Tag: wrestling

olympic sports, winter sports

Monday Myriad: U.S. athletes slide well

Posted on by Beau Dure

Our sleds are better than yours.

You may have heard Lolo Jones got second in her World Cup bobsled debut with driver Jazmine Fenlator, but U.S. success went farther than that. Elana Meyers and Tianna Madison, the latter also a track and field Olympian, took third.

The men weren’t bad, either. Steven Holcomb/Steve Langton and Cory Butner/Chuck Berkeley finished 1-2 in the World Cup two-man opener. Holcomb was second in the four-man, with Nick Cunningham taking third in just his third World Cup race.

The skeleton crew had a few top-fives: John Daly and Kyle Tress 4-5 in the men’s race; slider/weightlifter Katie Uhlaender fifth in the women’s race with the best time of the third run.

Figure skating

Gracie Gold at Skate Canada last month: 151.57 points, seventh place.

Gracie Gold at the Rostelecom Cup over the weekend: 175.03, second place. Just 2.16 out of first. That’s what skating insiders would call “an improvement.”

Agnes Zawadzki also had a bit of an improvement, posting a personal-best 166.61 for third place.

Caydee Denney and John Coughlin also reached the podium, finishing third in pairs. Ice dancers Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani were fourth.

The men didn’t do quite as well. Johnny Weir had a rough time in the short program, then withdrew. Richard Dornbush was sixth.

Alpine skiing

Well she’s … speedy and 17! Our U.S. ski-slalom queen!

Yes, she’s far too young to get that Stray Cats reference, but Mikaela Schifrin was on the World Cup podium this weekend, finishing third in a slalom somewhere near the North Pole. Ted Ligety was 13th in the men’s race.

Wrestling

Big win for Tervel Diagnev over Russia’s Magomedgadzhi Nurasulov, who scored less than 0.05 points for every letter in his name, at the New York Athletic Club Invitational. Austin Trotman also beat one of the invited Russians and was named outstanding wrestler of the meet.

Basketball

Ready for a World Cup that won’t be sullied by the Netherlands’ negativity? Basketball is moving its world championship to soccer’s off-years and rebranding it as a World Cup. Better than World Series, at least.

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general sports, olympic sports

Monday Myriad: The good news is on the mat

Posted on by Beau Dure

So the Ryder Cup happened. And U.S. fighters posted a 3-5 record on the UFC card in England, with Matt Wiman’s shocking submission win against submission expert Paul Sass being the biggest bright spot.

And perhaps your favorite football teams lost on the gridiron, the pitch and the oval. (Yes, the Australian rules football Grand Final was apparently a classic.)

Here’s the good news for U.S. fans: Out of seven weight classes in the women’s wrestling World Championships, four took medals:

– Gold: Elena Pirozhkova, Adeline Gray

– Silver: Helen Maroulis

– Bronze: Alyssa Lampe

Other news from the weekend:

Swimming: Mixed-gender relays get mixed reaction.

Short-track speedskating: Five of the 10 skaters who qualified for the USA’s squad for the World Cup season are among the group that wants coach Jae Su Chun removed. (The Chicago Tribune has the complaint documents, plus Chun’s response.)

Triathlon: Olympians Sarah Groff and Gwen Jorgensen were in the top 10 of a World Triathlon Series event in Japan.

Figure skating: A couple of promising results for U.S. skaters in smaller events before the Grand Prix season opens.

Cricket: Alas, England only had one day to celebrate the Ryder Cup before a crushing defeat and elimination from the World Twenty20. Sri Lanka and West Indies have made the semifinals.

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medal projections, olympic sports

2012 medal projection update: Wrestling

Posted on by Beau Dure

Plenty of information sources here. USA Wrestling’s site, The Mat, takes the same approach to wrestling that the big pro sports’ sites take to their sports — they’re the clearinghouse of news and features going well beyond the standard federation fare. (That almost makes up for the utterly uninformative international site run by FILA.) And with so many wrestlers moving on into MMA, the thriving MMA blogosphere will weigh in — check out Bloody Elbow’s in-depth previews if you want to know more than who beat whom.

