Italian SGP

After the World Cup break, Grand Prix Speedway returned for the sixth round of eleven. This time they were in Terenzano, Italy, which is a wholly different track to normal as it made from shale instead of pure mud and dirt, but also the straights are longer than most tracks.

There was a big shock as Gollob, Crump and Holder all failed to make the semi-finals. This meant that Hancock could extend a big lead at the top of table, bidding to win his second SGP title after his first in 1997. But it was actually Andreas Jonsson of Sweden who won the meeting.

The big news before the meeting was that Artem Laguta was still missing in action, meaning that Magnus Zetterstrom got another Grand Prix meeting under his belt. Here's how the meeting went:
Heat 1: The Slovenian wildcard Matej Zagar won the heat with Zetterstrom second. Sayfutdinov finished third with Bjerre fourth.
Heat 2: This was restarted after both Holder and Gollob moved before the start. All four riders restarted and World Cup winner Kolodziej won it ahead of Holder, Hancock and Gollob (the top three riders).
Heat 3: Another Polish World Cup winner, Jaroslaw Hampel, won the heat with Britain's Chris Harris in third.
Heat 4: Jonsson won his opening ride of the night with Jason Crump starting off in last place.
Heat 5: Sweden were having a good night with Antonio Lindback taking this heat ahead of Jonsson.
Heat 6: Hampel made it two wins from two rides as Gollob could only manage third, scoring one point from his first two rides.
Heat 7: Chris Harris won this heat, Hancock finished last to keep up the poor start from the big riders.
Heat 8: Wildcard Zagar also made it two wins from two rides. Holder managed second while Crump finished fourth behind Nicky Pedersen. No points so far for Crump.
Heat 9: Crump turned his night around with his first win of the meeting. It was initially restarted due to Gollob again going to early, all four riders restarted and Gollob managed second.
Heat 10: Kenneth Bjerre took the tenth heat with his fellow Dane, Pedersen, in third. Kolodziej was second with his fellow Pole, Holta, fourth.
Heat 11: Freddie Lindgren packed up during the heat. Emil Sayfutdinov won it with Holder in second place.
Heat 12: Hancock took his first heat of the night to put huge pressure on Gollob. Wildcard Zagar finished fourth.
Heat 13: Hancock made it two wins in a row, in consecutive heats, with Nicky Pedersen finishing third behind Lindgren.
Heat 14: Bjerre won his second heat on the night, in two consecutive heats for him. Holder could only manage fourth and looked out of contention for a semi-final place, Jonsson finished second.
Heat 15: Crump also made it two wins in his last two rides to give himself an outside chance of qualifying. Kolodziej finished second and Hampel fourth, the Russian Sayfutdinov split the Poles.
Heat 16: Gollob could only finish fourth to eliminate him from the semi-finals. Lindback won his second race of the night with Zagar second.
Heat 17: The only incident of the night saw Holta clipped down by Zetterstrom. All four riders restarted and Hampel took his third race of the night, Holder finished last and also missed out on a place in the semis.
Heat 18: Lindback followed Hampel by winning his third heat of the night. Hancock was third which was just enough while Crump finished last and was out of contention.
Heat 19: Gollob managed second but it was too little too late. Sayfutdinov took his second win of the night.
Heat 20: Lindgren won the final heat of the night with Kolodziej second, Zagar third and Harris fourth.
Semi-Final 1: The wildcard Zagar qualified for the semis and faced Sayfutdinov along with Jonsson and Lindback of Sweden. The Swedes progressed with Lindback winning the semi-final, Zagar finished last.
Semi-Final 2: Greg Hancock came from the most uninfluential starting gate to win the second semi-final ahead of Kenneth Bjerre. Hampel finished third with Kolodziej last.
Final: Jonsson took the final chequered flag for his sixth GP victory of his career. Hancock gained a huge second place with Lindback third and Bjerre fourth.

Jonsson won the meeting but finished on seventeen points, level with Lindback. Hancock acquired fifteen valuable points with Hampel and Bjerre picking up twelve apiece. Sayfutdinov earned eleven, Kolodziej ten and Zagar won nine points. More importantly, Holder and Crump only managed six points whereas Gollob only had five.

This means that after six meetings, Hancock now leads by twenty-two points (two points below a perfect race meeting) with ninety-five points. Gollob is on seventy-three with Hampel well behind on sixty-five. Holder now drops to fourth but is only two points behind Hampel. Sayfutdinov is fifth on fifty-nine points with both Crump and Pedersen just three points behind. Jonsson completes the top eight on fifty-three points.

Vettel Back On Pole

After two disappointing race weekends, Sebastian Vettel regained his pole position at the Hungaroring this afternoon. But the race doesn't look to be won because the McLaren's are carrying a decent pace along with the two Ferarri's. Hamilton secured second with Button in third, looking to forget his past two retirements. But, for the first time this season, Felipe Massa has finally out-qualified Alonso and will start fourth with Alonso fifth. Webber is the biggest loser so far this weekend and will start in a disappointing sixth position. Adrian Sutil sits eighth in the middle of a Mercedes sandwich, with Rosberg out-qualifying Schumacher yet again. Sergio Perez completed the Q3 line-up but didn't set a time and will subsequently start tenth.

Pastor Maldonado did the same thing in Q2, a session which Alonso carried the most pace. The Venezuelan will therefore start seventeenth. Paul Di Resta just missed out on Q3 due to Schumacher going quicker right at the end, the Scot will start eleventh in tomorrow's race. Kobayashi sits thirteenth in a Renault sandwich, with Petrov out-qualifying Heidfeld. Jaime Alguersuari sits sixteenth in a Williams sandwich, Barrichello is therefore fifteenth.

Q1 saw Buemi follow the usual six out of qualifying, a session which again saw Alonso quickest. But Buemi also received a five place grid penalty after causing Heidfeld to crash and retire last week. The Toro Rosso did qualify in eighteenth and will therefore start twenty-third tomorrow. D'Ambrosio is the only car behind him as both of the Hispania cars out-qualify the Virgin driver. Liuzzi beat Ricciardo into twenty-first with Kovalainen out-qualifying the returning Trulli for the Lotus team.

European Championships: Day 2

Lewis, Van Barneveld, Wade and Newton joined the list into the second round last night with wins in their respective first round matches. The night kicked off with a close fought match between Wayne Jones and Mark Walsh. The match went to 5-5 before Walsh hit the final double top to progress into the second round.

Dutchman Jelle Klaasen faced Dave Chisnall in the next match, Klaasen didn't feature in the Matchplay whereas Chisnall lost in the first round. Klaasen took an early 2-0 lead before Chisnall turned the scoreline on its head to lead 5-2. Klaasen fought back to 5-4 but Chisnall wasn't going to lose his grip and won the match 5-4.

Ronnie Baxter lost in the first round of his home tournament, the World Matchplay, and was determined to put it behind him against Michael Van Gerwen. The Rocket led from the start, leading 2-0 and 3-1. Van Gerwen equalised at 3-3 before Baxter went on to win 6-4.

Belgian debutant Kim Huybrechts made a name for himself beating fellow youngster, Spaniard Antonio Alcinas. Huybrechts went 2-0 ahead and 3-2 ahead before seeing the match out 6-2 leaving Alcinas with no response.

Wade had a relatively easy first round match up against Swede Magnus Caris. The Matchplay runner-up continued his decent form and after Caris initially equalised a 1-1, The Machine tore the Swede apart 6-1.

Adrian Lewis faced a repeat of his first round Matchplay match against Vincent Van Der Voort. This first round match went virtually the same way as Van Der Voort didn't really turn up. The Dutchman found himself 4-1 down before he reduced the arrears to 5-4. Lewis quashed the comeback with double top to progress through.

