some momentum for the upcoming T20 world cup which will be held in Sri Lanka.

In others sports, the Aviva Premiership continued with round two of the most prestigious rugby union league in the world. Leicester and Harlequins continued their 100% points record by gaining 4-try wins against Worcester and London Welsh respectively. Also, in the US Open, Serena Williams won her 4^th US Open beating Victoria Azerenka in three sets 6-2 2-6 7-5. This encounter was set to be a battle to the bitter end with both players playing exceptional tennis to get to the final. In the men’s final, Britain’s Andy Murray faced Serbia’s Novak Djockavic. Murray was trying to win his first grand slam after his previous four finals ended with him with the runners-up plate. Murray ran into a two sets lead in over two hours, but Novak came back strong with two sets of his own. However, Murray was determined to get his first grand slam and won the last set comfortably. With this win, he is the first British person to win a Grand Slam since Fred Perry 76 years ago.

4/9/12

Last week we occurred one of the busiest weeks of sport of the year, which included the start of the Paralympic Games, a weekend full of football, One-Day Internationals between England and South Africa and also the start of the Aviva Premiership for Rugby Union fans.

We start with the Paralympics Games which had the expectations of the Olympics on its back and how it delivered! With already 19 gold medals and rising, team GB look set to have the best Paralympics ever and that, combined with the efforts of our Olympic team. 

However, the main talking point of the games so far has to be Oscar Pistorius and the comments made by him after he was destroyed in the last 50 metres by Brazilian Alan Oliveira in the T44 200 metres on Sunday night. Pistorius claimed that the length of Oliveira's blades gave him a distinct advantage over the South African. This was later dismissed by the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) and they said that all athletes blades are checked prior the meetings held in London. 

In other news, week three of the Barclays Premier League gave us plenty to ponder. Saturday lunch-time saw West Ham beat a Fulham side, lacking Mussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey, 3-0. This game saw Andy Carroll full of confidence on his debut after his season-long loan from Liverpool. Other games on Saturday included Swansea and Sunderland battling in an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Liberty Stadium, Tottenham drawing 1-1 with Norwich with new boy Mussa Dembele scoring on his debut for Spurs. Also, West Brom remain unbeaten in the Premier League after a convincing 2-0 win over a Marouane Fellani inspired Everton. Goals from Shane Long and Gareth McAuley helping them to gain 7 from a possible 9 points. Wigan played an entertaining match with Stoke which ended 2-2 but this game could of had plenty more goals with many guilt-edged chances going to waste. 

In the evening fixture, Manchester City played a re-shuffled QPR side at the Etihad Stadium. Everything was going to plan in the first half and they lead through a pouncing Yaya-Toure who capitalised on a loose ball inside the QPR box. However, in the second half QPR equalised through Bobby Zamora and the stadium erupted with screaming QPR fans. However, QPR's joy went silent when Edin Dzeko scored two minutes later and Man City finished it off through Carlos Tevez in injury time.

Sunday saw three hugely entertaining matches occur with Liverpool at home to Arsenal, Newcastle facing Paul Lambert's Aston Villa and Southampton facing Manchester United at St Mary's Stadium.

First of the triple header was at Anfield where Arsenal triumphed 2-0 over a goal bear Liverpool. The goals were scored by new boys Lukas Podolski and Santi Cadzola in a game where you could not see where Liverpool could score from. With Andy Carroll's departure, Brendan Rodgers has to quickly find a way of getting goals and help Luis Suarez in creating goal scoring opportunities. 

Next up was Newcastle who faced an Aston Villa side which had been struggling of late. However, they took a surprise lead through a Ciaran Clark header and looked in control at points in the match. After half-time, it was a entirely different picture and Newcastle drew level through a magnificent 25-yard strike from Hatem Ben Arfa. Overall, both managers would be happy with a point as overall play was equal between the two team.

On the Sunday though the game of the day was contested at St Mary's Stadium when Man United triumphed 3-2 against Southampton in a thoroughly entertaining game. Southampton went ahead early in the match through a Ricky Lambert header before Robin van Persie produced a moment of magic when he volleyed in from a tight angle. But, after half-time Saints were in-front again through a Morgan Schneiderlin header.

Then RVP created a pen when he was fouled in the area but he couldn't convert it. This was due to a brilliant save by Kelvin Davis diving full stretch to his right. Eventually United  equalised, van Persie scoring from a rebound that hit the post. He completed the United comeback and his hat-trick in injury time by flicking a corner with his head into the top corner.

In other sports, South Africa continued there tour of England with three more ODI's. On Tuesday, England were destroyed by a brilliant 150 by Hashim Amla and therefore they fell short. The third ODI was completely different with England winning by four wickets with contributions from James Anderson (4-44) and Jade Dernbach (3-44) with the ball and Jonathon Trott (71) and Eoin Morgan (73) with the bat. On Sunday, England won again with a victory margin of 6 wickets. Ian Bell lead the charge with a flawless 88 to lead the three Lions home. That victory means that England can't lose the series and hold the No.1 until the new year.

Finally, in Rugby Union, the Aviva Premiership started with a bang. Wasps narrowly lost 40-42 to Harlequins with a late comeback from the reigning champions. London Welsh's Premiership dream crashed back onto the floor with a 13-38 loss to last seasons finalists Leicester Tigers. Other results included wins for Northampton, Bath, Exeter Chiefs and Saracens.