It was another action-packed weekend in the sporting world, particularly in the FA Cup where Manchester City and Arsenal both gained revenge on some old rivals – but not without a huge amount of controversy along the way.
Most notable was Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Liverpool – just a week after being thrashed 5-1 at Anfield – and the bizarre decision by referee Howard Webb not to award a blatant penalty to Reds striker Luis Suarez. Suarez had already earned his side one penalty, with Steven Gerrard converting from the spot after the Reds trailed 2-0, but when Suarez was clearly barreled over again moments later Webb called play-on much to the bemusement of the Liverpool faithful.
Meanwhile, Gunners manager Arsene Wenger was embroiled in a war of words with Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho after commenting that the EPL title was Chelsea’s to lose. Mourinho fired back with a not so subtle dig at Arsenal’s recent title drought. Still, it wasn’t a great weekend for the Blues either after they were knocked out of the FA Cup with a 2-0 loss at Manchester City.
We witnessed a unique event in Auckland over the weekend with the very first running of rugby league’s Auckland Nines. League is usually played with 13 men per side over 80 minutes, but the short format saw all 16 NRL clubs gather in Auckland for the Nines tournament, which saw each side field nine players and each game run for just 18 minutes – nine minutes each half. With the 16 teams split into four groups of four and the top two from each group progressing, fans witnessed plenty of action with well over 100 tries scored across the 31 games. In the end it was the North Queensland Cowboys winning the title after upsetting hometown favorites the Warriors in the semi-finals and fellow Queensland team the Brisbane Broncos in the final.
American “Bubba” Watson has celebrated his first tournament win since the 2012 US Masters with a brilliant finish to claim the Northern Trust Open in California. Watson claimed his fifth career title and his first in 37 Tour events with a final hole birdie sealing a memorable afternoon for the popular veteran. Incredibly, he played the final 39 holes without a bogey to earn US$1.2 million while his 500 FedEx points move him up to fifth in the standings.
In Doha, Simona Halep downed Angelique Kerber in the final of the Qatar Open to score the biggest win of her career. With tournament favorite Li Na eliminated early in the week, Halep played some great tennis to also down Sara Errani and Agnieszka Radwanska on her way to victory.
And what a way to win a gold medal! Chinese speed skater Li Jianrou was the lone survivor of a three-way pile-up in the final of the women’s 500 metre short track as she cruised to victory in Sochi. Trailing her three competitors, Li couldn’t believe her luck when they all crashed into one another – leaving her with an unassailable lead. China now sits ninth on the medal tally with three gold and two silver.