Matchplay semi-finalist Wes Newton faced Andy Smith for the second time in a week after meeting in Blackpool. Newton again ruined the pie man and took a quick 4-0 lead. Smith did fight back to 4-2 before Newton finished the demolition job, winning 6-2.

The final match of the night saw Van Barneveld take on Andy Hamilton in a tough match. Barney reached the quarter-finals in Blackpool before losing to James Wade. Hamilton made it to the semi-finals with a first round victory over Gary Anderson and then that unbelievable comeback against Whitlock in the quarter-final. Hamilton was again looking in the mood for an upset and soon took a 3-1 lead. Barney finally got his game back on track and turned it around to lead 4-3. Barney then took the match 6-4 to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Dusseldorf Darts

Germany became darts central last night as the European Darts Championships got under way at the Maritim Hotel, Dusselfdorf. Thirty-two of the top darts players will take part and yesterday, sixteen of them played their first round matches. There were no dramas as Taylor and Whitlock both made it through along with Terry Jenkins and Mervyn King.

The night kicked off with Mervyn King up against Co Stompe. King was looking to forget his first round exit of last week's World Matchplay at the hands of Justin Pipe with a win over the Dutchman. Despite having suffered tennis elbow recently, King was able to the business in fine form and won the match 6-1, in a very quick first round format.

Alan Tabern faced Colin Lloyd in the second match of the night. Lloyd was the initial favourite but soon found himself 3-1 down and looking poor on his doubles. But Lloyd regained his doubles and turned it around to win 6-4.

John Part hit a nine-darter in Blackpool last week, but still lost in the first round to Mark Webster. This time he faced Peter Wright in the closest match of the night. The match see-sawed but Wright was able to win the final two legs to come from 5-4 down to win 6-5, kicking the Canadian to the kerb yet again.

Paul Nicholson faced Justin Pipe in the next match. Both players made it to the second round before exiting Blackpool. After initially taking a 2-0 lead, Pipe fought back to equalise at 2-2. But Nicholson was too strong and cruised to a 6-3 victory. After his outburst last week, he was asked whether or not he'd put Taylor to bed because they could meet in the quarter-finals. He responded that if he's playing at his best and Taylor is not, then he could well beat him but he has a huge amount of respect for The Power.

Simon Whitlock was on the receiving end of one of the biggest comebacks ever in Blackpool. He was 15-8 ahead of Andy Hamilton in the quarter-finals and ended up losing 17-15. This time he was up against Mensur Suljovic and quickly took a 4-0 lead. But his demons looked to be coming back when Suljovic took two legs on the spin before Whitlock was able to see the game through 6-2.

There was a worry that the World Matchplay champion, Phil Taylor wouldn't make this tournament due to a bout of tendinitis in his left shoulder. But Taylor did make it and faced the first Greek to ever appear in a TV major. John Michael qualified to participate in this tournament and faced 200/1 odds of beating Taylor. But the debutant fired a 180 in the opening leg and broke the throw with a 102 check-out. Taylor quickly battled back to lead 4-1 before Michael kept the score respectable although eventually losing 6-3, Taylor will now face King in the second round.

The penultimate match of the night saw Terry Jenkins take on Mark Webster in a first round match that neither of them wanted. Jenkins needed a decent run after losing in the first round on the Matchplay whereas Webster made it to the quarter-finals before losing to Adrian Lewis. Webster started the quickest, taking a 2-0 then a 3-1 lead. But Jenkins fought back and Webster had to level the match at 4-4 before Jenkins went onto win the match 6-4.

The final match of the night saw Gary Anderson up against Jamie Caven. Caven suffered a 10-0 defeat to James Wade in the first round of the Matchplay but Anderson also surprisingly lost in the first round to Andy Hamilton. Caven suffered many bounce outs due his darts not being properly sharpened but did manage to equalise at 2-2 when the Scot initially took a 2-0 lead. It then went to 3-3 before Anderson regained his form and won 6-3 to fall into the second round.

Taylor Is Still On Top Of The World

Despite Phil Taylor stating that he's reached a plateau in his career and Paul Nicholson claiming that if Taylor didn't bring his A-game he'd put him to bed (Nicholson was knocked-out in the second round), Taylor retained the World Matchplay title, his first major win since this time last year.

Unfortunately, James Wade didn't really turn up for most of the match and after leading 2-1, Wade found himself 13-3 behind. Wade did make the score look a little more respectable and fought back to 15-8. But Taylor wasn't going relinquish a lead that big and took the match 18-8.

A Win And A Retirement For McLaren

The big question on every body's lips yesterday was 'can Vettel race wheel for wheel against his opponents?' Well the answer was no as Vettel failed to secure a podium for the first time this season. The news before the race began was that Buemi would start at the back for illegally changing his fuel substance.

Webber hasn't been able to maintain the lead from pole and he failed to do it again yesterday as Hamilton over-took the Red Bull. Alonso had over-taken Vettel into third and Button had slipped right down to tenth. Heidfeld and Di Resta collided on turn three, causing both drivers to fall to the back of the pack. Alonso went off track on lap two and surrendered third place to Vettel but Alonso managed to regain the place on lap eight. Lap eleven saw Heidfeld get squeezed off the track by Buemi and the Renault crashed out, causing Buemi a tyre puncture but the Toro Rosso was able to continue. Barrichello also retired around the same time with an engine failure. Massa secured fifth place on the same lap by over-taking Rosberg.

The first set of pits saw Webber pit a lap earlier and it paid dividends as he was able to overtake both Alonso and Hamilton to lead the race after Massa had also pitted. Massa's pit-stop was also beneficial as he managed to come out before Vettel and take fourth place. The second set of pits saw Webber again pit earlier but this time it didn't work as Hamilton took the lead and Alonso second. Button had to retire for the second consecutive race on lap thirty-six with a hydraulics problem. Liuzzi also retired four laps later. Vettel was able to steal fourth place on the final lap when he came out of the pits quicker than Massa. Result in full:

1.Hamilton (McLaren), 2.Alonso (Ferrari), 3.Webber (Red Bull), 4. Vettel (Red Bull), 5.Massa (Ferrari), 6.Sutil (Force India), 7.Rosberg (Mercedes), 8.Schumacher (Mercedes), 9.Kobayashi (Sauber), 10.Petrov (Renault), 11.Perez (Sauber), 12.Alguersuari (Toro Rosso), 13.Di Resta (Force India), 14.Maldonado (Williams), 15.Buemi (Toro Rosso), 16.Kovalainen (Lotus), 17.Glock (Virgin), 18.D'Ambrosio (Virgin), 19.Ricciardo (Hispania), 20.Chandhok (Lotus) DNF: Heidfeld (Renault), Barrichello (Williams), Button (McLaren), Liuzzi (Hipania).

TaylorWade For A Final

Phil Taylor will meet James Wade in tonight's World Matchplay final. Taylor pretty much breezed past Andy Hamilton in the semi-finals, but the Hammer gave a solid performance and should take many positives from this campaign. Taylor took a 5-2 lead early on but Hamilton reduced the arrears to 6-4. Taylor then took an 11-9 lead but again Hamilton was looking dangerous. However Taylor checked-out a 116 to virtually kill off The Hammer and went onto win 17-9.

Wade faced a much tougher task against the World Champion Adrian Lewis. Lewis hasn't really been at the top of his game all tournament and this time Wade was playing consistently good enough to take full advantage. Wade reeled off a 170 check-out on his way to taking a commanding 10-4 lead. From there it looked ominous but Lewis kept the deficit the same and trailed 13-7. Wade won the match 17-10 with a 127 check-out which ended on the bull to set up a great showdown between, arguably, the best two players in the world.