One caveat here: We have not seen final entry lists. When The Mat’s previews list qualifiers and say “fifth in 2011 World Championships,” they mean the country earned the quota spot that way. The wrestler in the Olympics might not be the same person. As a final reminder, the point of this exercise is to come up with a complete medal projection by country. In a lot of cases, a Russian wrestler may be a medal contender even if it’s not the same person we expected.

I’ve been a great fan of the crowd-sourcing that’s taking place here. If you see a name in this post that ought to be removed, please let me know.

The 2011 World Championships took place after the original picks, so we have a lot of new information here.

To the mat we go …

Continue reading →

3
medal projections, mma, olympic sports

2012 wrestling: Not just an MMA prep course

Posted on by Beau Dure

With all due respect to the revamped formats international wrestling organizers trot out every couple of years, mixed martial arts is the best and worst thing to happen to wrestling in the past decade. Hard-core MMA fans have expanded their combat-sport interests to the more traditional mat-and-singlet sport, and the possibility that today’s U.S. champion could be tomorrow’s UFC champion doesn’t hurt the interest level.

On the flip side, the sport’s top talents may decide that learning to punch someone and get paid beats toiling in international tournaments in the former Eastern Bloc for a shot at the Olympics. That trend is extending to women’s wrestling as well, with 2004 silver medalist Sara McMann now plowing through the women’s MMA ranks. Some people, like Joe Warren, will try to balance MMA with a run at London.

But that migration is happening mostly in the Western world. This sport is still huge in Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan and elsewhere in the Eastern Europe/Central Asia range. In women’s wrestling, which merges the seven World Championship weight classes down to four in the Olympics, add Japan and Canada.

This is another combat sport with two bronze medals per class. And World Championships every year — last September in Moscow, this September in Istanbul.

Unfortunately, FILA basically doesn’t compile rankings based on any other competitions. Think I’m deterred by any of that? Nah. Here’s what we’ll do: Take the 2010 World Championships previews at USA Wrestling’s lively site, TheMat.com, which compile plenty of information from the past several years. Then check the 2010 results.

MEN’S FREESTYLE

55kg: Russia’s Victor Lebedev moved up from bronze to gold in 2010. The two wild cards here are North Korea’s Yang Kyong-Il, the 2009 champion but a no-show in 2010, and gold medalist Henry Cejudo, who has taken time off but plans to return. Japan’s Yasuhiro Inaba won the 2010 Asian title and was third at Worlds behind Lebedev and Azerbaijan’s Togrul Asgarov. The other 2010 medalist was Cuba’s Frank Chamizo.

2008: Henry Cejudo (USA),  Tomohiro Matsunaga (Japan), Besik Kudukhov (Russia),  Radoslav Velikov (Bulgaria)

Projection: Russia, USA, Japan, Azerbaijan

Top Americans: In Cejudo’s absence, Obe Blanc ranked 10th at Worlds.

60kg: Three of four 2009 medalists repeated in 2010, including champion Besik Kudukhov of Russia. Ukraine’s Vasyl Fedoryshyn has vacillated (sorry) between silver and bronze over the past three World and Olympic events. Azerbaijan’s Zalimkhan Huseinov has moved up from fifth in 2008 to silver in 2009 and bronze in 2010. The other 2010 bronze medalist also is no stranger to the podium — Iran’s Seyed Morad Mohammadi won the 2006 world title and Olympic bronze in 2008. Falling off the podium from 2009 to 2010 was Uzbekistan’s Dilshod Mansurov.

2008: Mavlet Batirov (Russia), Vasyl Fedoryshyn (Ukraine), Seyed Morad Mohammadi (Iran), Kenichi Yumoto (Japan)

Projection: Russia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Iran

Top Americans: Mike Zadick took silver in 2006 but hasn’t been in the top 10 since.

66kg: Russia has taken second in this class at two straight World Championships with two different wrestlers. India’s Sushil Kumar bounced around the top five — bronze in 2008, fifth in 2009 — before taking the world title last year. Azerbaijan’s Jabrayli Hasanov took the European title and World bronze last year. Cuba’s Geandry Garzon has medaled in four of the last five Worlds and was fifth in Beijing.

