Category Archives: Sport

Novak Djokovic wins sixth Wimbledon title after battle with Matteo Berrettini

Posted on by
  • Serb takes his 20th tennis major title 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3
  • Victory leaves Djokovic needing US Open for grand slam

Novak Djokovic has never been afraid to speak out his ambitions for the world to hear. That was true when he was a novice on the tour and to many his self-confidence was misplaced, and it has maintained deep into his 30s as he has chased down the singular goal of becoming the greatest player of his time, making no secret of what he thought he could achieve.

Over the past 13 and a half years since his marathon began with his first major title, so much of what Djokovic has meticulously planned for has and continues to be realised. On Sunday, he took one of the biggest steps of his career, recovering from a set down against a valiant Matteo Berrettini to win 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 and clinch his men’s record-equalling 20th grand slam title.

Continue reading...

Euro 2020: buildup to Italy v England final – live!

Posted on by

Here’s a thing: if England get a penalty today, what will Harry Kane do (assuming he is not too injured by his fall to take it...). His spotkick against Denmark was awful, though the rebound favoured him. He explained afterwards that he intended to send it high but, for some reason, didn’t connect properly and his shot travelled low. The obvious explanation for that uncharacteristic miss is that he was under more pressure than ever before. As one of the figureheads of his country, the pressure is more intense on him than almost anyone else. L’Equipe today carried an interview with Geir Jordet, a Norwegian researcher who has studied the history of penalty-taking at tournament (club and international) as far back as 1976 and he has found that as a player’s status rises, his efficiency of penalties falls: “When a player has become an international superstar, he only scores from 65% of his attempts, compared to 90% before he reaches that status (especially by winning an individual award [ such as the Golden Boot]),” says Jordet. Golly. Maybe if today’s game goes to a shootout, England should bring on Aaron Ramsdale, if only to take one.

The pubs are open in England .... pace yourselves, drinkers! Brace yourselves, everyone else.

Continue reading...

Fukushima to ban Olympic spectators as Covid cases rise

Posted on by

U-turn deals blow to Japan’s hopes of using Games to showcase recovery from 2011 tsunami

The Fukushima prefecture of Japan will bar spectators from the Olympic events it hosts this summer owing to rising Covid-19 infections, its governor said on Saturday, reversing a position announced two days earlier by organisers.

The decision deals another blow to Japan’s hopes of using the Olympics to showcase its recovery from a devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the northern coast in 2011, destroying a nuclear power station in Fukushima in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

Continue reading...

Lewis Hamilton: ‘Everything I’d suppressed came up – I had to speak out’

Posted on by

He’s the most successful driver Formula One has ever seen, and its only Black star. Now Lewis Hamilton has a new mission: to change the sport that made him.

As Lewis Hamilton rose through the ranks of competitive go-karting, his father, Anthony, told him: “Always do your talking on the track.” Lewis had a lot to talk about. Bullying and racial taunts were a consistent feature of his childhood in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, a new town 30 miles north of London; his dad taught him the best response was to excel at his sport.

The trouble was he didn’t have many people to talk to about what he was going through. Lewis is mixed-race, born to a white mother, Carmen Larbalestier, who raised him until he was 12, when he went to live with his Grenadian-British father, from whom she had separated. “My mum was wonderful,” he tells me. “She was so loving. But she didn’t fully understand the impact of the things I was experiencing at school. The bullying and being picked on. And my dad was quite tough, so I didn’t tell him too much about those experiences. As a kid I remember just staying quiet about it because I didn’t feel anyone really understood. I just kept it to myself.” Sport offered him an outlet. “I did boxing because I needed to channel the pain,” he says. “I did karate because I was being beaten up and I wanted to be able to defend myself.”

Continue reading...

Mark Cavendish equals Merckx’s record with 34th Tour de France stage win

Posted on by
  • British rider’s acceleration helps him triumph in stage 13
  • Simon Yates among riders forced to abandon after crash

Mark Cavendish equalled the long-standing Tour de France stage win record, held by the five-times winner Eddy Merckx, with the 34th stage win of his career that ended in Carcassonne on Friday.

Once again the 36-year-old Cavendish, wiping away the sweat and the tears, confounded those who had written him off, after snatching his fourth win in this year’s race having almost quit the sport at the end of 2020.

Continue reading...

Danish woman claims assault by England fans after semi-final

Posted on by

• Woman had hair pulled by ‘six or seven’ England fans

• Also claims of Denmark fans being spat on at Wembley

A Denmark supporter who attended Wednesday’s Euro 2020 semi-final at Wembley says she was physically assaulted by England fans as she made her way home after the game.