Vettel Not Happy At Home

The Formula One entourage is at Nurnberg (Nuremberg), Germany as the tenth round of the season takes place. The news before the race was that Jarno Trulli has been replaced at Lotus for this race only by Karun Chandhok, who drove for Hispania in part last season. Q1 saw the six plus one for the first time in a couple of races. Ricciardo did qualify behind Liuzzi for Hispania but Liuzzi will actually start last due to a gearbox change, pushing Ricciardo up to twenty-third. D'Ambrosio starts twenty-second with Chandhok the meat in a Virgin sandwich. Kovalainen couldn't make it to Q2 and starts nineteenth but the big name to fall in Q1 was Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber. Massa recorded the fastest time, but that was on the soft tyres while his rivals were all on intermediates.

Q2 saw the two Toro Rossos end up sixteenth and seventeenth with Buemi out-qualifying Alguersuari. Sergio Perez starts fifteenth behind the two Williams' with Maldonado ahead of Barrichello. Di Resta was ousted by his team-mate Sutil into twelfth and home-comer Heidfeld suffered a similar fate by Petrov in eleventh. Hamilton was the fastest in Q2.

Michael Schumacher looked to have been wrestling with his Mercedes throughout qualifying but still managed to qualify tenth. Petrov sits ninth with another German, Sutil, in front of him. Button looks to be the biggest loser as he sits seventh behind Rosberg, the fifth German in the race. The two Ferraris will sit one behind the other with Alonso making 10-0 against Massa in qualifying. The big surprise of the session sees the final German, Sebastian Vettel only make third. Lewis Hamilton steals Vettel's place on the front row with Webber holding the Pole position slot for Red Bull.

Matchplay Quarter-Finals Part II

With Lewis and Hamilton making it through to the semi-finals yesterday afternoon, the remaining two quarter-finals took place last night. First off was a repeat of last year's semi-final between Van Barneveld and Wade, Barney won that semi-final match. Despite taking an initial 2-0 lead, Barney was pegged back to 5-5 by Wade. The game remained tantalisingly close until Wade broke and took an 11-8 lead. From there, Barney had no reply and Wade went out a 16-11 winner and will face Lewis in a tough semi-final.

The other match of the night saw Taylor battle the in form Newton. Taylor started slowly and was duly punished as Newton stormed into a 4-1 lead. But the defending champion regained momentum and won the next fifteen out of sixteen legs to win 16-5. Taylor will now be the heavy favourite against Andy Hamilton in the semi-final.

Afternoon Comebacks

We witnessed two comebacks this afternoon, one of which was one of the most spectacular comeback in the history of the World Matchplay Darts. It happened in the first of the quarter-finals between Simon Whitlock and Andy Hamilton. Whitlock took the first session 4-1, it should have been 5-0 but Whitlock missed six darts at the double during the session. Hamilton cut the deficit in the second session but was still 6-4 behind. Whitlock remained in complete control and won the third session 4-1 to extend his lead to 10-5, needing six legs to win the match. Whitlock took out a 106 check-out in the nineteenth leg and went 13-7 ahead after the fourth session, the odds of Hamilton winning were now at 100/1. It looked even more ominous as Whitlock went 15-8 ahead but Hamilton took legs twenty-four and twenty-five to force a sixth session. Unbelievably, Whitlock lost his doubles as the pressure grew and Hamilton took all five legs in the sixth session to level the scores at 15-15, forcing a tie break where the victor needed to win by two clear legs. Hamilton kept the momentum as Whitlock missed further darts at the double and The Hammer somehow won the match 17-15, taking out 94 with the bulls-eye in the winning leg.

There was a second comeback in the other quarter-final this afternoon, but it was nowhere near as emphatic. Adrian Lewis took on Mark Webster and the Welshman won the first session 4-1. Lewis won the second session but was sill 6-4 behind, however the World Champion continued his momentum and won the third session 4-1 to take the lead for the first time and never looked back. Webster has impressed so far with numerous 100+ check-outs and provided another in the seventeenth leg, checking out a 104. Lewis remained in control though and led 11-9 after the fourth session. Lewis was then able to extend his lead to 14-11 after the fifth session and won the match 16-12.

Taylor & Whitlock Through, Debutants Out

The remaining second round matches of the World Matchplay took place last night and a mouth-watering quarter-final line-up has been completed. Simon Whitlock kicked the night off against Denis Ovens. Ovens levelled the match at 1-1 with an impressive 132, but from there Whitlock was unstoppable and didn't drop another leg to coast into the last eight.

Whitlock will meet Andy Hamilton who had to fight hard to see off debutant John Henderson. Hamilton did look to be in full control of the match, leading 4-1 and 10-7. But Henderson fought back to 11-11 and almost force extra time. Hamilton took the twenty-third and twenty-fourth legs to stumble into the quarter-finals.

Phil Taylor also managed to put himself into quarter-finals, meaning that six out of this year's eight Premier League players have made it to the last eight. Taylor faced a tough task against Wayne Jones who fought back from 5-1 down to 5-4. From there Taylor stormed to 11-6 and eventually won the game 13-7.

Taylor will meet Wes Newton in the quarter-finals as the man from Fleetwood beat the other debutant Justin Pipe. Pipe, like many of the other defeated players, gave a good account of himself and, after going 4-1 behind, played consistent darts. But Newton was just too good for Pipe and won the match 13-8.

Premier Leaguers Shine Through

Last night saw the first half of the second round of the World Matchplay take place. Despite a few shocks in the first round, the Premier League players last night all progressed into the tough quarter-final line-up.

The night kicked off with Mark Webster against Steve Beaton. Beaton did hold Webster to 7-7 with both players hitting century check-outs. Webster managed four in total to Beaton's two and the Welshman cruised to a 13-7 win to progress into the quarter-finals.

Webster will now meet World Champion Adrian Lewis who saw off Dutchman Vincent Van Der Voort. Lewis played consistently well but, unfortunately for the crowd, Van Der Voort only turned up for a third of the match. Lewis took a 5-0 lead before the Dutchman battled back to 6-4 and looked menacing. But there was no dramatics as Lewis cantered into the quarter finals 13-5.

The penultimate game of the night was the one everyone was talking about. After his outburst about 'putting Mr.Taylor to bed', Paul Nicholson had to now walk the walk against Van Barneveld. It wasn't a classic as both players were extremely nervous, there was never more than two legs between them until the end where Barney took an 11-7 lead. The Dutchman went onto win 13-9 to dump a slightly embarrassed Nicholson out of the tournament.

Barney will be involved in an extremely mouth watering quarter-final against James Wade. Wade, on paper, had the easiest tie against Mark Walsh. But it didn't end up that way as Walsh played a very good, consistent game whereas Wade peaked and troughed. Although Wade looked to be very much in control and took a 6-2 lead. But Walsh was allowed to battle back and it was soon 11-10 Wade. wade was able to stumble over the line 13-11 to progress.

Shocks As The First Round Concludes

The second half of the first round of the World Matchplay took place on Monday and Tuesday, providing many shocks along the way. Monday saw Wayne Jones beat Scott Rand 10-6, he will face Phil Taylor in the second round. Taylor was fought right to the end by Mark Hylton but The Power, who was riled by Nicholson earlier this week, managed to win 10-8. The shock of Monday night saw Mervyn King lose 10-6 to Justin Pipe. Pipe will now face the newly fancied Wes Newton who continued to boost his reputation with a 10-2 thrashing of Andy Smith.

There were bigger shocks to come on Tuesday as three top fifteen players were dumped out of the tournament. It began with the home boy, twelfth seed Ronnie Baxter, he suffered a 10-8 defeat to the veteran Denis Ovens. Then the thirteenth seed, Colin Lloyd, lost 10-7 to debutant John Henderson. But the big shock came in the third match of the night as second favourite Gary Anderson lost 10-6 to Andy Hamilton who will face Henderson in the second round. Fortunately for the big names, Premier League competitor Simon Whitlock managed to see of Peter Wright 10-7 to set up a second round match against Denis Ovens.