2008: Ramazan Şahin (Turkey), Andriy Stadnik (Ukraine), Sushil Kumar (India), Otar Tushishvili (Georgia)

Projection: Russia, India, Azerbaijan, Cuba

Top Americans: Brent Metcalf was a disappointing 20th at Worlds.

74kg: All Russia, with Denis Tsargush taking over from the decorated Bouvaisa Saitiev and winning two straight world titles. Iran’s Sadegh Goudarzi has taken bronze and silver in the last two Worlds. The 2010 bronze medalists were the relatively unheralded Abdulhakim Shapiev (Kazakhstan) and Gabor Hatos (Hungary). Bulgaria’s Kiril Terziev, who took bronze in 2008, was seventh at Worlds.

2008: Bouvaisa Saitiev (Russia), Soslan Tigiev (Uzbekistan), Murad Gaidarov (Belarus), Kiril Terziev (Bulgaria)

Projection: Russia, Iran, Hungary, Bulgaria

Top Americans: Travis Paulson couldn’t make any headway at Worlds. This was Ben Askren’s weight class before his departure for MMA.

84kg: Bulgaria’s Michail Ganev had been bubbling under the podium for a while before dethroning Uzbekistan’s Zaurbek Sokhiev in last year’s final. Sokhiev didn’t medal at the Olympics but had taken bronze in 2006 and 2007 in addition to his 2009 title. The bronze medalists were Russia’s Soslan Ktsoev (the European champion) and Cuba’s Reineri Salas. Ukraine’s Ibragim Aldatov slipped from third to fifth in 2010.

2008: Revaz Mindorashvili (Georgia), Yusup Abdusalomov (Tajikistan), Taras Danko (Ukraine), Georgy Ketoyev (Russia)

Projection: Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine

Top Americans: Jake Herbert had a rough time at Worlds but has had some success in this class, where “King” Mo Lawal once roamed.

96kg: Azerbaijan’s Khetag Gazyumov completed the progression from bronze (2008) to silver (2009) to gold, ending a long run for Russia atop the weight class. In the final, he beat four-time world champion and 2004 Olympic champion Khadshimourad Gatsalov, who did not compete in 2008 while his countryman Shirvani Muradov won gold. Georgia’s Georgi Gogchelidze has bronze in three straight competitions. Alexei Krupniakov of Kyrgyzstan took the other bronze in 2010 after some quarterfinal appearances in the past.

2008: Shirvani Muradov (Russia), Taimuraz Tigiyev (Kazakhstan), Georgi Gogshelidze (Georgia), Khetag Gazyumov (Azerbaijan)

Projection: Azerbaijan, Russia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan

Top Americans: Jake Varner was ninth in 2009; J.D. Bergman 10th in 2010.

120kg: Another class in which Russia has a multiple-time world champion (Beylal Makhov)  missed the 2008 Games. He beat 2008 gold medalist Artur Taymazov (Uzbekistan) in the 2010 final. Greece’s Ioannis Arzoumanidis has taken bronze twice in a row. Georgia has had a couple of different wrestlers in the mix, and Iran’s Fardin Masoumi has the 2009 silver along with some quarterfinal performances.

2008: Artur Taymazov (Uzbekistan), Bakhtiyar Akhmedov (Russia), David Musulbes (Slovakia), Marid Mutalimov (Kazahkstan)

Projection: Russia, Uzbekistan, Greece, Iran

Top Americans: Tervel Dlagnev took bronze in 2009. Les Sigman beat him to earn a spot on the 2010 team and placed ninth.

WOMEN’S FREESTYLE

48kg: We’ll make a potentially dangerous assumption here — this weight class is so stacked that few 51kg wrestlers will make the effort to cut weight and wrestle in this class. Azerbaijan’s Mariya Stadnik added a 2009 world title to her 2008 bronze, and Olympic champion Carol Huynh (Canada) returned from a year off to take bronze in 2010. And yet they were upstaged in 2010 by Japan’s Hitomi Sakamoto, who had retired after winning six world titles at 51kg but returned to make a run at the Olympics at 48kg. She beat European champion Lorisa Oorzhak (Russia) for the title. China’s Shasha Zhao took the other bronze, while Britain has a contender in quarterfinalist Yana Stadnik.

