Ten things to know from last week. August 16-22, 2022 included: the best female football team, a huge UFC Upset, the Heavyweight call-out, etc.
Five things to know from last week |
- Big Fights. Oleksandr Usyk (UKR) beat Anthony Joshua (ENG/NGA) for a second time to retain the WBA (Super), IBF, and WBO Heavyweight Championships as well as The Ring Magazine title. Both fighters were better than in the first fight and it was actually a split decision. The Champion called out Tyson Fury (ENG) for a fully unified title fight. Fury says he’s in. In the UFC, Leon Edwards (ENG/JAM) pulled a huge upset as he knocked Kamaru Usman (NGA/USA) out with a kick when the Champion -and then-touted #1 Pound for pound fighter- was ahead in the scorecards.
- PGA’s stage is set. Patrick Cantlay (USA) won the PGA’s BMW Championship for the second year in a row, beating Scott Stallings (USA) by one stroke, with 14 under par. This sets the stage for next week’s TOUR Championship, where Scottie Scheffler (USA) will start with the advantage. In the Czech Masters, Max Kieffer (DEU) in the DP World Tour for the first time after nine years in the tour.
- New Champion! Shane Hendrixson ‘rapha’ (USA) would not win yet another Quake World Championship, as he lost before the final four. Another veteran, Marcel “k1llsen” Paul (DEU), won the title by beating Adrián “RAISY” Birgány (HUN). Also this week, BLVKHVND (USA) won first Pokémon UNITE World Championships without dropping a set throughout the tournament. Formula Simracing had an exciting last race where young Collin Spork (NED) became the new Champion after a good battle with Matthew Williams (ENG) throughout the Brazilian GP. In Rainbox Six, local team Rogue (DUE) won the Berlin Six Major in over time against FaZe (USA).
- Motorsports. Will Power (AUS, Penske) tied Mario Andretti’s (USA) IndyCar pole record at 67, in Gateway and while he led the most laps of the race, it was Josef Newgarden (USA, Penske) that won the race, ahead of rookie sensation David Malukas (USA/LTU). Power leads the standings by three points over Newgarden with two races to go. NASCAR had its most international field ever with drivers from seven nationalities, including former F1 Champion Kimi Räikkönen (FIN). Kyle Larson (USA) won the race, held in Watkins Glen. In motorcycling, Toni Bou (ESP) extended his TrialGP lead with yet another win while Francesco Bagnaia (ITA, Ducati) won the MotoGP race in Austria.
- Second in a row. Americas Cup winners, Pete Burling and Blair Tuke, commanded Team New Zealand to a second win in a row in SailGP, this time in Copenhangue, after winning in Plymouth last month. Ben Ainslie’s Great Britain was unable to race following a practice shunt and Tom Slingsby’s Australia failed to make it to the final. France and Denmark completed the podium.
- Les Championnes. Olympique Lyonnais Féminin is strongly continuing its statement as the greatest women’s football team. The five-times UEFA Champions League winners became the first team to win the Women’s International Champions Cup two times, as they beat the Rayadas de Monterrey (MEX) 4-0 in the Final after having beaten Chealsea in the Semi-Finals. Lyon has been in the four WICC Finals.
- Two golds in extra-time. The Women’s German Canoe Polo Team avenged their loss in last month’s World Games’ gold medal match against France by beating the French team at home to win the World Championship on extra-time. This is the fourth World Championship won for Captain Elena Gilles. The Men’s Team won the World Games and World Championship gold medals within a month. This is also historic for Jonas Vieren, who is the first man to win 3 world-class gold medals: three in the World Games and two at the World Championships. The German squad was forced to go to an extra time before beating Spain for gold while local team, France, failed to win a medal after being silver medalists at the World Games.
- New prodigy? Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa defeated Chess World Champion Magnus Carlsen (NER) in the FTX Crypto Cup, part of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, in the rapid version of the game. Pragg, who took home 35,000 USD, is still 17. Carlsen won the tournament anyway and cited lack of sleep and poor play on his part.
- Prelude to the US Open. The The 121st (for men) Western & Southern Open -a Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 tournament- is usually a good preview of the US Open, as it is held in a hard court. Borna Ćorić (HRV) defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRC) in the final, 7–6(7–0), 6–2 to win the men’s singles, his first Masters 1000 title. He entered Ranked No. 152 in the world. He is now the lowest ranked player to win a Masters 1000. Caroline Garcia (FRA) beat Petra Kvitová (CZE) in the women’s side. It is her third WTA 1000 title.
- WSL Finals set. The field has been set for the season-ending World Surfing League Finals in San Clemente, California, with five surfers per sex. The 10th event of the year -held in Tahiti, where the 2024 Olympic event will be held- was win by Miguel Pupo (BRA) over wildcard Kauli Vaast (FRA) in the men’s division while Courtney Conlogue (USA) beat Brisa Hennessy (CRC) on the women’s side. None of the two winners qualified for the finale, where Carissa Moore (HAW, USA) and Filipe Toledo (BRA) will depart as season leaders.