2011 World Matchplay Darts: Day Two

The second day of the World Matchplay in Blackpool saw two Premier League stars and another match that went into extra time. After Webster progressed with a 10-7 win despite being 8-1 ahead and Lewis just about stumbling through, James Wade wasted no time yesterday in progressing into the last sixteen. Wade met Jamie Caven and the Machine romped home with a 10-0 win.

Wade will meet Mark Walsh in the second round as his beat an underwhelming Dave Chisnall 10-3. Paul Nicholson has started a rift between himself and Phil Taylor by speaking out of turn, but the Asset nearly had to eat his own words against Colin Osbourne. Osbourne fought Nicholson all the way and forced extra time, but Nicholson won it 12-10.

Nicholson will face Van Barneveld who saw off Steve Brown. There was drama before the match as Barney lost his darts during his flight from Holland. This meant he had to play with brand new darts and after Brown missed three darts to break throw in the first leg, the Ducthman took the first leg. Brown retaliated with an impressive 121 check-out but from there, there was only going to be one winner. Barney 6-1 ahead before extending it to 9-3 before hitting double sixteen to progress into the next round, new darts and all.

2011 Snooker World Cup: Final

With the favourites England, Scotland and Wales all out of contention, China looked to be the favourites against the kings of the decider, Northern Ireland. China wasted no time in taking full control of the match with Ding beating Allen and Liang beating Greene to go 2-0 ahead. China then increased it to 3-0 with a 77-36 win in the doubles to only require one more frame. But Northern Ireland weren't finished and Allen beat Liang 69-55 before Greene beat Ding to make it 3-2 and force the second doubles frame. China took the frame 89-0 to be crowned the 2011 Snooker World Champions.

2011 Snooker World Cup: Quarter & Semi-Finals

The knock-out rounds of the 2011 Snooker World Cup were slightly different to the group matches. The matches were now a best of seven, the first five frames went like the group phase but this time the sixth frame was a second doubles frame and (if required) the seventh frame was between whoever the two captains decided.

China eased into the semi-finals with a 4-1 victory over Republic Ireland, Ireland only managed to win the first doubles frame. They would meet Wales in today's semi-final as they beat Australia. Australia won the first doubles frame before Matt Stevens lost to Robertson to make it 3-2 Wales and force the second doubles frame. Wales won it to win the match 4-2.

England were edged out by Hong Kong in the first of two quarter finals to go the distance. Fu beat Selby in the opening frame and won the first doubles match to lead 2-1. Hong Kong then won the second doubles frame to make it to force the deciding frame. Selby and Fu then did battle again but it was Fu who again won to give Hong Kong the place in the semi-finals. They will face Northern Ireland who went the distance with Scotland. Mark Allen beat Higgins in the opener and Greene made it 2-0 with a win over Maguire. Scotland won the doubles and Higgins beat Greene to make it 2-2. Allen beat Maguire and Scotland then won the second doubles frame to force it to the decider. Higgins took on Allen and Allen again beat the world number one to see them progress.

China wasted no time against Wales in the first semi-final. Stevens was able to beat Liang Wenbo to equalise at 1-1, but China went onto win 4-1 to put themselves into the final. China will meet Northern Ireland who again went the distance with Hong Kong. Hong Kong won the initial doubles frame to make it 2-1 in Northern Ireland's favour. Fung Kwok Wai then beat Allen before Hong Kong again won the doubles to make it 3-3 and force the decider yet again. But Allen was able to get the better of Fu to see the Northern Irish into the final.

2011 World Matchplay Darts: Day One

The cameras, the dartboard and the oche all arrived in Blackpool yesterday as the 2011 World Matchplay Darts got underway in the Winter Gardens. The first shock of the tournament came in the first match of the tournament as Terry Jenkins was thrashed by Steve Beaton. Beaton quickly took a 3-0 lead before Jenkins fought back to equalise. But the heat overcooked the Bull and Beaton stormed to take the match 10-3.

Usually the first round matches are first to ten, but Adrian Lewis needed extra time to just about come through against Kevin Painter. You have to win by two clear legs to progress, so at 10-9, Lewis needed another leg to win. First of all, Painter went 4-1 ahead after Lewis initially took the first leg. Painter then led 9-6 and had three darts at double top to win the match but squandered them. Lewis had to take his darts back out of his pocket to fight back to take the lead at 10-9. But Painter responded by going 11-10 ahead and had another three darts to win the match but were again wasted. Lewis took full advantage and won 14-12 to stumble into the next round.

Vincent Van der Voort was cruising to victory over Alan Tabern leading 8-4. But Tabern fought back to 8-7 before the Dutchman finally finished the match off 10-7. The final match of the night saw Webtser take on John Part. Webster also stormed into a 7-1 lead before he stepped of the gas. Part battled back and included a nine darter, only the third player to do it in this tournament ever, to make it 8-7. But again the Welshman finally got the job done to also win 10-7.

SWC 2011: The Final

Denmark, Poland, Sweden and Australia all battled it out last night in Gorzow, Poland to be crowned SWC 2011 Champions. Denmark and Poland were unchanged from their semi-final victories, Davey Watt kept his place in the Australian team and Sweden were also unchanged from their semi-final and race-off meetings.

Heat one was taken by Crump for Australia with Kasprzak, who was unbeaten in the semis, finishing second for Poland. Heat two saw Darcy Ward hit the ground in the tight first corner, all four riders were able to restart. From the restart, Hampel ended up colliding with the air fence because of the lack of room given by Ward and the Aussie was excluded, the second restart was eventually won by Sweden's Lindgren. Heat three also had to be restarted twice, Troy Batchelor was initially guilty of a false start but all four riders restarted the race. The first restart was then also deemed as an unsatisfactory start but it looked perfectly fine, the second restart was then won by Batchelor. Davey Watt was guilty of a false start in heat four and also had to be restarted, all four continued and Denmark's Nicky Pedersen took the chequered flag. Heat five was also re-run as Kolodziej had no room in the first corner and hit the deck, all four again restarted and Chris Holder won Australia's third heat. After five arduous heats, Australia led on ten points, Denmark were second on eight and Sweden and Poland both had six.

The rest of the meeting went like clockwork with no further restarts. Lindback took heat heat six before Australia kept control with both Holder and Crump winning their second heats of the night. It took nine heats before the favourites and defending champions Poland to get going, but their captain Gollob took heat nine before then winning heat ten with the joker to earn six more points. After ten heats, Australia had eighteen points, Poland seventeen, Denmark sixteen and Sweden twelve.

Poland then really began to dominate as Hampel, Gollob and Protasiewicz took the next three heats, Jonsson played Sweden's joker in heat thirteen and came fourth as Protasiewicz won. Freddie Lindgren won his second heat of the night to temporarily stop the dominance and Kenneth Bjerre won heat fifteen for Denmark. After fifteen heats, Australia and Poland had twenty-six points, Denmark twenty-two and Sweden nineteen.

Holder and Crump made it three heats each for Australia, Bjerre played Denmark's joker in heat seventeen and came fourth receiving nil points. But Poland again reasserted themselves with Kolodziej, Kasprzak and Hampel taking the next three heats. After twenty heats, Poland were now leading on thirty-eight, Australia had thirty-five, Sweden and Denmark both had twenty-five.

The gap looked to have increased to six points, enough for a joker, when Protasiewicz won heat twenty-one but Ward managed to take Nicky Pedersen on the line to secure third and the gap was at five points. It was then cut to four points in heat twenty-two, Batchelor won it ahead of Kolodziej. Poland were then able to extend their lead to six points despite Niels-Kristian Iversen winning the heat, Kasprzak came second with Watt fourth. This meant that Chris Holder could play Australia's joker in the penultimate heat, he was second behind Hampel before Pedersen went down on lap three. But the Dane managed to pick himself up which meant there was no restart, allowing Hampel to take the win ahead of Holder to ensure that Poland would win the championship. The final heat saw a tremendous battle between Gollob and Crump which Gollob just managed to win. The result saw Poland become the first nation to ever win the World Cup three times in a row with a final score of fifty-one, Australia finished six behind on forty-five, Sweden managed to sneak third on thirty with Denmark on twenty-nine.