2008: Carol Huynh (Canada), Chiharu Icho (Japan), Mariya Stadnik (Azerbaijan), Irina Merleni (Ukraine)

Projection: Japan, Canada, Azerbaijan, Russia

Top Americans: Clarissa Chun won the 2008 world title (yes, a separate competition was held) and placed fifth in the Olympics, but Alyssa Lampe took her spot in 2010 without making an impact at Worlds.

55kg: Now we have two weight classes to deal with — 51 and 55. The 51kg contenders are Sofia Mattsson (Sweden) and Aleksandra Kohut (Ukraine), who traded gold and bronze in the past two Worlds. Two different Japanese wrestlers also medaled at 51, but they’ll never qualify at 55 ahead of the legendary Saori Yoshida, who has dominated the 55kg class for the better part of a decade. Azerbaijan threw two different wrestlers at her in the past two Worlds, each taking silver. North America counters with 2008/2009 bronze medalist Tonya Verbeek (Canada) and 2010 bronze medalist Tatiana Padilla (USA).

2008: Saori Yoshida (Japan), Xu Li (China), Tonya Verbeek (Canada), Jackeline Renteria (Colombia)

Projection: Japan, Azerbaijan, USA, Canada

Top Americans: See above for Padilla. Jessica Medina was ninth at 51.

63kg: No dominant wrestler at 59kg — Soronzonbold Battsetseg (Mongolia) won the 2010 world title ahead of China’s Zhang Lan, who won the 2010 Junior Worlds and could be poised to move up. Japan’s four-time world champ Ayako Shoda shared bronze with 2009 Euro champion Johanna Mattsson (Sweden). Canada’s Tonya Verbeek, moving up from 55kg, shared fifth with American Kelsey Campbell. But Shoda, Campbell and Mattsson might have a hard time qualifying at this weight class ahead of 2010 world medalists Kaori Icho, Elena Pirozhkova and Hanna Johansson. Icho has two Olympic golds and five world titles; countrywoman Mio Nishimaki took the titles when Icho took a post-Olympic break. Russia’s Lubov Volosova has medaled in the last three Worlds.

2008: Kaori Icho (Japan), Alena Kartoshova (Russia), Yelena Shalygina (Kazakhstan), Randi Miller (USA)

Projection: Japan, USA, Sweden, China

Top Americans: Russian-born Pirozkhova’s silver medal was a good follow-up to two top-10 finishes at Worlds. Sara McMann wrestled here before jumping into the cage.

72kg: Canada’s Martine Dugrenier owns the 67kg class, winning three straight world titles. Nigeria’s Ifeoma Inenacho has two straight bronze. At 72kg,  Bulgaria’s Stanka Zlateva has won four of the last five Worlds along with the 2009 bronze and Olympic silver. Canada’s Ohenewa Akuffo has two medals from the last three Worlds. Russia has stiff competition just to make the team, and Ekaterina Bukina took bronze in 2010. China also has depth here. Japan’s Kyoko Hamaguchi won five world titles from 1997 to 2003 and keeps making the podium, taking bronze in 2010.

2008: Wang Jiao (China), Stanka Zlateva (Bulgaria), Kyoko Hamaguchi (Japan), Agnieszka Wieszczek (Poland)

Projection: Bulgaria, Canada, Russia, China

Top Americans: Kristie Davis (formerly Marano) has nine World Championship medals. The bad news is that they’re mostly at 67kg, and she struggled at 2010 Worlds. Stephanie Lee reached the 2010 quarterfinals, while Ali Bernard was fifth in the 2008 Games.

