Sport

The “noisy neighbors” caused the major upset at this year’s English Premier League by handing an embarrassing 6-1 defeat to Manchester United!

Manchester City scored five times in the second half where Sergio Aguero and David Silva had goals. Speaking to Sky Sports after the match City defender Micah Richards said, “People call us the noisy neighbors but here we are. We have a good set of lads and we want to show people what we can do.”

This is United’s first home league loss since April 2010 and United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports, “It was our worst ever day. It’s the worst result in my history, ever. Even as a player I don’t think I ever lost 6-1.”

With the emphatic win City has managed to place themselves five points ahead (25 points) of United’s 20 points after nine matches.

Lewis Hamilton kept Sebastian Vettel chasing at the first practice of Singapore Grand Prix. Hamilton was 0.406 seconds ahead of Vettel, although he didn’t put much speed at the beginning.  If there’s a positive result on Sunday’s race, Vettle will nail this year’s championship comfortably.

A Look at the score card indicates Vettle’s victory is certain though Ferrari and McLaren are set to defeat him in the next six races.  McLaren’s performance in this F1 season has been tepid and speaking about the remaining races team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: “We enjoy winning and I think we can be competitive, we have some new parts on the car, we have six races left and we’d like to win them. Lewis is quite relaxed and I think he’s very determined. He has had a difficult season, and he did everything he could to try to stay out of trouble at the last race. I told him that was a very disciplined drive but I would like the old Lewis back.”

Meanwhile, Vettle is on the verge of becoming the youngest driver to retain his title at 24. If does, he will stand alongside the F1 legends  Fangio, Senna and Schumacher.

The riots in Tottenham this week have led the Barclays Premier League to postpone the opening match of the season at White Hart Lane.

Civil unrest and criminality have affected the areas directly surrounding the ground and Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore confirmed that it simply wouldn’t be safe to hold the game in light of the trouble. However, he expects all of the other 9 games to go ahead.

He said: “The very latest situation is that Tottenham and Everton has gone. The police have done a fantastic job, but it’s been a crime scene all week and the council have not had enough time to do what they need.

“The other nine fixtures are looking positive, subject to any more trouble.

“At 6pm tonight we will have a very clear picture. The Tottenham game is a real shame but we support the police in what they are doing.

“They want these games to go on as much as we do.”

‘Gavin and Stacey’ star James Corden is planning to run from Paris to London to raise
money for Sports Relief.

The funny man was motivated to take on the gruelling 280-mile challenge, which
runs from the Arc de Triomphe to Marble Arch, after being teased by fellow
comedian John Bishop, who stars with James on the sports quiz show ‘A League of
Their Own.’

A friend told The Sun: ‘James has pretty much become the go-to guy for Sport Relief
and Comic Relief but this is a really tall order. He’s not exactly known for his love of
running so to agree to more than ten marathons seems lunacy.

‘John’s been teasing him into doing it, saying he’ll never make it – now James just
wants to wipe the smile off his face. He’s started training and is seeing docs next
week to ensure he will be fit and ready to step the training up a level.’

Unfortunately James’ participation in the event is under threat after a knee injury
threee weeks ago. The 32 year-old is currently waiting to see if he needs an
operation, but is ‘praying’ he gets the chance to run.

His mate added: ‘He’s optimistic – as he always is – but is aware there is a chance he
might be ruled out. He can just imagine what John would say then, so he’s praying he
gets the green light.’

James has raised money for Sports Relief previously with a variety of comedy
sketches, including a skit in which his Gavin and Stacey’ alter ego Smithy shared a
bath with football legend David Beckham in 2010.

David Haye was defeated by Wladimir Klitschko on points in a disappointing display in rain-soaked Hamburg.

David Haye’s plans to retire at 31 on a high and leave a solid legacy in the division were severly knocked by the display.

He’s pre-fight strategy was one of unabashed arrogance and interminable talk. He claimed he was the one to end Klitschko’s dominance of the division.

However, he failed to walk and walk at the Imtech Arena football stadium in Hamburg and failed to substantiate his agressive and distastful bragging.

He fought tentatively and defensively and lost on scores 117-109, 118-108, 116-110. Klitschko earned the unanimous decision, thereby adding the WBA title to his heavyweight collection. The win means that he, along with his older brother Vitali, holds all three major heavyweight titles.

Wladimir already possessed the IBF title and Vitali holds the WBC title.

Cheryl Cole and ex-husband Ashley are reportedly ‘properly dating again’ after
spending time together for the pop star’s birthday celebrations.

Cheryl threw a party in London on Friday for her 28th birthday, with Ashley, 30, as
one of the guests. The pair then reunited again on the Saturday night for private
drinks and also met at a friend’s barbeque on Sunday.

A source close to the couple told The Sun: ‘It’s done and dusted. They spent the
entire weekend together and properly dating.

‘They were out on Saturday night for drinks, but decided against a late night and
went back to Cheryl’s early.

‘Ashley loves his barbecues and they met up at a mutual friend’s on Sunday. They
have drawn a line under everything and they are starting afresh.’

The former ‘X Factor’ star has reportedly decided to give Ashley another chance, but
has asked the footballer to prove that he has changed before fully committing to
him.

The couple divorced in 2010 after newspaper reports that Ashley had cheated
on Cheryl with a number of women during their marriage, but the pair have now
reportedly discussed starting a family together.

A source told the Daily Mirror: ‘He makes her happy and that’s the bottom line. The
main reason they got back together was because they both realised they wanted to
start a family and they could not live without one another.

‘The first time around Cheryl’s career came first, but this time family is her priority.
They both want children.