2011 Snooker World Cup: Day 5

The fifth day of the Snooker World Cup brought an end to group phase as we now know which eight teams will participate in tomorrow's quarter finals. Day five's results and final tables:

Group A: Egypt 2-3 Pakistan: Egypt won the doubles to lead 2-1 but Pakistan won the reverse singles, but they miss out on the quarter finals by a point.
Wales 3-2 Republic Ireland: Doherty beat Stevens in the final singles match to ensure Ireland's progression by a solitary point.
Wales 14
Republic Ireland 11
Pakistan 10
Germany 9
Egypt 6

Group B: UAE 1-4 Australia: Shehab beats Mifsud to avoid the whitewash as Australia win group B.
Thailand A 1-4 China: Wattana beat Ding in the opener but China powered through as Malta miss out on knock-out phase by a single point.
Australia 13
China 13
Malta 12
Thailand A 8
UAE 4

Group C: Brazil 1-4 India: Rodrigues beat Mehta to avoid whitewash as India clinch third place.
England 3-2 Northern Ireland: England win first/second play-off as Carter beat Allen to clinch it after losing to Greene earlier on.
England 14
Northern Ireland 13
India 9
Belgium 8
Brazil 6

Group D: Thailand B 4-1 Poland: Another shock result as Poland win the doubles to avoid the whitewash. But Thailand B miss out of progression by a point.
Scotland 3-2 Hong Kong: Fu beat Maguire in the final singles match to ensure their progression after winning the doubles.
Scotland 13
Hong Kong 11
Thailand B 10
Afghanistan 9
Poland 7

SWC 2011: Race-Off

Last night saw Sweden, Australia, Great Britain and Russia all battle it out in the SWC race-off for the chance to join Denmark and Poland in tomorrow's final. The race-off, like the final, was staged in Gorzow, Poland and the winners and runner's-up would make it to the final. Sweden were the only unchanged side from the initial events with Jonsson, Lindgren, Lindback, Davidsson and Jonasson all keeping their places. Davey Watt was a surprise omission from Australia's event one team but replaced Rory Schlein to ride alongside Crump, Holder, Batchelor and Ward. Unfortunately for Great Britain, Scott Nicholls had to pull out of the meeting due to family reasons, this meant that Lewis Bridger joined Harris, Woffinden, Barker and Kennett. Russia were able to field a full strength team for the race-off but Bandarenko and Darkin failed to keep their places, GP rider Emil Sayfutdinov joins the side but the other GP rider Artem Laguta still missed out. His brother Grigory does make the side with Denis Gizatulin joining alongside Povazhny and Gafurov, resembling the Russia team from two years ago.

Sweden got off to the best start with Jonsson taking the opening heat. Holder and Batchelor took heats two and three before Davidsson and Jonasson kept Sweden in contention. After five heats Australia lead on eleven points with Sweden second on ten despite winning more heats. Britain were third on five with Russia not making a good start on four.

Heat six saw Gafurov get excluded for having both of his wheels leave the track. There was no restart which meant that Lindgren kept his win but Britain's Kennett was promoted to third. Laguta won Russia's first heat in the seventh with Sayfutdinov quickly following it up. Heat nine saw Povazhny take out Jonsson and was subsequently excluded, Barker was able to win the restart for Britain's first victory of the night. Crump took heat ten to extend Australia's lead. After ten heats Australia led with twenty-two, Sweden remained second with seventeen, Russia had taken third with eleven and Britain were now last with ten.

Heat eleven had to be restarted due to an unsatisfactory start, but there seemed to be nothing wrong with it. Harris was playing Britain's joker and managed to finish second in the restart behind Davidsson. Holder took heat twelve with Jonsson taking heat thirteen. Britain overtook Russia with Harris securing the win in heat fourteen before Crump continued Australia's dominance. After fifteen heats Australia were on thirty-three, Sweden were now just four points ahead of third on twenty-three, Britain were now third on nineteen with Russia on fifteen.

Britain were handed a massive lifeline in heat sixteen as Lindgren squeezed out Woffinden, Woffinden couldn't stay on and ended up also causing Povazhny to crash. But it was Lindgren who was excluded and Woffinden took full advantage by winning the restart. But Sweden quickly regained the points as Lindback beat Harris to the chequered flag. Batchelor took heat eighteen but Barker managed to beat Davidsson into second, this was followed up by Laguta taking heat nineteen with Bridger beating Jonasson to third place. Sweden did have the gap cut to just two points but Jonsson won heat twenty with Kennett last to all but end Britain's hopes. After twenty heats Australia had forty-one, Sweden had thirty-two, Britain twenty-seven and Russia twenty-two.

Sayfutdinov took heat twenty-one with the joker to earn Russia six points to over-take Britain. Jonsson then did the same with Sweden's joker to ensure their place in tomorrow's final. Batchelor took heat twenty-three with Crump taking heat twenty-five. Heat twenty-four was restarted as Lindback false started but all four were able to restart, Sayfutdinov also took that heat. The result saw Australia win with fifty-one points, Sweden are also through with forty-four, Britain managed to keep third with thirty-three with Russia last on thirty.

2011 Snooker World Cup: Day 4

Results and tables from the penultimate day of group games in the Snooker World Cup:

Group A: Wales 3-2 Pakistan: The Welsh pairing lost both of the reverse singles matches as Pakistan earn two more points
Germany 2-3 Republic Ireland: Ireland are now level on points with Germany in the battle for second place.
Wales 11
Germany 9
Republic Ireland 9
Pakistan 7
Egypt 4

Group B: UAE 0-5 Malta: Malta secure only the second whitewash as they finish the group stage as UAE crash out of the tournament.
China 3-2 Australia: China edge possibly the most arduous game so far. Robertson won both of his singles to secure two points for Australia
Malta 12
Australia 9
China 9
Thailand A 7
UAE 3

Group C: Belgium 2-3 Northern Ireland: Greene won both his singles while Brecel beat Allen in the final singles match to earn Belgium another two points, but it won't be enough to progress.
England 4-1 India: India win the doubles to avoid the whitewash as England are through with Northern Ireland
England 11
Northern Ireland 11
Belgium 8
Brazil 5
India 5

Group D: Poland 1-4 Afghanistan: Filipiak won opener against Rais before Afghanistan secure the shock result of the tournament so far.
Scotland 3-2 Thailand B: Higgins lost opener to Sanwannawat but Maguire won both of his singles. Thailand B earned their second point via the doubles.
Scotland 10
Hong Kong 9
Afghanistan 9
Poland 6
Thailand B 6

2011 Snooker World Cup: Day 3

Day Three's results and tables:

Group A: Egypt 1-4 Republic Ireland
Wales 3-2 Germany: Matt Stevens didn't have a great day at the office as he lost 21-74 to Munstermann after Williams had beaten Einsle 56-43. After winning the doubles 90-0, Williams ensured Wales' win with a 74-0 win over Munstermann before Stevens lost again 14-58 to Einsle.
Wales 8
Germany 7
Republic Ireland 6
Pakistan 5
Egypt 4

Group B: China 3-2 UAE
Malta 3-2 Thailand A: Tony Drago lost both of his singles frames on the final black ball but the amateur Borg beat both Wattana and Poomjaeng with the Maltese pair also winning the doubles.
Australia 7
Malta 7
Thailand A 7
China 6
UAE 3