MEN’S GRECO-ROMAN

55kg: Hamid Sorian Reinhanpour (Iran) is one of those perennial world championships who disappointed in Beijing. He took the 2010 world title ahead of Asian champion Choi Gyu-Jim (South Korea), 2008 gold medalist Nazyr Mankiev (Russia) and 2008 bronze medalist Roman Amoya (Armenia). Fifth place was shared by two European bronze medalists — Peter Modos (Hungary) and Vugar Ragimov (Ukraine). European champion Elchin Aliev (Azerbaijan) was ninth. Basically, we have a lot of consistent performers here, making an outright shock unlikely but making it tough to pick from a few elite guys.

2008: Nazyr Mankiev (Russia), Rovshan Bayramov (Azerbaijan), Park Eun-Chul (South Korea), Roman Amoyan (Armenia)

Projection: Iran, Russia, South Korea, Azerbaijan

Top Americans: Spenser Mango had a disappointing run in the 2010 Worlds but has had some top 10s in big competitions and a strong junior record.

60kg: In case you haven’t noticed yet, Azerbaijan is pretty good at wrestling. Vitaly Rahimov has moved up, and 2009 European champion Hasan Aliev stepped up to win the 2009 European and 2010 World titles. Ryutaro Matsumoto (Japan) was a slightly surprising 2010 silver medalist. Kazakhstan and South Korea shook up their rosters and took 2010 bronze medals anyway. Not sure what happened to teen phenom Islam-Beka Albiev after his gold medal in 2008.

2008: Islam-Beka Albiev (Russia), Vitaly Rahimov (Azerbaijan), Nurbakyt Tengizbayev (Kazakhstan), Ruslan Tumenbaev (Kyrgyzstan)

Projection: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Japan, South Korea

Top Americans: Jeremiah Davis qualified for Worlds and won the first period of his bout with former world champion Dilshod Aripov but lost the next two.

66kg: European champion Ambako Vachade (Russia) won the 2010 world title ahead of 2008 bronze medalist Armen Vardanyan (Ukraine), Turkey’s Vasif Arzimanov and the aforementioned Vitaly Rahimov (Azerbaijan). France’s Steeve Guenot, the 2008 gold medalist and copy desk nightmare, shared fifth with Hungary’s Tamas Loerincz.

2008: Steeve Guenot (France), Kanatbek Begaliev (Kyrgyzstan), Armen Vardanyan (Ukraine), Mikhail Siamionau (Belarus)

Projection: Russia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, France

Top Americans: Faruk Sahin was 11th at Worlds.

74kg: Turkey’s Selcuk Cebi has won two straight world titles. Armenia’s Arsen Julfalakyan took silver as one of several good performances in 2010. The class has had some turnover beyond those two — Russia’s Imil Sharafetdinov and Kyrgyzstan’s Daniar Kobonov shared bronze ahead of yet another wrestler from Azerbaijan, Rafig Huseynov.

2008: Manuchar Kvirkelia (Georgia), Chang Yongxiang (China), Yavor Yanakiev (Bulgaria), Christophe Guenot (France)

Projection: Turkey, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan

Top Americans: Jake Fisher was introduced to World Championship competition in 2010.

84kg: Bulgaria’s Hristo Marinov came from nowhere to win the world title. Cuba’s Pablo Shorey was a little less surprising runner-up, having taken bronze the year before. Russian veteran Alexei Mishin shared bronze with Croatia’s Nenad Zugaj. 2009 champion Nazmi Avluca (Turkey) shared fifth with Poland’s Damian Janikowski.

2008: Andrea Minguzzi (Italy), Zoltán Fodor (Hungary), Nazmi Avluca (Turkey), vacant (Sweden’s Ara Abrahamian tossed the medal aside soon after its presentation and was officially stripped of it for disrupting the medal ceremony)

Projection: Cuba, Turkey, Russia, Bulgaria

Top Americans: Jacob Clark ranked 11th at Worlds.

96kg: Amir Ali Akbari (Iran) moved up from bronze to gold in 2010. Timofej Dzeynichenko (Belarus) was second at Euros and Worlds. Sweden’s Jimmy Lidberg has a silver and bronze from the last two Worlds, while 2008 gold medalist Aslanbek Khushtov (Russia) has bronze in the last two.

