(By George Bouras on behalf of Rob Barnett)
Team GB ended their week at the World Championships in Daegu on a high on Sunday as Mo Farah took gold in the 5,000m. Phillips Idowu lost his world title, though, having to settle for a silver in the long jump.
Usain Bolt made up for the false start which ruled him out of the 100m final with a straightforward victory in the 200m in Saturday evening’s big sprint final where he recorded the second-fastest time in history. Bolt returned to the track to bring home the baton for the Jamaica in the 4x100m relay final, where his team bettered their own world record in their gold medal-winning run.
A Wayne Rooney brace helped England to a comfortable win in their European Championship qualifier in Sofia on Friday evening. Gary Cahill, the Bolton Wanderers defender, opened the scoring in a 3-0 win.
A win at home to Wales on Tuesday night will all but guarantee qualification for the Championships in Poland and Ukraine next summer ahead of a tough trip to Montenegro.
A dubious last-minute Czech penalty cost Scotland two precious points at Hampden Park, making qualification now all but impossible.
Wales salvaged some pride from a qualifying campaign which was already doomed to failure well in advance of this match as they overcame Montenegro 2-1 in Cardiff to grab their first points of their five qualifying games.
Northern Ireland went down 1-0 at home to Serbia, denting their chances of making the playoffs behind group-winners elect Italy.
Andy Murray’s US Open campaigned continues with a comprehensive 6-1 6-4 6-2 third-round victory over Argentinian 25th seed Feliciano Lopez; the same man Murray defeated in this year’s Wimbledon quarter-final.
The rest of the “big four”, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, also made it into the tournament’s second week with relative ease with Federer the only one to drop a set.
In the women’s draw, 28th seed Serena Williams is the bookie’s favourite to lift her fourth title after a series of powerful performances including Saturday’s straight sets win over Victoria Azarenka. World number one Caroline Wosniacki’s beat Vania King to further her pursuit of a first major title.
In the opening weekend of Rigby Union’s Aviva Premiership season Northampton beat Gloucester 26-24 courtesy of a last-gasp penalty from Ryan Lamb. Leicester suffered a surprise 30-28 home defeat at the hands of Exeter and Wasps beat Saracens 20-15 in the London derby.
Surrey and Somerset booked their places in the CB40 final at Lords on 17th September with simple semi-final wins. At the Oval on Saturday, Surrey breezed past Sussex to win by 71 runs and at Taunton Durham fell 39 runs short of the target set for them by Somerset’s.
In Rugby League, Warrington Wolves edged towards the league-leaders shield after they comfortably beat recent Challenge Cup winners Wigan Warriors 39-12 who trail them in second. With one game remaining in the regular league season, all eyes will be on Castleford, Hull and Hull KR to see which side will make the playoffs.
Thomas Bjorn won golf’s European Open in Cran-sur-Sierre, Switzerland, with a score of 20 under par, four shots ahead of Martin Kaymer. Rory McIlroy finished third and Lee Westwood came in fifth, shooting -15 and -14 respectively.