Group C: Brazil 1-4 Northern Ireland
England 3-2 Belgium: Mark Selby carried the English through as Ali Carter lost both of his singles frames. Selby beat Haneveer 79-7 before Carter lost 69-4 to young prospect Brecel. England won the doubles 78-0 before Selby reached 102 to beat Brecel. Carter then lost 67-7 to Haneveer to keep Belgium in the hunt.
Northern Ireland 8
England 7
Belgium 6
Brazil 5
India 4

Group D: Hong Kong 4-1 Thailand B
Scotland 4-1 Afghanistan
Hong Kong 9
Scotland 7
Poland 5
Afghanistan 5
Thailand B 4

2011 Snooker World Cup: Day 2

Day two's results and tables (frame difference in brackets):

Group A: Pakistan 2-3 Germany
Wales 5-0 Egypt
Wales 5 (5-0)
Pakistan 5 (5-5)
Germany 5 (5-5)
Egypt 3
Republic Ireland 2

Group B: Malta 2-3 Australia
Thailand A 4-1 UAE
Australia 7
Thailand A 5
Malta 4
China 3
UAE 1

Group C: India 3-2 Belgium
England 4-1 Brazil
England 4 (4-1)
Northern Ireland 4 (4-1)
Belgium 4 (4-6)
Brazil 4 (4-6)
India 4 (4-6)

Group D: Scotland 3-2 Poland
Afghanistan 2-3 Hong Kong
Poland 5 (5-5)
Hong Kong 5 (5-5)
Afghanistan 4 (4-6)
Scotland 3 (3-2)
Thailand B 3 (3-2)

SWC 2011: Event 2

Last night saw the second event of the 2011 Speedway World Cup take place in King's Lynn, Norfolk. Poland, Czech Republic, Russia and Great Britain were all battling for a place alongside Denmark in Saturday's final. Defending champions Poland were huge favourites but had omitted GP rider Rune Holta from the team. Other GP riders Thomasz Gollob, Jaroslaw Hampel and Janusz Kolodziej were joined by the highly rated Piotr Protasiewicz and Krzystof Kasprzak. Czech Pepublic have no GP riders but Matej Kus did ride as a wildcard in this year's Czech GP, he is joined by the Dryml brothers (Ales and Lukas), Tomas Topinka and Filip Sitera. Russia were tipped to battle hard for second until they turned up with only four riders, neither GP rider Emil Sayfutdinov nor Artem Laguta could get their required papers sorted leaving Roman Pavazhny, Segey Darkin, Ilya Bandarenko and Renat Gafurov riding for Russia. Great Britain were also tipped for second with GP rider Chris Harris joined by previous GP riders Scott Nicholls and Tai Woffinden, Edward Kennett and young Ben Barker completed the line-up.

It started beautifully for the hosts as Harris took the first heat and was then followed up by Darkin in heat two. After their slow start, Poland picked up the pace with Kolodziej, Protasiewicz and Kasprzak all picking up heat wins. Heat three saw the first incident on the the very tight first corner; Woffinden looked to have been taken down by Lukas Dryml but the referee decided that Woffinden was at fault and was excluded from the restart which Kolodziej won. After five heats Poland were on twelve points, Britain nine, Russia six and Czech Rep. on three.

Heat six saw Lukas Dryml seemingly false start but the referee didn't think so, but karma came back around as leader Dryml fell off and the third lap, causing his exclusion from the restart. Poland continued their dominance as Protasiewicz won the restart and was followed by Kasprzak's second win in heat seven. Nicholls played Britain's joker in heat eight but ended up hitting the deck, but he managed to get up to allow the race to continue. Britain earned nothing from their joker while Gollob took the heat. Heat nine saw Ales Drmyl felled by Woffinden and the Brit was excluded for his second consecutive heat, the restart saw Hampel take the chequered flag. With only having four riders, Russia couldn't field a rider for heat five but because they were more than six points behind Poland, they were allowed to field a sub in heat ten. Bandarenko only managed third but Kennett temporarily halted Poland's charge by winning the heat. After ten heats Poland were on twenty-six, Britain fifteen, Russia twelve and Czech Rep. seven.

Scott Nicholls and Tai Woffinden made it three heat wins on the spin for Britain although heat twelve saw Sitera fall but was able to continue. Kasprzak made it three from three before Harris made four wins in five for Britain. Heat fifteen saw Darkin and Lukas Dryml fall and Darkin was excluded. The restart saw Dryml and Harris get extremely close and Harris fell, causing Dryml's exclusion. The race between Hampel and Harris was eventually won by Hampel. After fifteen heats Poland were on thirty-eight, Britain twenty-eight, Russia fourteen and Czech Rep. nine.

Matej Kus became the latest to fall in heat sixteen but managed to continue, Kasprzak won his fourth heat from four rides. Gollob took heat seventeen before Woffinden and Kennett kept Britain cemented in second. Heat twenty saw Nicholls suffer a bad fall and his bike crashed into Pavazhny. Nicholls was excluded and Protasiewicz took the heat. After twenty heats Poland had fifty-one, Britain thirty-eight, Russia eighteen and Czech Rep. fourteen.

Pavazhny won Russia's second heat in the heat twenty-one to keep their third place alive. Ben Barker won heat twenty-two before carnage struck on the following heat; Protasiewicz and Sitera sandwiched Harris, causing all three to fall. But all four were allowed to continue and Harris went onto win the heat. Gafurov packed up on the penultimate heat which was won Kasprzak who won all five of his heats. This meant that Russia had a two point lead going into the final heat but weren't able to field a race. Luckily for them, Topinka could only manage third in the final heat which was won by Gollob. The final result saw Poland win on sixty-two, Britain second on forty-nine, Russia third on twenty-one and Czech Rep. last on twenty. Poland go through to join Denmark in Saturday's final, Britain and Russia join Sweden and Australia in Thursday's tough race-off.

Return Of The Snooker World Cup

SWC in sport usually stands for the Speedway World Cup, but today marked the return of the Snooker World Cup taking place in Bangkok, Thailand. It's been fifteen years since we saw the last tournament and it's good to see it back. Twenty nations take part each with two players representing them. The teams are split into four groups of five and the top two progress to the quarter finals. Each team plays four matches which consist of five frames and are played much like a Davis Cup match in tennis. The top players from each team go head-to-head before the second players in a single frame shoot-out. The third frame consists of a doubles frame where alternate shots are enforced before the single matches are reversed. Every frame counts as each frame won constitutes to a point in the group.

Group A consists of Wales, Egypt, Pakistan, Germany and Republic of Ireland. Wales are one of the favourites as Mark Williams and Matt Stevens are representing them. ROI look a strong side with Ken Doherty and Fergal O'Brien and will be tipped to progress with Wales. Germany are a wildcard entrant and would probably be tipped to finish third with possible star of the future Patrick Einsle and Lasse Munstermann representing them. Both Egypt and Pakistan qualified and are virtually unknown with Wael Talat and Yasser El-Sherbini playing for Egypt and Sahid Aftab and Muhammad Sajjad for Pakistan. Today saw both Doherty and O'Brien secure centuries against Pakistan but unbelievably ended up losing 3-2 with Pakistan never breaking higher than twenty-five. Meanwhile Egypt beat Germany by the same scoreline.

Group B consists of China, Thailand A (they get two teams as they are the hosts), UAE, Malta and Australia. China will be fancied to win this group with Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo playing for them. Australia will probably be tipped for second with former World Champion Neil Robertson playing alongside amateur Steve Mifsud. However Malta have veteran Tony Drago with Alex Borg and Thailand A have former world number three James Wattana with Dechawat Poomjaeng and could both be dark horses in this competition. UAE, like Malta, had to qualify and are represented by Mohammed Mustafa Shehab and Mohammed Al Joaker. Today saw Australia beat Thailand A 4-1 and China beat Malta 3-2.