2008: Aslanbek Khushtov (Russia), Mirko Englich (Germany), Adam Wheeler (USA), Asset Mambetov (Kazakhstan)

Projection: Iran, Belarus, Sweden, Russia

Top Americans: Justin Ruiz is a legit contender, holding a bronze from 2005 and a fifth-place finish in 2010.

120kg: Cuba’s Mijian Lopez is simply the best — 2008 Olympic gold, world titles in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010, plus a silver in 2006. Armenia’s Yuri Patrikeyev added world silver last year to his 2008 Olympic bronze. Riza Kayaalp (Turkey) has two straight bronze medals, sharing the 2010 prize with Nurmakhan Tinaliev (Kazakhstan). Veterans abound in this class — former world and Olympic champion Khassan Baroev (Russia) was seventh at Worlds, and former world champion and Rulon Gardner training partner Dremiel Byers (USA) was fifth.

2008: Mijain Lopez (Cuba), Khasan Baroyev (Russia), Mindaugas Mizgaitis (Lithuania), Yuri Patrikeyev (Armenia)

Projection: Cuba, Armenia, Turkey, USA

Top Americans: Byers is gearing up for that elusive Olympic medal.

 

7
mma, olympic sports, rugby, tennis, track and field

Friday Myriad: USA-England II, Liddell-Franklin I, Track-Field II

Posted on by Beau Dure

No, we’re not going to forget the rest of the sports world during the big month in South Africa. That said, I’m backing off from the chronological viewing program this week and doing a more basic linking spree. Enjoy.

SOCCER TV NEWS

World Cup: DirecTV has everything in HD, some in 3D and a total of seven languages — English, Spanish, Arabic, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese. (press release)

WPS: The league is getting more pickup from Comcast regional networks. Best off checking your local affiliate for delayed broadcasts; the league site’s schedule just has the live ones.

RUGBY: USA-ENGLAND II

Well, sort of. It’s the USA against the England Saxons, essentially England’s B team, Sunday at the Churchill Cup. That’s one day after that other USA-England game in South Africa.

TRACK AND FIELD

Diamond League raced in Rome on Thursday and will resume Saturday in New York, where 5,000-seat Icahn Stadium is sold out. Universal Sports, 8 p.m. ET

The Rome highlights:

  • Men’s 400: Jeremy Wariner barely held off Angelo Taylor in a thriller, winning in a world-leading 44.73. (Universal Sports video)
  • Men’s long jump: Dwight Phillips with a world-leading 8.42 meters.
  • Women’s high jump: Another duel between the USA’s Chaunte Lowe and Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic, another win for Vlasic on fewer misses.
  • Men’s 100: No Bolt or Gay, so Jamaica’s Asafa Powell just shaved a little bit off his world-leading time. Down to 9.84 seconds.
  • Women’s 400 hurdles: Also a routine world-leader for Lashinda Demus (52.82).
  • Men’s 200: Walter Dix’s 19.86 broke Michael Johnson’s 11-year-old meet record.
  • Men’s shot put: Christian Cantwell’s 14-meet win streak went down to the last throw. Nailed it. 21.67 meters.

Expected in New York (entry list PDF):

  • Women’s pole vault: Silver medalist Jenn Suhr, formerly Jenn Stuczynski, is due back in action after an Achilles injury
  • Men’s 1,500: Bernard Lagat and Lopez Lomong
  • Men’s 400 hurdles: Bershawn Jackson and Kerron Clement
  • Men’s pole vault: Aussie favorite Steve Hooker and U.S. veteran Tim Mack
  • Women’s 1,500: Shannon Rowbury, not just mentioned here because she went to Duke. Also Cristin Wurth-Thomas.
  • Women’s 200: Allyson Felix and Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown
  • Women’s 100 hurdles: Lolo Jones and a lot of people with comparable PBs

OLYMPIC SPORTS (all times ET)

Beach volleyball: Men and women both in Moscow for FIVB action that Universal Sports’ blogger says will draw huge crowds. (Russia’s soccer team, coincidentally, isn’t in the World Cup.) Online at UniversalSports.com: women’s medal matches, 10 a.m. Sunday / men’s medal matches, 9:30 a.m. Monday

Wrestling: The U.S. team for this year’s World Championships is being determined tonight and tomorrow. (USOC; video highlights at themat.com)

Volleyball: Like Frank Zappa and the Mothers, the U.S. women are in Montreux. (USOC)

Figure skating: Sorry, ice dancing fans and infatuated guys on the Web — Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto are hanging up the skates.

