1. Angelique Kerber Wins Maiden Wimbledon Title.
Angelique Kerber became the first German woman to win Wimbledon for 22 years as the 11th seed shattered Serena Williams` bid for Grand Slam history with a shock 6-3, 6-3 victory in Saturday`s final. Kerber avenged her defeat against Serena in the 2016 Wimbledon title match, overwhelming the seven-time champion with a stunning 65-minute upset on Centre Court. "I knew I had to play my best tennis against a champion like Serena," Kerber said. "It was my second chance to play in the final. I think I`m the next one after Steffi who won. That`s amazing."
Serena had hoped to equal Margaret Court`s record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles by winning her first major prize since becoming a mother in September. The 36-year-old, who last won a Grand Slam at the 2017 Australian Open, went into the final as the title favourite, even though she was playing only the fourth tournament of her post-pregnancy comeback.
But instead world number 10 Kerber sprang a huge surprise, making her Germany`s first female champion at the All England Club since Steffi Graf in 1996. "It`s obviously disappointing but I am just getting started," said an emotional Serena after losing in the Wimbledon final for the first time since 2008.
"For all you mums out there I was playing for you. I really tried."
Graf helped Kerber get her game on track earlier in the her career, so it was an especially sweet moment for the 30-year-old to follow in her footsteps at Wimbledon. Kerber had endured a significant slump last year after wining her previous major titles at the Australian and US Opens in 2016.
But, back to her best on the grass at Wimbledon, she needed only 11 winners and one ace to deny an oddly nervous Serena, who contributed to her own downfall with a whopping 24 unforced errors, compared to only five from Kerber.
In the first Wimbledon final for 41 years to feature two women 30 or older, Serena was cheered on by her friend the Duchess of Sussex, golf legend Tiger Woods and Formula One ace Lewis Hamilton. Left needing several life-saving operations to deal with the threat of blood clots after Olympia`s birth, Serena was unable to walk for six weeks and even now is still haunted by harrowing flashbacks to that period.
2. Wimbledon Championships 2018: Complete List Of Winners.
The 2017 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main draw matches commenced on 3 July 2017 and concluded on 16 July 2017. Roger Federer won the Gentlemen`s Singles title for a record eighth time, surpassing Pete Sampras and William Renshaw, who both won the Gentlemen`s Singles title seven times. Garbiñe Muguruza won the Ladies` Singles title.
The 2017 tournament was the 131st edition of the championships, the 50th in the Open Era and the third Grand Slam tournament of the year. It is played on grass courts, organised by the All England Lawn Tennis Club and the International Tennis Federation and is part of the ATP World Tour, the WTA Tour, the ITF Junior tour and the NEC Tour.
Andy Murray was the defending champion in the Gentlemen`s singles but lost to Sam Querrey in the quarterfinals. Two-time defending Ladies` singles champion Serena Williams did not defend her title, having ended her season in April due to pregnancy.
3. World Junior Wushu Championships Concludes In Brazil.
Iranian wushu practitioners have continued to deliver fine displays of athletic talents at the seventh edition of the World Junior Wushu Championships in Brazil, and been awarded six more medals to lift the country’s medal count to 14 in the event.
On Saturday, Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini demonstrated a remarkable performance in the Daoshu form of the boys’ 15-18 age group, and got the gold medal.
A Malaysian competitor grabbed silver, and a wushu artist from South Korea sat in the third slot and picked up the bronze medal.
Daoshu is a form of Taolu, where the participant uses a sword as the main element of the routine.
Mehdi Khani also collected a silver medal for Iran in the Nandao form of men’s 12-15 age bracket.
Nandao is a kind of sword that is used mostly in contemporary Chinese wushu exercises and forms.
Mohammad Ali Mojiri finished second in the Nandao form of boys’ 15-18 age group as well.
Moreover, Nazanin Bazdar and Mina Panahi earned two bronze medals in the Nandao form of girls’ 12-15 and 15-18 age brackets respectively.
Zahra Botshekan scooped up a bronze in the Daoshu form of girl’s 9-12 age group.
The seventh edition of the World Junior Wushu Championships opened on July 9, and will run through July 16, 2018.
4. 36th Golden Glove Of Vojvodina Youth Tournament: India Clinches Top Spot.
Indian boxers ruled the ring at the 36th Golden Glove of Vojvodina youth tournament, ending with seven gold medals to claim the overall top spot in the event in Subotica, Serbia. Four men and three women clinched gold medals at the tournament, which featured 17 countries. India finished first with 17 medals, including six silver and four bronze.
Russia fetched 11 medals (3 gold, 2 silver and 6 bronze), but ended up third behind Kazakhstan, who had a better gold medal count (5) in their overall haul of seven medals.
The gold medal winners for India were Aman (+91kg), Akash Kumar (56kg), S Barun Singh (49kg), Vijaydeep (69kg), Nitu (48kg), Divya Pawar (54kg), and Lalita (69kg). Aman, who got a direct entry into the final owing to the presence of just two boxers in his draw, defeated his lone challenger in Hungarian Laszlo Felfoldi 5-0 for the top honours.
Barun fetched a split 4-1 triumph over crowd favourite Rade Joksimovic. Akash had to toil harder for his 3-2 win over Argentine Jeheil Mirco Cuello. Vijaydeep, too, endured a tough contest before prevailing 3-2 over Kazakhstan’s Azat Assanov.
