Ten things to know from last week. May 10-17, 2022 include: Djokovic's 1000th, another undisputed Champion, Badminton's Team Champions...
- Undisputed! Jermell Charlo (USA) became the first-ever undisputed World Champion in the Men’s Boxing’s Super welterweight, after unifying the four major belts and winning The Ring Title against Brian Castaño (ARG), via a 10-Round Knock-Out. The fight was very close and exciting while it lasted, even more so than their first encounter last July, which ended in a Split-Decision Draw. Charlo is the seventh man to fully unify in the four-belt era, the 13th to unify since 1963, and the first unified Champion since Winky Wright (USA), in 2004.
- Asia & Asia. Badminton’s Thomas & Uber Cups -for Men’s teams and Women’s teams, respectively- were dominated by Asian teams. The only non-Asian team in the Semis was Denmark Men’s, who were beaten by India 3-2. The Indians then went on to win the tournament for the first time, after beating Indonesia -who had beaten Japan- 3-0. South Korea won its second Uber Cup (12 years later), by beating China 3-2 in the Final. Japan and Thailand also made it to Semis.
- Rivalry? After losing two straight tournament finals to Alexandra Herrera (MEX), Paola Longoria (MEX) was finally able to defeat her, as she won the Sweet Caroline Open, a Grand Slam. She extended her Grand Slam wins record. Herrera and her partner Jessica Parrilla did beat Longoria and Samantha Salas in an All-Mexican Final. The Men’s IRT held its New York Open and an awaited Final match between the World’s #1, Daniel de la Rosa (MEX) and the most successful player of all time, Kane Waselenchuk (CAN), could not be played due to the venue’s humidity.
- Same Troup. Kyle Troup (USA) became the first player -in its four years of existence, to win Bowling’s PBA Tour Finals for a second time, as he repeated his win from last year. Troup beat Tommy Jones (USA) 3-1 in the Finals of this tournament that pits the top 16 players on the tour.
- Three’s a crowd. The anticipated rematch between joint Olympic Champions in High jump, Gianmarco Tamberi (ITA) and Mutaz Barshim (QAT) nine months later did not have any of the two as the winner, as world indoor champion Woo Sanghyeok (KOR) won the Wanda Diamond League event in Doha, clearing 2.33. Armand Duplantis (SWE) won the pole vault gold one day later, as the competition was postponed due to inclement wind, and held indoors. Anderson Peters (GRD) is now the fifth man with the largest javelin throw, as he threw 93.07 meters to win gold, ahead of Jakub Vadlejch’s (CZE) 90.88m. Noah Lyles (USA) won the Men’s 200 meters in 19.72 seconds, ahead of Fred Kerley (USA). Olympic Champion Andre De Grasse (CAN) was fourth. In the women’s 400, Marileidy Paulino (DOM) beat the current two-time Olympic Champion, Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BHS). In the Women’s 3000m, 500m specialist Francine Niyonsaba (BDI) beat 1,500m Olympic Champion, Faith Kipyegon (KEN). The Men’s 1500m World Champion, Timothy Cheruiyot (KEN), was beaten by Asbel Kipsang (KEN).
- Nole’s 1000. Novak Djokovic (SRB) won the Rome Masters 1000 Final over Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRC) and en route, he won his 1,000th ATP match and extended his record Masters 1000 tournament wins.
- Yokohama Triathlon. Alex Yee (ENG) won the first event of the Triathlon World Championship Series 2022 in Yokohama, after recently becoming the first Triathlon Esports World Champion. He beat Hayden Wilde (NZL). Georgia Taylor-Brown (ENG) won the Women’s race. The Para triathlon event included wins by Paralympic Champions Alexis Hanquinquant (FRA) in PTS4 -his 11th consecutive in a world-class event, since 2018, and Susana Rodríguez and Sara Löehr (ESP) in Women’s Visually Impaired.
- Thai repeat. Sarawut Sriboonpeng and Nantawan Fueangsanit (THA) pair became the first team to ever repeat the World Title in Pétanque Mixed Doubles, in three editions of the tournament. They won in 2019 over France and now defeated Spain 13-4. Nanthawan has also been a two-times Women’s Doubles World Champion.
- Paper Wings. Ten years after his previos participation in the Red Bull Paper Wings World Final -the world’s premier event for paper planes-, Rana Muhammad Usman Saeed (PAK) came back to win the airtime event with a time of 14.86 seconds. Lazar Krstić (SRB) came back after being second in 2017 to win the distance event with 61.11m. Seunghoon Lee (KOR won the aerobatics division with a spectacular routine. Watch the highlights.
- Caribbean Air. Tom Slingsby (AUS) became the first Skip to win 5 SailGP events, as he won the Bermuda SailGP to clear skies, ahead of Ben Ainslie’s (ENG) Team Great Britain and Phil Robertson’s (NZL) Team Canada.