Review [Issue 11] Looking Back: Sports in April

[Lhamster 4,081]

This is a new series, in where I look over the sports stories of the past month and pick out some of the big stories for you. In this past month, there have been quite a few stories! So, lets take a look.

Football (Soccer)

In the Premier League, England's top division of Football, Manchester United won their 20th title on the 22nd of April after a 3-0 win over Aston Villa with 4 games remaining. Last season, they were just beaten to the title on goal difference on the last day of the season by their rivals Manchester City, so to win it in such emphatic fashion this season will have been a great relief and feeling. QPR and Reading were relegated with 3 games remaining and there is a fight on to not be the final team relegated, it could come down to Aston Villa vs Wigan, 2 of the teams fighting in the relegation battle, on the last day of the season. Gareth Bale won the PFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards, becoming the only the 3rd player to win both awards in the same season.

In Spain, Barcelona look to win La Liga with Real Madrid 2nd and Atletico Madrid taking the 3rd Champion League place. Real Madrid got the better of Barcelona in the El Clasico matches this season, winning two and drawing two. In Germany Bayern Munich dominated the Bundesliga, winning the title with 6 games remaining, the quickest ever. Borussia Dortmund are 20 points behind in 2nd place but could still beat Bayern to the Champions League title. In France, the team David Beckham signed for, Paris St Germain, look set to win Ligue 1, being 9 points ahead of Marseille with 4 games remaining. Now to Italy, where Juventus are 1 point from clinching the title. The other Champions league spots are still up for grabs, Napoli and AC Milan currently occupy them, but 5 other teams can still mathematically take those spots, although it really looks to be between AC Milan and Fiorentina. In Portugal, the top 2 teams have run away with it, with 2nd placed Porto being 19 points clear of 3rd place. Benifica are a point ahead but with a game in hand. Both Porto and Benifica have been unbeaten all season, an incredible feat.

In the the Champions league, the Semi Final stages have been reached, and the German teams in the competition, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund both won great first leg victories over the Spanish teams of Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. In the 2nd leg of the Semi Finals, Real Madrid beat Borussia Dortmund, scoring 2 goals in the last 8 minutes, but it wasn't enough to stop Dortmund from going through to the final, with the score over the 2 legs being 4-3. It couldn't have been more different in the other second leg of the Semi Fnals, Bayern Munich dominating and beating Bacelona 3-0 at the Nou Camp to add to the emphatic 4-0 win in the first leg, and going through to the final with a record score of 7-0. In the Europa League, the Semi Finals have also been reached with Chelsea the only English club left in the competition. They have a 2-1 lead going into the 2nd leg of their Semi Final match against the Swiss team that knocked out Tottenham, FC Basel. In the other Semi Final, Portuguese club Benfica, who knocked out Newcastle have a 1-0 lead over Fenerbahce, a Turkish club.

Cricket

This month in cricket has seen the international calendar shelved temporarily in favour of the domestic game in England and India, both of which the main domestic league has begun this month - the Indian Twenty20 Premier League in India and the County Championship in England. The former has attracted a vast array of the game's big stars, and the matches have not disappointed. A host of final ball finishes and a number of super overs, not to mention some fantastic power hitting and some skilful bowling, has ensured that the league as a spectacle certainly has not lost any of its array. The form table, as ever with the IPL, has thrown up some surprises, with last season's top two, Delhi Daredevils and Kolkota Knight Riders, suffering for players' form and results have not been going their way.

The domestic season's beginnings have not stopped one international series from going ahead, however - that between Test Cricket's "loser sides", Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe comfortably won the first test, but Bangladesh fought hard to finish the series as a tie. The One-day-internationals and Twenty20 matches will decide who gets bragging rights in the battle between the bottom two Test-cricketing nations.

A couple of other notable records were made during this month - Chris Gayle for Bangalore in the IPL made the fastest-ever Twenty-20 century, getting his 100 of just 30 balls. He went on to make the highest ever T20 score as well, racking up 175 runs in total. There also was another milestone made in the County Championship reserve league - Lancashire's Second XI batter Jordan Clark hit six sixes off an over, the first person to do so in an unlimited-overs match since 1984. and the first Englishman and only the fifth player ever in professional cricket to hit six sixes in an over.

Formula 1

The 2013 Season is in full swing, with 2 races this month, in Shanghai, China and Sakhir, Bahrain. Fernando Alonso dominated the Chinese Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton fighting off Sebastian Vettel in the closing stages to secure 3rdplace. Kimi Raikkonen completed the Podium, finishing 2nd. McLaren's Jensen Button had a good weekend after McLaren's slow start to the season, finishing 5th. In Bahrain, Sebastian Vettel dominated the GP in Bahrain, with the Lotus' of Kimi Raikkonen and Roman Grosjean coming 2nd and 3rd. Scottish driver Paul Di Resta, driving for Force India, equaled his best ever finish, coming 4th. The McLaren’s of Jensen Button and Sergio Perez battled a lot, touching wheels at one point and Perez hitting the back of Button. The tyres played a big part in both races, especially the 'Soft' tyre in China, in terms of how fast they degrade (lose grip) and therefore the number of pit stops each driver had to make. There was some great racing and overtakes in both races.