Group C consists of England, Brazil, India, Belgium and Northern Ireland. Again England are part favourites with Wuxi Classic finalists Mark Selby and Ali Carter joining forces. Northern Ireland are likely to progress with Mark Allen and Gerard Greene at the table. Belgium would be my tip to finish third as sixteen year-old prodigy Luca Brecel will playing alongside Bjorn Haneveer. Brazil are wildcards and are represented by Fabio Luersen and Noel Rodrigues while India qualified and are represented by Aditya Metha and Pankaj Advani. Today saw Brazil surprisingly beat Belgium 3-2 but Northern Ireland did as expected with a 4-1 win over India.

Group D consists of Scotland, Thailand B, Afghanistan, Poland and Hong Kong. Scotland are clear favourites in this group and possibly the overall tournament with John Higgins and Stephen Maguire playing for them. Hong Kong would probably be tipped for second with Marco Fu playing alongside Fung Kwok Wai, but qualifiers Poland could be dark horses being represented by fifteen year old Kacper Filipiak and Krzystof Wrobel. Thailand B and Afghanistan will probably be fighting it out for the bottom two places being represented by Passakorn Sunwannawat and Thepchaiya Un-nooh, Mohammad Rais Senzahi and Saleh Mohammad Mohammadi respectively. Today saw Thailand B beat Afghanistan 3-2 and Poland surprisingly beat Hong Kong by the same score.

GREAT Britain In The Davis Cup

The Davis Cup returned this weekend and although the main focus would have been on the quarter finals, Great Britain had a Europe/Africa Zone II match against Luxembourg. On paper the result wasn't much of a surprise as Andy Murray took part for Britain in Glasgow whereas Luxembourg's main star was Gilles Muller.

But if Great Britain won, they would be in the playoff final for the chance to be promoted to Group I. Up first was Muller against James Ward, Muller probably unsurprisingly won in straight sets 6-3 7-6 6-1. Andy Murray was up next and he faced Laurent Bram who was mainly a coach and very much a part time player. It was no surprise to see Murray win, but Murray did it in fantastic style by winning 6-0 6-0 6-0 to level the score after day one.

Day two saw the doubles event and Andy Murray teamed with his brother Jamie to take on Bram and Mike Vermeer who is ranked 971st in the world. the Murray's had to fight to win the first set but took it 7-5. From there the Luxembourg pair had no answer and the Murray's won the other two sets 6-2 6-0 to give Britain the edge going into the final day.

Andy Murray kicked off day three knowing that a win over Gilles Muller would secure Britain's place in the promotion play-off. Again it was quickly won in straight sets as Murray took the match 6-4 6-3 6-1 to secure the final play-off. James Ward rounded day three off with a 6-1 6-3. Great Britain will now face Hungary in the promotion play-off.

Pit Stop Mistakes Lose Races

The Silverstone Formula 1 GP certainly didn't disappoint with so much more drama than in Valencia two weeks ago. Vettel took the lead from the start as Webber was a little slow in maintaining track position. Button managed to get himself up to fourth and Hamilton sixth after starting fifth and tenth respectively. The track was half wet and half dry which left the drivers starting the race on intermediates but the mixed conditions helped build the drama. The second lap was the beginning of the end for Button as both Massa and Hamilton were able to overtake him. Kovalainen became the first retirement in two races a lap later due to a gearbox failure.

The conditions were proving difficult for some drivers and Hamilton quickly found himself going into a run off area whilst battling with Massa, but the McLaren was able to carry on. Sauber's Kobayashi arguably had the most eventful race and it all started on lap nine when when Schumacher collided into him, the Sauber span but was able to carry on while the Mercedes lost his front wing and was issued a stop/go penalty five laps later for causing an avoidable collision. Lap thirteen saw Kobayashi move slowly away from his pit release and nearly collided into Maldonado but did end up taking a Force India wheel gun out of the cable. Kobayashi was also handed a stop/go penalty on lap twenty for an unsafe pit release.

Lap thirteen saw Hamilton overtake Massa into fourth while Trulli was forced to retire for an unknown reason. A lap later Button also overtook Massa and went into fifth place. The McLarens were flying at this point and Hamilton was able to overtake Alonso on lap fifteen to take third place. But this only lasted nine laps before Alonso regained the podium position.

Kobayashi's race finished on lap twenty-five when his stop/go penalty caused his engine to overheat and subsequently fail. There was another pit lane cock-up on lap twenty-six as Force India's Di Resta came in to pit but the team has Sutil's tyres out and quickly had to change them, pretty much ending Di Resta's fine race. Di Resta then caused contact with Toro Rosso's Buemi a lap later, causing Buemi to suffer a left rear puncture and retired from the race. The penultimate pit-stop mix-up was arguably the most indicative for the race as Vettel and second placed Alonso pitted together. But Vettel's rear tyre wouldn't fasten quickly enough and Alonso took the lead with Hamilton now suddenly in second place.

It took ten laps before Vettel could re-overtake Hamilton by pitting a lap earlier to gain a lap's worth of pace. The final pit-lane mix-up occurred on lap forty when Button's front right tyre wasn't fastened at all, causing Button to park on the outside of the pit lane before the tyre would come clean off and the McLaren had to therefore retire. It got worse for McLaren as Hamilton had to go into fuel saving mode which allowed Webber to take full advantage and regain third place. The final lap saw Webber battle Vettel for second before the Red Bull garage intervened on the final corners. But Hamilton's fuel saving mode allowed Massa to battle for fourth and Hamilton collided into the Ferrari on the final corner to ensure his fourth place ahead of Massa, but surely a steward's enquiry will be made. Race results:

1.Alonso (Ferrari), 2.Vettel (Red Bull), 3.Webber (Red Bull), 4.Hamilton (McLaren), 5.Massa (Ferrari), 6.Rosberg (Mercedes), 7.Perez (Sauber), 8.Heidfeld (Renault), 9.Schumacher (Mercedes), 10.Alguersuari (Toro Rosso), 11.Sutil (Force India), 12.Petrov (Renault), 13.Barrichello (Williams), 14.Maldonado (Williams), 15.Di Resta (Force India), 16.Glock (Virgin), 17.D'Ambrosio (Virgin), 18.Liuzzi (Hispania), 19.Ricciardo (Hispania) DNF: Kovalainen (Lotus), Trulli (Lotus), Kobayashi (Sauber), Beumi (Toro Rosso), Button (McLaren)

SWC 2011: Event One

The Speedway Grand Prix series has taken a break this week as the Speedway World Cup began yesterday. It is split into four events where eight nations compete for the title. The winners from events one and two will progress into the final whereas the teams who finish second and third will meet in the play-off on Thursday. Event One was held in Vojens, Denmark, where the scoring system is the same as normal Speedway: three points for first, two for second and three for third. But in the World Cup, if a nation is six or more points behind the leader during the twenty-five heats they can use a joker for one heat where the points scored in that race will be doubled.

The four teams who competed in event one were Denmark, Sweden, Australia and Germany. The hosts controversially left out last year's captain Hans Andersen in favour of Mads Korneliussen. Grand Prix riders Nicky Pedersen and Kenneth Bjerre were also joined by Niels-Kristian Iversen and Bjarne Pedersen. Sweden's controversial choice saw Magnus 'Zorro' Zetterstrom left out. Grand Prix riders Andreas Jonsson, Freddie Lindgren and Antonio Lindback were joined by Jonas Davidsson and Thomas H Jonasson. Australia left out Davey Watt for a more younger set up. GP riders Jason Crump and Chris Holder were joined by Darcy Ward, Troy Batchelor and Rory Schlein. Germany were definitely the minnows as none of their riders take part in the GP and were represented by Kevin Wolbert, Max Dilger, Tobias Busch, Mathias Schultz and Tobias Kroner.