His brother Matthew was about to have his second child and Ashley wants kids of his
own. He realised no one else came close to Cheryl, no one else made him feel secure
and loved. Cheryl felt the same.’

Andy Murray must wait another year for a chance to reach the Wimbledon final after Rafael Nadal beat him in four sets.

Murray started brilliantly; edging the first set but Nadal kept a champion’s composure and came out fighting in the second. The crucial points came when Murray missed two relatively easy forehands that threw away any chance to dominate the defending champion. Nadal capitalized on Murray’s mistakes and from that point on the outcome of the match seemed relatively determined.

With a 5-7 6-2 6-2 6-4 victory, Nadal goes on to face the man who has commandeered his No.1 ranking, the Serbian Novak Djokovic.

Murray did extremely well to hold his serve in game 11 when Nadal’s returns and movement were excellent. He managed to break Nadal in the next game to forge a perfect start to the semi-final. However, the big turning point on the match came in the fourth game of the second set. Murray was 15-30 up and had two chances to break serve and win the game. He missed both of them and his form started to drop from that point on. Nadal broke his serve in the next game and cruised to take the second set 6-2.

Nadal went on to win 7 games in a row with Murray making 26 unforced errors to Nadal’s six. There was none of the visible anger and shouting we’ve come to expect from the Scot and the crowd seemed to respond to it by sullen applause as the Spaniard took complete control of the match.

There was a flicker of hope in the third set as Murray reached a break point point for the first time since the first set but Nadal was just too strong. That was Murray’s last chance to get back into the game. Serving up his fourth double fault he gave Nadal match point in the fourth set. After a consolatory ace Nadal took the match with an excellent forehand winner.

Prince William and Kate Middleton cheered on Andy Murray during his Centre Court victory over Richard Gasquet today.

The British hopeful served out the matched with an ace, completing the 7-6 6-3 6-2 victory in little over two hours.

The capture received rapturous applause as they took their seats in the royal box of the 15,000 capacity venue. Having originally sat down in the wrong place, William and Kate were directed to a central row with Kate taking a seat that Princess Diana once sat in.

Prince William was wearing a blue suit and kept his jacket on throughout the match despite the soaring temperatures. The other male members of the royal box followed suit. Kate was in wore an elegant knee-length cream three-tiered dress.

Kate and Will both wore sunglasses despite the extra shade provided by the new roof.

Other guests in the royalbox included Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, Princess Michael of Kent, and Tim Henman’s parents Anthony and Jane. The British No.1 told the Evening Standard that “It’s great for tennis to have people like that coming to watch.” And that he was “definitely not” nervous playing in front of Kate and William.

Although they were accompanied by numerous members of security, the Wimbledon visit had nothing to do with royal duties. The private visit comes just before the couple jet off to the US and Canada for their first official tour.

Venus Williams showed the spirit of a five-time champion to come from a set down to beat Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm on Centre Court.

Date-Krumm, the 40 year old and 1996 semi-finalist, took the first set after a nail-biting tie break forced by Williams fight back from 5-1 down. Williams then stole a break at the start of the second set and found her rhythm. She clinched the victory in just under three hours winning 6-7 6-3 8-6.

It was a frantic start with Date-Krumm breaking Williams in her first two service games in the first nine minutes, taking a 3-0 lead. She extended this to 5-1. However, Williams saved three set points and won five games in a row to take the set to a tie break. Date-Krumm couldn’t manage to serve out the set but took a 6-2 lead in the tie break with some fantastic return play. Williams attacked with her powerful serve and levelled up the tie break before Date-Krumm edged it to go one set up in the match.

After a breathtaking rally that involved Date-Krumm switching from right to left-hand play, Williams managed to force an error from Date-Krumm to break serve. Date-Krumm battled to claw back two break points but she couldn’t compete with Williams’ aggressive serves and conceded the second set.

Each game went with service in the third set with Date-Krumm demonstrating some excellent return play against Williams’ powerful serve. However, at 7-6 it was Date-Krumm who faltered. She lost two match points and gave the match to Williams after striking wide on a crucial backhand.

Those lucky fans who snapped up tickets for Andy Murray’s opening match on Centre Court were celebrating after camping out through the rain last night.

The arrival of the £100 million retractable roof meant the committed fans who pitched their tents two days ago will see the Scot play come rain or shine.

South African Ewal Smit camped out from 8am on Saturday, he was the first person to get tickets. He pitched his tent with his housemate Derek Human who brought along his parents Fred and Susan, and cousin Marlein Dewet. The 35 year old said: “It was raining on Saturday and not the most comfortable situation, but it’s all part of the experience. We thought it was going to rain, so we wanted to make sure we could get centre court tickets to make sure we’d get to see some tennis.”

The last Centre Court ticket went to a Mr. Alex Dunlop: “I just wanted to see Murray play. It’s going to be so hard for him to win the whole thing as Federer and Nadal are so good, but I got in and that’s all that matters – I’m glad I decided to get in the queue.”

Fred Human who travelled all the way from South Africa for Wimbledon said “The person I really want to watch is Nadal.” Nadal cruised through his first match today, dominating Michael Russell in three sets. Murray will follow Nadal playing against Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

Not all of the campers were as happy as Mr. Smit and Mr. Dunlop. There were several complaints about people who had set up their pitch at Tent City, only to go away and sleep at home. A steward said: “Some people come on Saturday, pitch a tent, and then go and have a nice sleep somewhere else – but we can’t do anything about it as it’s not our jurisdiction until Sunday at 8am. It’s not in the spirit of the system but the stewards can’t act.”