Jeanette Jorgensen, who has lived in west London for 15 years, went with three cousins after obtaining tickets through the Danish Football Association (DBU).

Continue reading...

Sing when you’re winning – take our Euro 2020 football anthems quiz

Posted on by

Do you know your Ant from your Dec and your Three Lions from your Atomic Kitten? Find out with our tricky and slightly silly quiz

They are the soundtrack to our summers of joy and despair. The songs that accompany the moments when our hearts soar as goals go in, and break as crucial penalties are missed. But how much do you know about the football tournament anthems that fans sing with such glee? Find out with our football anthems quiz – getting full marks is going to be harder than getting a ticket for Wembley on Sunday. But remember, it is just for fun, and unlike the forthcoming Italy v England Euro 2020 final, there are no prizes.

The Guardian Euro 2020 football anthems quiz

Continue reading...

EU votes for diplomats to boycott China Winter Olympics over rights abuses

Posted on by

Non-binding resolution also calls for governments to impose further sanctions on China as tensions rise

The European parliament has overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on diplomatic officials to boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in response to continuing human rights abuses by the Chinese government.

In escalating tensions between the EU and China, the non-binding resolution also called for governments to impose further sanctions, provide emergency visas to Hong Kong journalists and further support Hongkongers to move to Europe.

Continue reading...

What’s in the England team’s names? English Heritage explains all

Posted on by

St George’s flags featuring surnames of almost every person in England will fly from heritage sites to cheer on team

Harry Kane can trace his surname back to a word for “warrior”. Declan Rice to “impetuous”. Kieran Trippier to “dance”. Kyle Walker will have to make do with “trampler of cloth in a bath of lye” which, to be fair, was once a very important job.

English Heritage is getting in the football spirit by revealing the origins of the names of the England players. It will also fly a St George’s flag featuring the surname of almost every person living in England at its properties to help cheer on the team before Sunday’s Euro 2020 final against Italy.

Continue reading...

Football’s coming to Rome? Italy fans look to Wembley showdown

Posted on by

Italians are excited for the Euro 2020 final against England: ‘If we play with the heart, we will win’

Tens of thousands of English football fans at Wembley tried to send a message to Italy on Wednesday night: Sunday’s Euro 2020 final will be hell for the Azzurri. Italians heard the deafening cheers of the home support loud and clear, but that chant, “It’s coming home”, screamed at the top of English lungs does not seem to have affected them greatly. They are far from intimidated.

“It’s coming home? Maybe the English fans meant ‘it’s coming to Rome’,” said Giovanni Mapelli, 14, from Monticello Brianza, near Milan, who plays for a local football team. Since England won a place in the final, he and his brother have been mocking his England-born-and-raised mother.

Continue reading...

England face Uefa censure after laser pointer shone at Kasper Schmeichel

Posted on by
  • Disciplinary proceedings opened after Euro 2020 semi-final
  • England also charged over booing of Danish anthem

Uefa has charged England after a laser pointer was shone in the face of the Denmark goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel, as he was about to face Harry Kane’s penalty in Wednesday’s Euro 2020 semi-final at Wembley.

Schmeichel saved the penalty but Kane scored from the rebound to set up England’s 2-1 victory and book a place in Sunday’s final against Italy.

Continue reading...

‘Southgate You’re the One’: social media reacts to England’s win

Posted on by

Fans share jokes and clips including a stadium rendition of Whole Again and mocking Boris Johnson’s shirt

As sure as night follows day, social media memes follow a big sporting event, and so England fans on Wednesday night enjoyed sharing jokes and clips of events around the Euro 2020 semi-final win almost as much as the victory itself.

Mason Mount was showered with praise after this video clip of him giving his shirt to a young girl in the Wembley crowd took off on social media. Her emotional reaction summed up how many England fans must have felt after such a long wait to reach a major tournament final again.

Continue reading...

England beat Denmark in extra time to set up Euro 2020 final with Italy

Posted on by

Sometimes, your luck is just in, you catch a break when you most need it and, after so much major tournament semi-final heartache, England finally got something to go their way and, in the process, one of these suffocatingly high-tension encounters to follow suit.

The 90 minutes had been nerve-shredding, England forced to find a response to Mikkel Damsgaard’s stunning 25 yard free-kick on the half-hour, which they did when Bukayo Saka’s cross, intended for Raheem Sterling, was bundled over Denmark’s goal-line by their captain, Simon Kjær.

Continue reading...

Italy v Spain: Euro 2020 semi-final – live!