Jonsson won the first heat for Sweden but Bjarne Pedersen and Kenneth Bjerre won the next two to give Denamrk a point lead after three heats. Australia got off to an awful start and Batchelor packed up in heat three to give Germany their second point in three heats to take third place. Jonas Davidsson won heat four with Mads Korneliussen proving his critics wrong to win the fifth heat. After five heats Denmark had twelve, Sweden eleven, Australia five and Germany two.

Kenneth Bjerre won his second heat in the heat six with Germany using their joker, but Wolbert could only manage third to pick up two points. Chris holder won Australia's first heat before Korneliussen continued the Danish charge in heat eight with his second win. Heat nine saw Nicky Pedersen fall and was subsequently excluded, allowing Freddie Lindgren to take the lead over Denmark. But Bjarne Pedersen restored parity by winning the tenth heat. After ten heats Denamrk and Sweden both had twenty-one points, Australia thirteen and Germany six.

Australia began a gallant fight back in the following five heats; Darcy Ward won heat eleven with Holder, Crump and Ward again winning after Lindgren had taken heat twelve. Heat fourteen saw Bjarne Pedersen pack-up which led to Crump's victory. After fifteen heats Sweden had taken the lead on thirty, Australia were now level with Denmark on twenty-seven with Germany on seven.

Heats 16-20 were very much Denmark's power surge. Bjarne Pedersen and Bjerre took heats sixteen and seventeen. Ward won his third heat before Korneliussen and Nicky Pedersen put Denmark in charge. After twenty heats Denmark had forty points, Sweden thirty-eight, Australia thirty-six and Germany seven.

Darcy Ward won his fourth heat to level with Sweden after twenty-one heats. The two Pedersen's won the following heats to almost ensure their progression into the final. Heat twenty-three saw Holder play Australia's joker but could only manage third before winning the following heat, Lindgren finished second with Sweden's joker. The final heat was won by Crump but it wasn't enough to steal second. Denmark won the event with fifty points, Sweden and Australia will take part in Thursday's race-off with forty-eight and forty-seven points respectively, Germany unsurprisingly finished last with a solitary nine points. Event two takes place on Monday and features Poland, Great Britain, Russia and Czech Republic.

Mixed Weather, Mixed Results

After the uneventful Valencia Grand Prix, the Formula One cartel headed to Silverstone and was struck by the Great British weather. But the unpredictable weather brings unpredictable results and qualifying certainly showed it. The big news before it all started was that Red Bull practice driver, Daniel Ricciardo, has been granted a place on the Hispania team, replacing Karthikeyan. The other news surrounded the FIA's decision to ban the blown diffuser that helps drivers accelerate during the corners for less down force. This in itself wasn't controversial but disappointing, the controversial side came from McLaren and Mercedes who still have the blown diffuser type system because 'it's how their engines work'. This has led to the other big teams feeling handicapped but in the end the results showed otherwise.

Debutant Ricciardo's first qualifying session behind an F1 car finished with a 'Karthikeyan-style' last place, followed by Liuzzi in twenty-third. Still unsurprisingly, D'Ambrosio starts twenty-second but his Virgin team-mate Glock out-qualified Trulli's Lotus into twentieth place. The other shocks from Q1 saw both Toro Rosso's get eliminated at the hands of Kovalainen but Alguersuari will start ahead of Buemi in eighteenth. The rain came down mid-way through the session which left the final minutes of the session un-fought and Alonso came off the track but was luckily able to continue. Although Webber was fastest in Q1, Williams' Pastor Maldonado was second quickest, suggesting a shock could well be on the cards this weekend.

Q2 saw Kovalainen finish seventeenth but was as high as eleventh at one point before everyone made a mad dash to the line. Heidfeld continues his qualifying hoodoo by starting sixteenth in tomorrow's race, his team-mate Petrov finishes fourteenth with Barrichello stuck in between. Michael Schumacher recorded his worst finish in qualifying and starts thirteenth tomorrow with Perez and Sutil ahead of him in twelfth and eleventh. Massa was the fastest in Q2, showing that Ferrari are still competing this season.

Q3 had surprise entrants with Maldonado, Di Resta and Kobayashi all making into the final shoot-out. Rain again interfered with the final moments of the session and it yet again provided unusual results. After McLaren's supposed advantage, Hamilton will start tenth tomorrow with Rosberg just ahead of him. Kobayashi managed eight with Maldonado seventh and Di Resta sixth. Button will yet again start behind his rivals in fifth as the Ferrari's occupy the second row, Alonso out-qualifies Massa yet again. This means that Red Bull still reign at the top of qualifying but Mark Webber finally found the anti-dote to temporarily stop Vettel and the Aussie will start from Pole for tomorrow's race.

Serbulant Times For Nadal

Novak Djokovic won his fiftieth, out of fifty-one, game yesterday to be crowned Wimbledon Champion. Nadal knew that whatever the outcome, he would be demoted to second in the world with the Serb taking top rank.

Although, as a spectacle, none of the sets were really close which may have lessened the tension and drama but Djokovic found the answer to how to play Nadal on grass, somehow make less unforced errors than hm. Djokovic took the first set 6-4 before blowing Nadal away 6-1 in the second. Nadal kept himself in the match by returning the favour in the third set and also won it 6-1. But Djokovic wasn't to be denied and he took the fourth set 6-3 to win his first Wimbledon trophy, his third Grand Slam victory.

Djokovic has now beaten Nadal five times this calender year with only Roger Federer managing to beat the Serb this year so far. Djokovic celebrated his win by eating a bit of the Wimbledon turf so he could take some of the magic home with him.

Left-Handed Czech Champion

Today saw Petra Kvitova become the first left-hander to win the ladies' Wimbledon championship since her idol and compatriot Martina Navratilova. The eighth seed Kvitova was certainly the underdog against fifth seed Maria Sharapova who hadn't dropped a single set in the tournament.

If Kvitova was nervous ahead of her debut Grand Slam final, she certainly didn't show it and took the first set 6-3. Sharapova looked a little uncomfortable against Kvitova and she looked a little uneasy about to how to counteract playing a left-hander. Sharapova tried to hold her own in the second set but the powerful returns of Kvitova left the Russian in despair. Kvitova took the second set 6-4 and won the final point with an ace to earn her first Grand Slam title.

End Of Murray-Mania

Yesterday saw what many of the neutrals knew was going to happen, Andy Murray losing to Rafal Nadal in the semi-finals. All the hype surrounding Murray started after he won Queen's against Tsonga and it finally ended yesterday. Although it nearly wasn't the case, Murray did actually take the first set 7-5 and made the world sit up an take note. But from there Nadal just blew Murray away by making no unforced errors on his way to taking the second set 6-2. Nadal then took the third set by the same margin before finishing Murray with a 6-4 win in the fourth set.

Although Nadal will be in the final, he won't be world number one regardless of the result. That is because Novak Djokovic has also made it into the final after beating Tsonga. It also took four sets but Djokovic went 2-0 ahead after winning the tie-break 7-4 in the first set and winning 6-2 in the second set. Tsonga battled back and won a monumental tie-break 11-9 in the third set to prompt questions of a comeback like in the quarter-finals. But it wasn't to be as Djokovic took the fourth set 6-3 to mark his place in the final.

The women's semi-finals took place on Thursday with the final today. Sharapova took on Lisicki and the German wildcard went 3-0 ahead in the first set before Sharapova fought back to win 6-4. Sharapova is still yet to drop a set in this tournament as she took the second set 6-3 and is the favourite to win the title, seven years since her last victory at Wimbledon.

Sharapova's opponent will be eighth seed Kvitova who will be only the fourth female Czech to make it to the final. She played fourth seed Azarenka in the semi-final but Kvitova blew her away in the first set 6-1. Azarenka fought back to take the second set 6-3 to take it to a deciding set. But Kvitova took the final set 6-2 to book her place in today's final.