Ten things to know from what happened in the world of sport. July 6-12. Euro 2020, NHL, Wimbledon, Croquet…
- Not coming home. Italy beatEngland in the Euro 2020 Final, held at Wembley (ENG). The local team had taken the advantage at 2′ but Italy equalized at 67′ and forced the penalty shootout, where they won 3-2. England haven’t won a major Football tournament since the 1966 World Cup. In America, Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 with a goal by Ángel Di María to win its first Copa América since 1993.
- Triplet of greats. Novak Djokovic (SRB) made history by winning his 20th Grand Slam title, at The Championships (Wimbledon). He tied Rafael Nadal (ESP) and Roger Federer (SUI) as the winningest men’s singles Grand Slam winners of all-time. Matteo Berrettini (ITA) won the first set but Djokovic came back to win three straight. Ashleigh Barty (AUS) won the women’s singles category. Another Aussie, Dylan Alcott, won Wimbledon’s Quad Singles tournament for the second time in a row and has now won 14 Quads singles Grand Slam tournaments, more than anyone else.
- Double Champions. The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Montréal Canadiens to win their second straight NHL Championship (Stanley Cup). They won four games to one.
- Cavendish equals Merckx. Mark Cavendish (IOM) has won four stages in this year’s Tour de France and tied Eddy Merckx’s (BEL) record of 34 Stage wins. Tadej Pogačar (SVN) continued to lead the Tour this week, increasing his wide lead to over 5 minutes ahead of Vingegaard (DEN) and more than 14 ahead of David Gaudu (FRA). It’s his to lose.
- Phoenix take advantage. The Phoenix Suns won the first two NBA Finals games against the Milwaukee Bucks but the Bucks have put the score 2-1. Giannis Antetokounmpo (GRC) has scored 42 and 41 points in the second and third games. The first team to win four games is the Champion.
- Rahm loses #1. Jon Rahn (ESP) lost status as the World’s #1 Golfer (Official World Golf Rankings) by two strokes, after finishing 7th in the European Tour’s Scottish Open, which was won by Min Woo Lee (AUS). Dustin Johnson (USA) retook the #1 spot.
- Belmonst Stakes. Essential Quality (USA) won the Belmont Stakes -third leg of the US thoroughbred Triple Crown-, ridden by Luis Sáez (PAN). Medina Spirit (USA) was not present, following her positive doping case at the Kentucky Derby she won.
- No spectators at the Games. The Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee announced that the Olympic Games will be held without spectators due to the pandemic.
- 12th Open for Bamford. Reg Bamford (ZAF) won the British Open Croquet Championships for a record 12th time, beating long-time rival and 11-time winner Robert Fulford (ENG) in the Final.
- Timothy Cheruiyot back to the winning ways. A couple of weeks after being beaten at the Kenyan National Trials and thus being left out of the Olympic Games, 1500 meters World Champion Timothy Cheruiyot (KEN) won the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco, establishing a new personal record of 3:28.28.