Posted on by

8 min: Spain aren’t dealing particularly well with Italy’s high press at the moment. Busquets, Garcia and Azpilicueta take turns to hesitate over clearances, nearly allowing the livewire Verratti in on a couple of occasions. Verratti is snapping away at their heels like billy-o. It’s very impressive, though you already get the sense he’s one mistimed lunge away from trouble.

6 min: Spain get a foot on the ball for the first time in the match, and stroke it around the back awhile. Italy’s fans give them the bird. All good pantomime stuff.

Continue reading...

Usain Bolt: ‘I would have run under 9.5 seconds with super spikes’

Posted on by

The Jamaican legend on the importance of Black Lives Matter, his 800m challenge and lessons of parenthood

The fastest man in history is pondering just how much more destructive he could have been in the super spikes that have swung a wrecking ball at so many world records. Briefly, there is a battle between Usain Bolt the diplomat and Usain Bolt the competitor. The competitor wins. “Me and a friend were talking about this the other day,” he says. “And I was like, ‘should I be upset?’ Because I know over the years everyone has tried to make spikes different and better but …”

Bolt stresses he is not worried about the current crop shredding his 100m world record of 9.58sec or his 200m best of 19.19sec. Yet he sounds uneasy about where the arms race in shoe technology will lead. “How can I argue if World Athletics decide that it’s legal? I can’t do anything about it. The rules are the rules. I don’t think I’ll be fully happy, but it’s just one of those things.”

Continue reading...

‘More than a game’: Euros delirium in Denmark despite UK travel setback

Posted on by

Nation with Hans Christian Andersen-inspired football song is hoping for fairytale win against England

People dancing on buses is not something you see every day in Denmark. Rule-abiding Danes tend to keep their celebrations low-key – but not this summer.

Football fans brought traffic to a standstill in Aarhus after Denmark beat the Czech Republic in the Euro 2020 quarter-finals and even scaled public transport to broadcast their euphoria and belt out another round of Re-sepp-ten – first a hit for Denmark’s national team at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. The anthem’s crowd-sourced lyrics are laden with Hans Christian Andersen imagery and feel particularly apt this year.

Continue reading...

‘The rules are the rules’: Biden addresses Sha’Carri Richardson’s suspension

Posted on by

US president Joe Biden weighed in on the suspension of sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson over marijuana use, saying Saturday “the rules are the rules”.

The US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) confirmed Richardson’s suspension on Friday after the sprinter known for brightly-colored hair and record-breaking speed tested positive for cannabis during her 100 meter US trials in June.

Continue reading...

All roads lead to Rome for England’s ardent army of expat fans

Posted on by

Foreign-based fans slept in cars and even planned marriage proposals to be at the scene of Euro 2020 quarter final

They came from Berne, Berlin, Luxembourg and Dubai, some forgoing a night’s sleep as they drove across the Alps or took red-eye flights. Some of the more ardent football fans bought tickets two years ago; others bagged them in the last-minute rush that followed England’s historic win over Germany on Tuesday.

They were rewarded with an extraordinary, emphatic, exhilarating 4-0 victory over Ukraine, and those inside the stadium sang till their voices gave out.

Continue reading...

England rout Ukraine 4-0 to surge into Euro 2020 semi-final with Denmark

Posted on by

Harry Kane back to his lethal best, productivity from set pieces, yet another clean sheet – the fifth out of five at Euro 2020 – and, for the coup de grace, a first England goal for Jordan Henderson on the occasion of his 62nd cap. This was the night when pretty much everything was picture perfect for Gareth Southgate and his players as they set up a Wembley semi-final against Denmark on Wednesday night.

As England came home from Rome it was easy to wonder whether football was headed in the same direction and, certainly, the fans of the team who had made it from across mainland Europe into the Stadio Olimpico thought that way.

Continue reading...

Belgium v Italy: Euro 2020 quarter-final – live!

Posted on by

A couple of beauties from Nicolo Barella and Lorenzo Insigne saw off Belgium’s golden generation

Jonathan Wilson was in Munich to witness this fine match in person. His report has just landed ... and here it is. Get clicking, people. Congratulations to Italy, commiserations to Belgium, and thanks to you all for reading this MBM. Hope to see you again tomorrow. Nighty night!

Related: Barella and Insigne break Belgium to send Italy through to semi-final

The one downer for Italy - and it’s a big one - is the loss to injury of the hamstrung Leonardo Spinazzola. The marauding left-back has been one of the sensations of the tournament, so entertaining to watch in full flight, and one of those nice late-blooming career stories to boot. His presence will be missed, though you’d still back these exciting Italians to see off unconvincing Spain at Wembley next week. But it’s tournament football, so, well, y’know.

Related: Leonardo Spinazzola: Italy’s frequent flyer down the left flank

Continue reading...