Triathlon: Hunter Kemper is injured and will miss Hy-Vee Race. (Twitter – @vmichaelis)

TENNIS

Nadal lost, leaving Sam Querrey a nice opportunity to win a title at Queen’s Club. Maria Sharapova is in the women’s semis. Men’s semis and final on Tennis Channel

Former No. 1 Roger Federer is still in at the Gerry Weber Open.

MMA

UFC 115: We have Chuck Liddell–Rich Franklin, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic-Pat Barry, Martin Kampmann-Paulo Thiago and a host of others heading into a very busy stretch of fights. And yes, I was busy writing all that with Sergio Non this week.

Bellator: Pat Curran is the Season 2 lightweight champion in a decision Sergio didn’t like. On Thursday, it’s the welterweight tournament finale between Dan Hornbuckle and Ben Askren, the 2008 Olympic wrestler who has a very quick turnaround from attempting to make the Olympic wrestling team today (see above). The good news is that Askren was wrestling at 163 pounds and will fight at 170, so he shouldn’t worry about making weight.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER

World Championships: Frank Cassela took the Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Name This *&*$ing Event So We Don’t Have to Type All That Stuff title on Tuesday, beating notables such as Jennifer Harman (third) and John Juanda (fifth).

The 2-7 Draw Lowball championship is down a final table that includes Juanda, Erik Seidel and Daniel Negreanu. Check the official updates or get Negreanu’s colorful first-hand Tweets about the event and whatever else springs to mind.

The Ladies event is underway, though a few men have elbowed their way to the tables. Shaun Deeb said he was doing it for charity after losing a bet, which we wouldn’t believe except that they are indeed in Vegas. Duke grad Vanessa Rousso is already out, so we’re rooting for chess GM and SportsMyriad interviewee Jennifer Shahade. Shannon Elizabeth has a healthy chip stack at the moment.

Back in the a.m. for World Cup Virtual Viewing.

0
cycling, mind games, mma, olympic sports, soccer, tennis, track and field

Monday Myriad: Bolt flies while U.S. nets wins in tennis and beach volley

Posted on by Beau Dure

TRACK AND FIELD

  • Penn Relays: Usain Bolt draws record attendance and clinches the 4×100 relay with a blazing final leg. USA fares well in the rest of the relays. (AP)
  • Drake Relays: Christian Cantwell shot putted real far, Damu Cherry upset Lolo Jones and tied the world lead in the 100m hurdles, Wallace Spearman set a world lead in the 200, Boaz Lalang upset training partner Bernard Lagat in the mile, and Chaunte Lowe posted the world lead in the high jump. (IAAF)
  • Dakar Grand Prix: The volcano kept the early-season meet from bringing in top talent. Top U.S. performances were Jillian Camarena-Williams’ shot put win and a 1-2 for Funmi Jimoh and Brianna Glenn in the long jump. (IAAF)
  • London Marathon: Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Kebede (2:05:19) and Russia’s Liliya Shobukhova (2:21:59) were the winners, along with a tethered royal, Natalie Imbruglia and a man dressed as a banana. (BBC)

CHESS

Decisive games already in the World Championship — Game 1 to Vesselin Topalov, Game 2 to Vishy Anand.

MMA

Jose Aldo kicked Urijah Faber for five rounds to retain his WEC featherweight title, Ben Henderson made quick work of Donald Cerrone in a WEC lightweight title rematch and Manny Gamburyan shocked Mike Brown with a one-punch, first-round KO.

SOCCER

MLS is already covered.