Rugby

In the last month, there has been the cummulation of the main Northern hemisphere rugby union leagues - the English Premiership, French Top 14 and the Celtic and Italian Pro12. With one round of matches left to go in each of the leagues, the play-off positions are all but sewn up. Saracens, Leicester Tigers, Harlequins and Northampton Saints (in that order) have secured the top four positions in the Premiership, Clermont, Toulon, Toulose and Castres in the Top 14 and it is between the Scarlets and the Ospreys to secure the final PRO12 playoff sport, accompanying Leinster, Ulster and Glasgow Warriors.

There has also been this month the cummulation of the two big European rugby cups - the Heineken cup and its little brother, the Challenge Cup. The Heineken Cup Quarter Finals went much to plan, with only one surprise result, which was Harlequins suffering a surprising loss to the Irish province Munster. Leicester Tiger's defeat to Toulon left Saracens the sole English club left in European competition, as the Challenge Cup also included English heartbreak - three of the four of the losing Quarter Finalists were English. The semi-finals in the Heineken Cup were all-french triumphs, and the two finalists are both from across the Channel - Clermont Auvergne against Toulon is the final match-up. The Challenge Cup sees Leinster play Stade Francais, with the Irish side hoping to ensure that the two European trophies do not both travel across into the Gallic kingdoms.

The other big news in Northern Hemisphere Rugby this month was the announcement of the squad for the Lions tour. There were a number of notable exclusions, most notably England's captain Chris Robshaw. The Wales back row forward, Sam Warburton was named as captain of the 37-man squad which will travel to Australia in the summer in an attempt to win at least two of the three test matches and come home victorious.

Tennis

World number one Novak Djokovic ended Rafael Nadal's eight-year winning run in the Monte Carlo Masters, beating him in straight sets in the Final. It was Djokovic's first masters title and avenged his defeat by Nadal in last year's final. Until this defeat Nadal had a 46 match unbeaten run at Monte Carlo. Nadal bounced back in the next competition though, winning the Barcelona Open in his native Spain. It was his 8th straight title here and he has a 39 match unbeaten run, not losing since 2003. At Wimbledon, the prize money has been increased 40% this year to a total of £22.6 million and plans for a retracing roof on Number One Court, like the one on Centre Court, have been announced.

Any other sports you'd like to see here? PM me!

~Lham~

Massive thanks to Skitee for helping with those sports which I don't follow closely.

[skitee 555]

:3 I'm sorry for my mistake here - the top 6 in the Top 14 get into the playoffs, not the Top 4. :|

 

EDIT: Add cycling.

Edited May 4, 2013 by skitee

[hogree 4,179]

You forgot to mention that newcastle are gonna get relegated, and that villa beat sunderland 6-1 :lol:

[2soon2 3]

good job! Bayern Munich ^_^

[adams202 8]

in 15 may the final of champions league ...I am one of the fans bayern munich

and I trust them they can do it ... :)

[Beerme 106]

Yeah lham u forget that newcastle r getting relegated :P

and ofc that luis suarez is a cannibal

[2soon2 3]

in 15 may the final of champions league ...I am one of the fans bayern munich

and I trust them they can do it ... :)

+1

[Lhamster 4,081]

Yeah, looking at the Semi FInal results, Bayern are the favourites, I'll defo cover that next time.

[JonathanBernatowicz 119]

I know I shouldn't even say anything if it's not completely nice, but these sports are.....boring, please add Basketball or the more interesting kind of football, but nice for the people interested in the boring sports.

[Lhamster 4,081]

The wrong type of football you mean. :lol: And these are not boring. xD Just look at the Football on Sunday.

[MusicJam19 737]

the more interesting kind of football

No, its already there :P

[r_Aminoooo0 2]

good luck Rafael Nadal in his matches !

i like him i am his fan !

[DeltaStriker 0]

well..... I LOVE CHELSEA!!!!! GO CHELSEA!!!!!... yea

[I.Devastation 2,053]

Good report i really enjoyed it i think you should make monthly issues of this its really interesting to read :D

[Lhamster 4,081]

I'm planning to do it for at least next month, maybe longer.

[zaxerly 17]

Nice cricket section section, I enjoyed reading that...

 

 

 

BTW. It's Kolkata Knight Riders, not Kolkota Knight Riders.

Edited May 18, 2013 by zaxerly

[skitee 555]

Nice cricket section section, I enjoyed reading that...

 

 

 

BTW. It's Kolkata Knight Riders, not Kolkota Knight Riders.

Sowwy. I wrote it what came into my head, I didn't actually research it. :| I'll hopefully be invited back to continue it again next month... :^)