In the women’s draw, Nitu sailed past Scotland’s Billie Denholm 5-0. Divya also clinched a 5-0 triumph over Serbian Dajana Grumusa. Lalita, on the other hand, won 4-1 against Russia’s Angelina Kabakova.Reigning youth world champion Jyoti Gulia (51kg) was outwitted by Italian Martina Pianna in a close 2-3 result.
Manisha (64kg) also went down by a similar margin to Russia’s Lanna Maliuganova. Neha Yadav (+81kg), a direct entrant into the final, was beaten 0-5 by Kazakhstan’s Dina Islambekova. In the men’s competition, Ankit lost 1-4 to Scotland’s Reese Lynch, while Akash (64kg) went down 2-3 to Thailand’s Bannaphon Pannon.
Nitin Kumar (75kg) also lost a close bout against Thailand’s Weerapon Jongjoho. Saskhi (51kg), Sakshi Gaidhani (81kg), Bhavesh Kittamani (52kg) and Anamika (51kg) got bronze medals after losing their respective semifinal bouts.
5. FIFA World Cup 2018 Concludes | France Emerged As Champions.
Truly, madly, deeply. We will miss this World Cup like no other. The day after Bastille Day France are champions and deservedly so. But only after the most remarkable, crazy and controversial encounter against a courageous Croatia in which there was a VAR storm, and an actual storm in the skies above Moscow, a first-ever own goal in a World Cup Final, a cool strike from a new global superstar, an horrific goalkeeping blunder by the man who lifted the trophy - and a Pussy Riot pitch invasion.
To secure its status as the best ever World Cup the tournament needed a memorable final. It got it. What a finale it was to this 31-day festival of football, as Gareth Southgate called it, and it was the highest-scoring final since England beat West Germany 4-2 in 1966. Well, they sang football’s coming home. At least the score was the same and while England and their fans will never stop dreaming of what might have been - just 22 minutes from the final, if anyone needed reminding - France have the 18-carat gold, 14-inch, 11lb trophy for the second time ever and the second time in 20 years.
Didier Deschamps was their captain then and he is their coach now and became only the third man - after Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer and Brazil’s Mario Zagallo - to achieve that astonishing feat and for that his place in the pantheon of French football is secured.
6. Marc Marquez Wins German Grand Prix.
Honda rider Marc Marquez cruised to his ninth consecutive win at the German Grand Prix to extend his MotoGP lead at Sachsenring on Sunday (July 15).
The Spaniard has won in the top category for the last six years and before that won three times in the smaller classes.
Starting from pole as he has every year during his streak at the German circuit, Marquez finished in 41 minutes 5.019 seconds, 2.196 seconds ahead of Valentino Rossi with the Italian veteran`s Yamaha teammate Maverick Vinales 2.776 seconds back.
7. Thailand Open 2018: Nozomi Okuhara Beats PV Sindhu Win Maiden Title.
India’s World No 3, Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, did not divert from the script one little bit. Her previous five encounters against Japanese World Champion Nozomi Okuhara had ended in alternate victories for the two shuttlers, with the Indian winning their most recent encounter at the All England championships, four months back.
With the head-to-head count at 5-5, it was the fourth-seeded World No 8 Okuhara’s “turn” to win the eleventh match between them and it seemed that second-seeded Sindhu very graciously allowed her Japanese rival to pocket the $26,250 Thailand Open badminton championships.
Sindhu’s docile 50-minute 15-21, 18-21 submission handed Okuhara the title on Sunday at the Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok.
If this foregoing sounds somewhat cynical, let it be said that the women’s singles final went on entirely expected lines. The dice were really loaded in favour of the Japanese ace, even as Sindhu stoically laboured along in the face of a number of odds stacked against her.
First, albeit least important, was the historical perspective explained above, between these two evenly-matched rivals. Then, there was the key issue of the form of the two gladiators, going into the summit clash.
In the penultimate reckoning, Okuhara, now fully recovered from her recent injury problems, had easily accounted for American Zhang Beiwen, who had narrowly defeated the World No 2 and top seed, Akane Yamaguchi, in the quarter-finals.
Sindhu, on the other hand, had fought over three games to subdue the effervescent Indonesian teenager, Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, in the semi-finals on Saturday.
8. Vinesh Phogat Wins Gold At Spanish Grand Prix.
Vinesh Phogat added another gold medal to her rich haul after claiming the top position at the Spain Grand Prix in Madrid on Sunday. Vinesh won the gold medal in the women’s freestyle 50kg category in dominating fashion which saw her give up only one point during her five bouts.
The 24-year-old beat Natasha Fox of Canada in the final bout of the 50kg category, winning 10-0 inside the first period. That victory secured the gold for her. All but one of Vinesh’s victories came with technical superiority, beating her opponent by a difference of 10 points. It began with a 10-0 humbling of Mexico’s Mariana Diaz in the qualification round.
Her next opponent was Erin Golston from the USA and she won the only one who took a point against Vinesh. But the Indian wrestler finished the match 12-1 to enter the quarter-finals.
Valeria Chepsarakova of Russia was waiting for Vinesh in the quarters but she realised that her opponent is too strong. Vinesh did not get a win by technical superiority against Chepsarakova but managed to beat her 5-0 and advance into the semi-finals.