England

  • Top: Chelsea kept a one-point lead over Manchester United and padded its goal difference with a 7-0 drubbing of Stoke.
  • 4th Champions spot: Aston Villa won the derby over Birmingham 1-0 to tie Tottenham and move a point ahead of Manchester City, two ahead of Liverpool.
  • Relegation: West Ham (Jonathan Spector) beat Wigan to pull six points clear of Hull (Jozy Altidore). Burnley and Portsmouth are out.
  • Americans abroad: Jozy Altidore apologized by Twitter after a retaliatory head butt drew a red card and ended his season.
  • Injuries: Manchester City have appealed for an emergency goalkeeper after Shay Given’s injury. We’re guessing Villa won’t let them borrow Brad Guzan. (Soccernet)

Germany

  • Top: Borussia Moenchengladbach (Michael Bradley) tied Bayern Munich, opening the door for Schalke to tie for the lead with a win over Hertha Berlin with two weeks left.
  • Americans: Hannover (Steve Cherundolo) lost 0-3 to Bayer Leverkusen but remained just one point behind automatic safety and one behind a playoff spot. Ricardo Clark made his injury-delayed Eintracht Frankfurt debut.

Spain

  • Barcelona and Real Madrid each won, leaving Barca one point ahead. Barca still has Champions League play but need not leave the country any more, with the semifinal’s second leg at home and the final in Madrid.

Italy

  • Shocking loss for Roma at home to Sampdoria. Inter Milan now leads by two. AC Milan lost to Palermo and is out of it.

Scotland

  • Rangers clinched the title with Maurice Edu starting, DaMarcus Beasley on the bench. (Soccer By Ives roundup)_

Cups

  • Aris (Freddy Adu, Eddie Johnson) lost the Cup final 1-0 to Panathinaikos. Adu played the last few minutes.
  • Dutch Cup final: Ajax 2, Feyenoord 0

WPS

  • FC Gold Pride 2, Atlanta 1: Carrie Dew with the 89th-minute winner off Kiki Bosio’s flip throw. Atlanta’s Tobin Heath left on crutches.
  • Philadelphia 3, Washington 1: Both starting keepers were away with the Canadian national team. Former Freedom midfielder Lori Lindsey had two assists.
  • Chicago 0, Sky Blue 1: Pattern — Natasha Kai scores for the Jersey team; defense holds it.
  • St. Louis 1, Boston 1: Puddles on the field made it interesting.

Mexico (regular season over; playoff pairings follow)

  • American Herculez Gomez (Puebla) won a share of the scoring title.
  • #1 Monterrey vs. #8 Pachuca (Jose Francisco Torres)
  • #2 Chivas vs. #7 Morelia
  • #3 Toluca vs. #6 Club America
  • #4 Pumas vs. #5 Santos Laguna

CYCLING

  • Liege-Bastogne-Liege: Alexandre Vinokourov won and then endured grilling over the blood doping offense for which he has served a suspension. He and Alexander Kolobnev pulled away from the field with 15k left for a two-man sprint. Chris Horner was in the second group, 1:07 back, for sixth place. (Reuters)
  • Athens Twilight Criterium: Karl Menzies and Theresa Cliff-Ryan win in the rain. (Velo News)
  • Little 500: Special for Breaking Away fans — The Cutters won their fourth straight. (Velo News)

BOXING

  • Mikkel Kessler took Carl Froch’s WBC super middleweight title with a unanimous decision. Both fighters are 1-1 in the Super Six super middleweight tournament.
  • Tomasz Adamek took a close majority decision over Cristobal Arreola.

OLYMPIC/COLLEGE SPORTS

  • Beach volleyball, FIVB World Tour, Brazil: Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers are the first U.S. team to win an FIVB event in Brazil in 14 years. (USA Volleyball)
  • Wrestling, U.S. Open: Wisconsin sophomore Andrew Howe shines; Olympic medalist/MMA newcomer Sara McMann loses a close one. (USA TODAY; full results at TheMat.com)

TENNIS

  • Fed Cup semifinals: Stunner! Bethanie Mattek-Sands leads the Williams-less USA past Russia. Defending champion Italy awaits in the final. (AP)
  • ATP Rome: All hail 6-9 American John Isner, the pride of Greensboro and the University of Georgia, who won on his 25th birthday. (AP)
  • ATP Barcelona: Fernando Verdasco over Robin Soderling in the final.
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